Smoke pours from an explosive-carrying WWII U.S. cargo ship. Hulton-Deutsch
Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
In August 1944, the SS Richard Montgomery, an American cargo ship, ran aground, broke in half, and sunk off the coast of Kent in England while carrying thousands of tons of ammunition to France. According to Yahoo UK, some of the bombs were later salvaged, but when the rescue mission was deemed too dangerous to continue, almost 1,400 tons of live explosives were left on board, which is…kind of a concern.
In 2004, New Scientist writer Mick Hamer wrote that investigations showed that, “if the wreck explodes it will be one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever.”
The Observer: 1,400 Tons of Shipwrecked Explosives Could Destroy the English Coast
Oh, sure, this gets better.
In 1970, a government test of the area revealed that the explosion would, “hurl a 1,000 ft wide column of water, mud, metal and munitions almost 10,000ft into the air,” shatter windows and damage buildings in the neighboring town of Sheerness, and, most worryingly, “generate a 16 ft high wave that could sink a small craft.”
So, why has nothing been done about this ticking time-bomb? The explosives are considered too risky to move, and doing so would require evacuating neighboring villages for the sake of safety.
- Observer
There's no need for an editorial since you have already written one and I'm guessing part of it goes, "No fuckin' way am I ever going to Sheerness."
- Infer long, impassioned plea for the support of War Child, the ones who help when Today's kids get blown all to hell by Yesterday's military mines -
We know you grok the madness and sometimes maybe the best thing is to kick back to review the absurdity of it all but not so much you end up hitting your head with a brick.
Bloody hell, mates; this is ludicrous.
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