The wreck of the US Liberty steamship 'Richard Montgomery'. The black hulk in the background, is a section of a Pheonix caisson, part of a floating Mulberry Harbour, abandoned off Shoeburyness, in WW2
Photographs taken during the TimeLine Events charter of Jetstream Tours 'Jacob Marley' to follow the Medway Barge Match.
The SS 'Richard Montgomery' was built by the St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company in its second year of operations, and was the seventh of the 82 such ships built by that yard. Laid down on 15 March 1943, she was launched on 15 June 1943, and completed on 29 July 1943, 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, on what was to be its final voyage, the ship left Hog Island, Philadelphia, where it had been loaded with 6,127 tons of munitions.
It travelled from the Delaware river to the Thames Estuary, then anchored while awaiting the formation of a convoy to travel to Cherbourg, France, which had come under Allied control on 27 July 1944 during the Battle of Normandy.
When Richard Montgomery arrived off Southend, it came under the authority of the Thames naval control at HMS Leigh located at the end of Southend Pier. The harbour master, responsible for all shipping movements in the estuary, ordered the ship to a berth off the north edge of Sheerness middle sands, an area designated as the Great Nore Anchorage.
On 20 August 1944, it dragged anchor and ran aground on a sandbank around 250 metres from the Medway Approach Channel,[5] in a depth of 24 feet (7.3 m) of water. The general dry cargo liberty ship had an average draught of 28 ft (8.5 m); however, the Montgomery was trimmed to a draught of 31 ft (9.4 m). As the tide went down, the ship broke its back on sand banks near the Isle of Sheppey about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) from Sheerness and 5 miles (8 km) from Southend.
A Rochester-based stevedore company was given the job of removing the cargo, which began on 23 August 1944, using the ship's own cargo handling equipment. By the next day, the ship's hull had cracked open, causing several cargo holds at the bow end to flood. The salvage operation continued until 25 September, when the ship was finally abandoned before all the cargo had been recovered. Subsequently, the ship broke into two separate parts, roughly at the midsection.
During the inquiry 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 without avail, since throughout this Captain Wilkie of the Montgomery was asleep. The ship's chief officer was unable to explain why he had not alerted the captain. A Board of Inquiry concluded that the anchorage the harbour master assigned had placed the ship in jeopardy, and returned the Montgomery's captain to full duty within a week.
SS Richard Montgomery was an American Liberty ship built during World War II, one of the 2,710 used to carry cargo during the war. The ship was wrecked off the Nore in the Thames Estuary in 1944 with around 1,400 tonnes (1,500 short tons) of explosives on board which continue to be a hazard to the area.
Mulberry harbours were temporary portable harbours developed by the British during World War II to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. After the Allies successfully held beachheads following D-Day, two prefabricated harbours were taken in sections across the English Channel from Britain with the invading army and assembled off Omaha (Mulberry "A") and Gold Beach (Mulberry "B").
The Mulberry harbours were to be used until the Allies could capture a French port; initially thought to be around three months. However although Antwerp in Belgium was captured on 4 September 1944, the Port of Antwerp was not opened until 28 November as the approaches to the port were held by the Germans until the (delayed) Battle of the Scheldt was won. Two French ports were eventually available; the port of Boulogne on 14 October after Operation Wellhit and the port of Calais in November after Operation Undergo. Montgomery insisted that the First Canadian Army clear the German garrisons in Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk (which was held until 9 May 1945) first before the Scheldt although the French ports were "resoluteld defended" and had all suffered demolitions so would not be navigable for some time. The success of Operation Dragoon meant that the southern French ports of Marseille and Toulon were available in October.
So the need for the harbour at Gold Beach lessened only about five months after D-Day. It was used for 10 months after D-Day; and over 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles, and 4 million tonnes of supplies were landed at Gold Beach before it was fully decommissioned. The Mulberry harbour at Omaha Beach had been severely damaged in a storm in late June 1944 and was abandoned. This one, off Shoeburyness, was damaged whilst being towed to France, and abandoned at it's current site.
