The SS “Richard Montgomery” is an American Liberty Ship of 7146 gross tons and approx. 440ft long built by the St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company and was number 7 of the 82 ships, of the same class, built by that yard. Laid down on 15^th March 1943, she was launched on 15^th June 1943, and completed on 29^th July 1943. She was given the official ship number 243756, and named after General Richard Montgomery, an Irish-American soldier who was killed during the American Revolutionary War.

In August 1944, she left Hog Island, Philadelphia, as part of convoy HX-301, loaded with 6,127 tons of munitions for the US air force. Its route was from the Delaware River to the Thames Estuary where she was to remain anchored while awaiting the formation of a convoy to travel the final stage to Cherbourg. When the Richard Montgomery arrived off Southend-on-Sea, it came under the authority of the Thames naval control at HMS Leigh located on Southend Pier. The harbour master, who is responsible for all shipping movements in the estuary, finding the main river berths all fully occupied with post D-day traffic, ordered the ship to a berth in the Great Nore anchorage off Sheerness middle sands. On 20^th August 1944, she started dragging her anchor and despite warning sirens from surrounding ships ran aground on a sandbank around 270 yards from the main Medway Approach Channel, in a depth of 33 feet of water. Normally a liberty ship has an average draught of 28ft but the Montgomery, at this time, actually drew 31ft. Her overloaded and early welded construction, made her vulnerable to the severe stress of grounding and several serious cracks appeared in her hull, she eventually broke her back on the sand banks near the Isle of Sheppey about 1.5 miles from Sheerness and 5 miles from Southend. As the tide ebbed the ships plates snapped with a sharp crack heard over a mile away and the crew, mindful of its hazardous cargo, abandoned ship at 0300hrs using floats and lifeboats.

A Rochester-based Master Stevedore T.P.Adams of Watson and Gill, was given the urgent highly hazardous job of removing the cargo, which began on 23^rd August 1944 at 1000hrs, using the ship’s own cargo handling equipment, driven by a venerable old expendable steam ship the “Empire Nutfield” moored alongside. By the next day, the ship’s hull had cracked open further, causing several cargo holds at the bow end to flood. The salvage operation continued until 25^th September, when due to a severe gale they were forced to finally abandon the ship before all the cargo had been recovered. Subsequently, the ship broke into two separate parts, roughly at the midsection.

During the enquiry following the shipwreck it was revealed that several ships moored nearby had noticed the Montgomery drifting towards the sandbank. They had attempted to signal an alert by sounding their sirens but without response, as Captain Willkie of the Montgomery was asleep. The ship’s chief officer was unable to explain why he had not alerted the captain or carry out any remedial action. A Board of Inquiry held aboard the ship during the initial unloading, concluded that the ship’s crew had acted in accordance with their instructions and that the anchorage the harbour master assigned had possibly placed the ship in jeopardy, and returned the Montgomery’s captain to full duty.

Following the United States entry into the European War on 8^th December 1941 a large number of merchant vessels were required quickly to ship supplies, arms and ammunition under the rather curious “lend-lease” programme. Starting in September 1941 the USA started an emergency ship construction program that would require building, in just three years, the equivalent of more than half of the current pre-war total of merchant shipping of the world. The “Liberty” Ship, a very basic utility cargo ship, was built to a British design, in the USA. Some alterations were made to the original design to overcome the shortage of certain materials and meet the need to build as rapidly and cheaply as possible.

Most American shipyards were fully occupied building warships and the man given the job of building this merchant fleet was Henry Kaiser a California industrialist who had never built ships before.

The all welded construction, instead of riveting, created a basic flaw in these ships which caused a number of them to develop “ever increasing” cracks, to break in two and sink. Nevertheless, they played an important part in the war effort and were instrumental in bringing foodstuff and munitions to Britain albeit at a heavy cost in lives of the sailors.

In total sixteen American shipyards built 2,751 Liberty ships between 1941 and 1945, easily the largest number of ships produced to a single design. As mentioned many Liberty ships suffered hull and deck cracks, and some were lost to such structural defects. During WWII, there were nearly 1,500 serious brittle fractures. Nineteen ships broke in half without warning, including the SS John P. Gaines, which sank on 24^th November 1943 with the loss of 10 lives. The ships were hastily built, often by totally inexperienced people, in an era before the embrittlement effects on steel was fully understood. Add to this the fact they were frequently grossly overloaded; and some of the problems occurred during or after severe storms at sea that would have tested any ship. The builders learned from this and the successor design, the Victory ship, was built stronger and less stiff.

The wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery is marked by a warning buoy. Because of the presence of a huge quantity of unexploded ordnance, the ship is monitored by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and is clearly marked on the relevant Admiralty Charts. In 1973 it became the first wreck designated as dangerous under section 2 of the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. There is an exclusion zone around it monitored visually and by radar.

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