Posted on 08/22/2004 9:03:26 PM PDT by ScuzzyTerminator
Am I the only one who thinks it would be interesting to know the circumstances under which the ship came to be wrecked?
First google hit:
The "U.S.S Richard Montgomery" was built in 1943 by the St Johns River Shipbuilding Company, Jacksonville, Florida USA.
After taking on board 6127 tons of bombs and ammunition at Hog Island, Philadelphia, USA she sailed across the Atlantic to join a convoy to Cherbourg. Whilst waiting for the convoy to form she was berthed off the North edge of the Sheerness Middle Sand, off the coast of the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England.
On Aug 20th 1944 in strong winds the USS Richard Montgomery ran aground and over a period of days became stuck fast in the sand bank.
During the coming weeks Stevedores from Rochester, Kent were able to remove a large quantity of the explosives from the holds of the ship. The ship was finally abandoned on 25th September 1944 along with its remaining cargo which amounted to some 3200 tons of explosives.
Residents of Sheerness have lived with a multi-kiloton bomb sitting a couple of miles from their homes. As the hulk and her contents have rotted, so it is of considerable interest to know the effect of sea water coming into contact with 50 year old explosive.
This is a good episode for 'Fear Factor'. Round up some alqueidas and force them to dive down and see who can explode it first! The whole town meanwhile will stand safely away watching the show..
Well Done BBC, You've just won yourself the next Islamic Bombing in the running war on Civilization. With the internet avaiable to everyone, including those Muslims who live among us here in the USA,who have relatives everywhere on earth, you've just brought it on yourself now, haven't 'cha?
Fess up... you just want to go in drink all their beer, loot the town, and blame the bomb. :)
All though impressive I'm afraid the event wouldn't live up to its billing. We already know what the approximate effect would be based upon the Port Chicago explosion in 1944, when over 4000 tons of explosives on a ship tied up to a pier in a SF Bay estuary blew up.
Isn't there a lot of UXO in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places we can import? We should at least be able to get the water up to 2000 feet in the air if we try. We're Americans. This shouldn't be too difficult for us!
Of course we can, but 2000 feet gets the Discovery Channel, not PPV.
I remember it on MovieTone News at the cinema and I thought that it was touted s the largest non nuclear blast at that time. It isn't shown in the Guiness Book so I guess it wasn't that big. I do remember that the file footage made in to many of the "B" Sci Fi movies of the era.
Shsssssh ! Dang it !
Actually I take pride in knowing just how much C-4 to pack up a bulls butt to blow off his horns without making his eyes water so I think I can handle this old WWII thang just fine !.........:o)
Stay safe Slim !
My thought exactly, why is it that all of the west weak spots get published? Publishing this is almost criminal.
"The ship was finally abandoned on 25th September 1944 along with its remaining cargo which amounted to some 3200 tons of explosives."
467 pounds overall per WW2 device would equal which munition, exactly?
5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires
Old M117D's is my guess....gravity bombs........
Ya made me think about that....Not old M117D's but I'll have to do some research for ya if ya really want to know. Problem is I'm not sure of type or country of origin so I'll need some time to dig out my RSP books for exact HE weight vs overall weight etc......
Stay Safe and disregard my M117 comment.
In 1970, government tests on the site showed a blast would hurl a 1,000ft wide column of water, mud, metal and munitions almost 10,000ft into the air.
That would be cool to see.
Here is another cargo ship.......
My dad said the wave created by the blast almost tipped his ship over. A few minutes later, they spotted a dark thing high up in the air, falling toward them. It was an anti-aircraft gun, and it barely missed my dad's ship -- water from the splash landed on their deck. He said the gun would have gone right through the ship.
Aside from the gun, the only debris they ever saw from that ship was a pillow, and some guy's wallet....
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