A Second World War shipwreck laden with explosives is to have its masts removed amid
fears it could be a “sitting duck” for drone attacks.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has set aside £9.5m for a contractor to fund the works on the SS Richard Montgomery, an American Liberty-class cargo ship which ran aground in the Thames estuary off Sheerness, Kent, in August 1944.
Salvage efforts were abandoned a month after the wreck when the vessel flooded completely, and around 1,400 tons of explosives is still thought to be contained in the forward holds.
Last month, The Telegraph reported fears that a drone attack could topple the masts – which protrude above the surface of the water – and disturb the incendiary cargo below.
n October, an ally of Vladimir Putin reportedly told Russian state TV that Moscow should target the ship.
Detonation of the Montgomery could trigger
“mass damage and loss of life” by sending a
5m-high tsunami towards the coast and Britain’s largest liquefied natural gas terminal on the Isle of Grain, previous government assessments have warned.
Government sources told The Telegraph that the authorities were alert to the prospect of a drone attack on the shipwreck, which lies around 1.5 miles off Sheerness.
In June last year, pilots and drone operators were banned from flying within a radius of one nautical mile of the wreck for “reasons of public safety”.
Katja Bego, a senior research fellow in the Chatham House think tank’s Europe programme, has warned: “A bad actor could
smuggle more sophisticated drones, or rig with explosives readily available commercial drones, and ... launch an attack from UK soil directly.”
She added: “The scary thing is that you do not need to be a highly sophisticated state actor to launch a sabotage attack using commercially available drones.”
Earlier this year, Lord Beamish, chairman of Parliament’s intelligence and security committee, warned that Russia and Iran were actively recruiting people in Britain to launch “proxy” attacks.
Prof David Alexander, an expert in emergency planning and risk management, said the SS Richard Montgomery was “a sitting duck”.
The government announced its intention
to remove the vessel’s three masts six years ago, but the project has been repeatedly delayed.
A DfT spokesman said: “Our priority will always be to ensure the safety of the public and to reduce any risk posed by the SS Richard Montgomery.
“The condition of the wreck remains stable, experts are continuing to monitor the site, and we have now outlined our intention to choose the Resolve Group to undertake the mast removal project.”
The contract awarded to Resolve Salvage and Fire (Europe) Ltd is estimated to run from April 2026 to March 2027, with a possible one-year extension dependent on the weather.
Resolve Marine, the parent company of the salvage operator, is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Founded by Joseph Farrell Jnr, a veteran of the US coast guard and US navy, the company previously led the salvage operation of the MV Dali tanker which crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in 2024, causing the bridge to collapse.
Resolve Marine was also at the forefront of the response to the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.
The SS Richard Montgomery had been bound for Cherbourg with munitions to support the Normandy invasion when her anchor dragged into a sandbank during a storm, causing the hull to crack and buckle.
Annual condition surveys have not indicated that the risk associated with the wreck has increased, according to the department.
Kevin McKenna, the Labour MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, has called for one of the masts to be kept on the island.
“For many people on Sheppey, the Montgomery masts are far more than wreckage, they’re a cherished landmark linked to an extraordinary wartime story,” he said. “I fully support their safe removal and believe it’s vital that part of this iconic structure is preserved for future generations.
“That’s why I’m calling on the Government to secure one of the Montgomery masts for display in a local museum, so that this island’s unique history can be shared and remembered by the people of Sheppey for generations to come.”
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