Mast removal on WWII wreck in Thames Estuary

Resolve Marine has started one of the UK’s most sensitive wreck salvage operations – the removal of the three masts of the SS Richard Montgomery, a sight that has become iconic for residents around the Thames Estuary.

The £9.5 million project, confirmed by the UK government on 14 July, targets the WWII American Liberty ship that grounded on the Nore sandbank off Sheerness, Kent, in August 1944. The vessel’s hull, cracked and split in two under the weight of its cargo, still holds an estimated 1,400tonnes of wartime explosives in its forward holds. Only the three masts remain visible above the waterline, and it is their deteriorating condition that has driven the government to act, following years of monitoring and a 2022 plan that was delayed.

For naval architects, the wreck is a rare, long-running case study in structural failure. The Liberty ship class was notorious for brittle fracture in early welded hull construction, and this vessel’s