Britain’s doomsday ship is a sitting duck – 1,400 tonnes of explosives just off Kent coast as fresh warnings emerge

9 June 2025, 10:53 | Updated: 9 June 2025, 13:21

By EJ Ward

Wreck of WW2 munitions ship SS Richard Montgomery is still full of explosives, guarded only by buoys and a warning sign, as experts warn over grey zone sabotage.

A cargo ship has sparked alarm after being photographed sailing perilously close to one of Britain’s most dangerous and neglected hazards – the explosive-packed wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery – with experts warning it could become a prime target in a grey zone attack by a hostile state.

The wartime ammunition ship, sunk off the Kent coast with 1,400 tonnes of munitions on board, lies just 2.4km from Sheerness and metres from one of the busiest shipping lanes in the UK.

The latest near-pass, caught on camera by a local resident, has reignited fears the wreck is not just a forgotten relic – but a national security liability.

The image, taken by Eastchurch resident James Dewey on Tuesday 3 June, shows a WEC Lines container ship navigating near buoy No.10, with the wreck’s three masts jutting ominously from the water in the background.

“It was worrying when I was sitting there looking at doomsday,” said Dewey, who watched three vessels take the same route that lunchtime. “The one before was huge – it looked a bit suspicious.”

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While it’s been confirmed the ship didn’t breach the exclusion zone, the photo has triggered fresh concern over the proximity of shipping lanes to the wreck – especially after a no-fly zone was quietly imposed over the site last month.

HM Coastguard told KentOnline it was not alerted to a breach of the exclusion zone.

Speaking exclusively to LBC, Professor David Alexander, an expert in emergency planning and risk management, described the Montgomery as “a sitting duck” for sabotage, calling it a “ready-made target” in the context of grey zone tactics, undersea sabotage and asymmetric warfare.

“This is a national security threat hiding in plain sight,” he warned. “The Montgomery is not inert – it is at risk. It’s sat just 2.4km from Sheerness and 200 metres from a shipping lane used by LNG carriers and giant container vessels. In today’s environment, that’s reckless.”

The wreck – an American Liberty ship that sank in 1944 carrying around 1,400 tonnes of high explosives – has never been made safe. Two holds were hastily emptied before efforts were abandoned. It’s been left to rot for 80 years, monitored remotely from Liverpool.

"During one test, it took 62 minutes for police to respond to a group of local historians approaching the wreck by boat,” he revealed.

He pointed to an incident where a Danish tanker carrying toluene, a TNT component, was told to divert just six minutes before entering the exclusion zone. “That could have been catastrophic.”

The growing fear, Alexander said, is not just of accidental detonation, but of deliberate exploitation. “We’re entering a new age of conflict. Russia has been linked to attacks on undersea cables and pipelines in the Baltic. The Montgomery is a perfect hybrid warfare target: high impact, low cost, and plausibly deniable.”

His concerns were echoed by Major Andrew Fox, a former Army officer and security expert: “From cable sabotage to assassinations, grey zone activity is the biggest threat to UK national security. The Montgomery would be a huge symbolic and economic blow – and it wouldn’t take much.”

The government’s Strategic Defence Review is expected to focus heavily on cyber and hybrid threats – but critics say the Montgomery has been left out of those conversations for decades.

A 1970s military report estimated an explosion could launch a 3,000-metre column of debris and trigger a five-metre tsunami, devastating Sheerness and the Isle of Grain.

Professor Alexander added that evacuation plans for the nearby Isle of Sheppey – which has a single road bridge – are inadequate. “It’s a single point of failure,” he said. “And there's no serious contingency.”

Despite multiple studies and reports, no government has acted. Dutch firm Smit has previously offered to remove the explosives safely, but was never invited to formally tender. “It would be expensive and disruptive,” Alexander said. “But it can be done – and doing nothing is more dangerous.”

The latest close encounter has only added to the unease. “The Montgomery doesn’t get safer with time,” Alexander warned. “It gets riskier – especially in a world where grey zone conflict is no longer a theory. It’s happening now.”

LBC has approached the DfT for comment.