Crews Work to Stabilize SS Richard Montgomery Wreck Near London

A salvage crew has been working to stabilize the SS Richard Montgomery, a sunken American cargo ship that has rested near London since 1944 with roughly 1,500 tons of World War II explosives still in its holds, according to The Washington Post.

What is the SS Richard Montgomery?

The Richard Montgomery was a U.S.-flagged vessel that sank a few months after the Allied landings at Normandy in June 1944, the Post reported. The ship went down carrying a cargo of munitions loaded for the war effort, and that cargo has remained in the wreck for more than eight decades.

Why does the wreck still carry explosives?

The Post's reporting places the volume of ordnance still aboard at approximately 1,500 tons. The ship never delivered its cargo before it sank, leaving the explosives in place inside the hull rather than aboard a moving vessel or in a storage depot built to contain them.

What is the salvage crew doing now?

According to the Post, a salvage crew has been actively working on the wreck to stabilize it. The newspaper's reporting does not specify the exact techniques being used or a timeline for completing the work, and HTT News could not independently confirm additional operational details beyond what the Post has published.

Why is the wreck considered a risk near London?

The Post's headline and reporting frame the Richard Montgomery as a hazard close to the British capital, citing the combination of its age, its explosive cargo, and its proximity to a populated area. The newspaper's account does not provide a precise distance from London or a risk assessment from British authorities in the portion of the reporting reviewed by HTT News.

Continued deterioration of a wreck carrying live ordnance of this scale is the kind of circumstance that has prompted monitoring of similar World War II-era shipwrecks in European waters, though the Post's reporting on this specific case focuses on the Richard Montgomery rather than drawing broader comparisons.

What happens next?

The Post indicates the stabilization work is ongoing, meaning no final resolution — whether removal of the munitions, permanent containment, or another outcome — had been reported as of the story's publication. HTT News will follow the Post's reporting and other primary sources, including any statements from United Kingdom maritime or defense authorities, as the salvage effort proceeds.

For now, the available reporting establishes three settled facts: the ship sank in 1944 shortly after D-Day, it holds an estimated 1,500 tons of unexploded WWII-era munitions, and a salvage crew is currently engaged in work meant to stabilize the wreck rather than complete a full removal. Further detail on the scope, cost, or expected duration of that stabilization work was not available in the source material reviewed for this report.