Initially, a stevedore company was tasked with removing the volatile cargo from the SS Richard Montgomery but after only a day into the effort, the hull of the ship had cracked open, complicating the removal of the explosives. The removal effort continued for nearly a month but then was abandoned in late September of 1944. By that time, the ship had broken into two separate parts and the explosives remained on board.
The SS Richard Montgomery is, in essence, a “ticking time bomb.” The approximately 2,000 cases of cluster bombs and the hundreds of standard bombs, each of which weighs almost 1,000 lbs., have the potential to cause enormous damage. According to one historian, “the blast could cause a tidal wave,” and, warned New Scientist magazine in a 2004 article, “if the ship exploded, it would create one of the biggest non-nuclear blasts ever seen and would devastate the port of Sheerness, causing up to £1 billion (around $1.4 billion) damage.”
The MCA did not indicate what the next steps might be in the high-stakes drama of the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery but it seems clear that 3D technology will continue to play a key role in monitoring the ship and, hopefully, facilitating the long-awaited removal of the decades-old explosives that threaten the English coast. Tell us your thoughts on this issue in 3D Technology May Help Remove Explosives forum over at 3DPB.com.