Today, the last of the three masts of the SS Richard Montgomery has been removed from the Thames Estuary.
For generations, those rusting masts have been an unmistakable sight off Sheerness. They became part of the landscape of the Kent and Essex coast — something people pointed out to children, visitors photographed and sailors carefully navigated around.
Now they are gone.
But beneath the water, the story of the Richard Montgomery continues.
The American Liberty ship has been sitting on the seabed since 1944, with an estimated 1,400 tonnes of wartime explosives still believed to remain in her forward holds. The wreck has been monitored and surveyed for decades.
Built for a war
The Richard Montgomery was one of more than 2,700 Liberty ships built in the United States during the Second World War.
These ships were designed to be produced quickly and in large numbers, providing the Allies with the food, fuel, vehicles, equipment, and ammunition needed to fight the war.
Built in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1943, the Richard Montgomery was a 7,146-gross-ton vessel. In August 1944, she was loaded with roughly 7,000 tons of munitions and joined convoy HX-301, bound for Britain and ultimately Cherbourg.
It was a crucial stage of the war. The invasion of Normandy had taken place only a few months earlier, and the Allied armies advancing across Europe needed a constant supply of ammunition.
The Richard Montgomery was part of that supply chain.
She would never reach France.
The fateful voyage
In August 1944, the ship arrived in the Thames Estuary and was ordered to anchor in the Great Nore anchorage off Sheerness while awaiting the formation of a convoy across the Channel.
On 20 August, the ship dragged her anchor in shallow water and grounded on the Nore Sandbank, roughly 1.5 miles north of Sheerness.
An enormous salvage operation began almost immediately. The priority was to remove the ammunition before the ship could become a total loss.
For several weeks, men worked to recover the cargo, and approximately half of the munitions were successfully removed.
Then the situation deteriorated.
A crack developed in the hull, and the forward part of the ship began flooding. Despite continued salvage efforts, the vessel eventually flooded completely. By 25 September 1944, the operation had been abandoned.
The Richard Montgomery was lost.
But a substantial part of her cargo remained aboard.
Approximately 1,400 tonnes of explosives were left in her forward holds.
And there they have remained for more than eight decades.
The ship that never disappeared
For most shipwrecks, 82 years would make them little more than a footnote in history.
The Richard Montgomery is different.
Her three masts remained standing above the water, visible at all states of the tide. They became a familiar feature of the Thames Estuary and an eerie reminder of a wartime accident that had never completely disappeared.
Over the decades, surveys have monitored the condition of the wreck and the seabed around it. The ship has naturally deteriorated after more than eight decades underwater, but authorities have continued to assess its condition and the potential risks associated with the remaining cargo.
The explosives were originally being transported as military cargo rather than prepared for immediate use, and the fact that they have remained underwater for so long without detonating is an important part of the risk assessment.
Nevertheless, their presence means the wreck has continued to require careful management.
Why remove the masts?
The masts themselves eventually became a concern.
After more than 80 years exposed to the marine environment, the steel had deteriorated. There was a possibility that one or more of the structures could eventually collapse onto the wreck.
Removing them was therefore intended to eliminate the risk of a falling mast damaging the remains of the ship or disturbing the cargo within.
The operation took years of planning. The £9.5 million project involved specialist marine contractors, an underwater working platform and diamond-wire saws to cut the masts below sea level. Independent technical advice concluded that the work could be carried out without increasing the risk associated with the explosives.
And now, in September 2026, the final mast has gone.
A familiar landmark disappears
For people around Sheerness, its disappearance will probably feel strange.
For 82 years, those masts have been there.
They were already rising above the water when today's grandparents were children. Generations have grown up seeing them from the Kent coast, from boats, and from across the estuary in Essex.
The masts were simultaneously a landmark, a historical curiosity, and a reminder of the dangers left behind by the Second World War.
There was something almost surreal about looking across the water and seeing the tops of a ship that had been sitting beneath the surface since 1944.
The removed masts are being taken to Chatham Historic Dockyard, where they will undergo conservation before eventually being made available for public display.
So although they have disappeared from the Thames Estuary, they will remain part of the story of the ship.
The threat beneath the water
Removing the masts has changed the appearance of the wreck, but it has not removed the underlying problem.
The Richard Montgomery remains on the seabed with its wartime cargo. The wreck lies close to the Medway Approach Channel and is protected by a legally enforced exclusion zone.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency continues to monitor the site through regular surveys. The Government's assessment is that the likelihood of a major explosion is remote, but the presence of the remaining explosives means that continued monitoring and management remain necessary.
It is a remarkable situation: a Liberty ship built in America during the Second World War, sunk while waiting to cross the Channel, still sitting in the Thames Estuary more than 80 years later with part of its original cargo aboard.
A wartime time capsule
The story of the Richard Montgomery is ultimately about more than a shipwreck.
She was part of the enormous logistical effort that kept the Allied armies supplied during the final year of the war. Her cargo was destined for the fighting in Europe, but a grounding in the Thames Estuary ended her voyage before she could even leave British waters.
Her cargo never reached the battlefield.
Her ship never returned to sea.
Her masts, however, remained visible for more than eight decades, turning an otherwise forgotten wartime accident into one of Britain's most recognisable wrecks.
Now the last of those masts has been removed.
The skyline above the wreck has changed, but beneath the water the SS Richard Montgomery remains — a remarkable survivor of the Second World War and a physical link to a conflict that ended more than 80 years ago.
Some parts of history can be placed in museums.
Others remain beneath the water, quietly waiting to be remembered.