The wreck of the US Liberty steamship 'Richard Montgomery'. The black hulk in the background, is a section of a Pheonix caisson, part of a floating Mulberry Harbour, abandoned off Shoeburyness, in WW2
Photographs taken during the TimeLine Events charter of Jetstream Tours 'Jacob Marley' to follow the Medway Barge Match.
The SS 'Richard Montgomery' was built by the St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company in its second year of operations, and was the seventh of the 82 such ships built by that yard. Laid down on 15 March 1943, she was launched on 15 June 1943, and completed on 29 July 1943, 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, on what was to be its final voyage, the ship left Hog Island, Philadelphia, where it had been loaded with 6,127 tons of munitions.
It travelled from the Delaware river to the Thames Estuary, then anchored while awaiting the formation of a convoy to travel to Cherbourg, France, which had come under Allied control on 27 July 1944 during the Battle of Normandy.
When Richard Montgomery arrived off Southend, it came under the authority of the Thames naval control at HMS Leigh located at the end of Southend Pier. The harbour master, responsible for all shipping movements in the estuary, ordered the ship to a berth off the north edge of Sheerness middle sands, an area designated as the Great Nore Anchorage.
On 20 August 1944, it dragged anchor and ran aground on a sandbank around 250 metres from the Medway Approach Channel,[5] in a depth of 24 feet (7.3 m) of water. The general dry cargo liberty ship had an average draught of 28 ft (8.5 m); however, the Montgomery was trimmed to a draught of 31 ft (9.4 m). As the tide went down, the ship broke its back on sand banks near the Isle of Sheppey about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) from Sheerness and 5 miles (8 km) from Southend.
A Rochester-based stevedore company was given the job of removing the cargo, which began on 23 August 1944, using the ship's own cargo handling equipment. By the next day, the ship's hull had cracked open, causing several cargo holds at the bow end to flood. The salvage operation continued until 25 September, when the ship was finally abandoned before all the cargo had been recovered. Subsequently, the ship broke into two separate parts, roughly at the midsection.
During the inquiry 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 without avail, since throughout this Captain Wilkie of the Montgomery was asleep. The ship's chief officer was unable to explain why he had not alerted the captain. A Board of Inquiry concluded that the anchorage the harbour master assigned had placed the ship in jeopardy, and returned the Montgomery's captain to full duty within a week.
SS Richard Montgomery was an American Liberty ship built during World War II, one of the 2,710 used to carry cargo during the war. The ship was wrecked off the Nore in the Thames Estuary in 1944 with around 1,400 tonnes (1,500 short tons) of explosives on board which continue to be a hazard to the area.
Mulberry harbours were temporary portable harbours developed by the British during World War II to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. After the Allies successfully held beachheads following D-Day, two prefabricated harbours were taken in sections across the English Channel from Britain with the invading army and assembled off Omaha (Mulberry "A") and Gold Beach (Mulberry "B").
The Mulberry harbours were to be used until the Allies could capture a French port; initially thought to be around three months. However although Antwerp in Belgium was captured on 4 September 1944, the Port of Antwerp was not opened until 28 November as the approaches to the port were held by the Germans until the (delayed) Battle of the Scheldt was won. Two French ports were eventually available; the port of Boulogne on 14 October after Operation Wellhit and the port of Calais in November after Operation Undergo. Montgomery insisted that the First Canadian Army clear the German garrisons in Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk (which was held until 9 May 1945) first before the Scheldt although the French ports were "resoluteld defended" and had all suffered demolitions so would not be navigable for some time. The success of Operation Dragoon meant that the southern French ports of Marseille and Toulon were available in October.
So the need for the harbour at Gold Beach lessened only about five months after D-Day. It was used for 10 months after D-Day; and over 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles, and 4 million tonnes of supplies were landed at Gold Beach before it was fully decommissioned. The Mulberry harbour at Omaha Beach had been severely damaged in a storm in late June 1944 and was abandoned. This one, off Shoeburyness, was damaged whilst being towed to France, and abandoned at it's current site.