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Explosive-filled Sheppey shipwreck now off-limits for pilots

Wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery, off Sheerness by Christine Matthews
Wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery, off Sheerness by Christine Matthews

Don’t fly close to the shipwreck in the Thames Estuary. Not only is the sunken ship – whose masts can still be seen – full of high explosives but there are now flying restrictions in place until further notice.

The shipwreck is a WWII American ‘Liberty’ ship, the 7,146 ton SS Richard Montgomery, one of over 2,700 built to carry vital supplies for the war effort.

In August 1944, the ship was at anchor in the estuary waiting to join a convoy across to Cherbourg when she drifted on the Nore sandbank, near Sheerness, Kent, England, and sank – with 1,400 tons of TNT high explosives onboard.

There’s been a maritime exclusion zone around the wreck for years but now there’s also a flight restriction imposed by the Secretary of State. It covers any aircraft including small balloons, kites weighing not more than 2kg, unmanned aircraft (ie drone) and parachutes including a parascending parachute or paramotor.

Sheppey shipwreck zone

Some have expressed a worry that a less than friendly state might consider sabotage by drone attack, such as the many currently taking place by Russia on Ukraine.

There’s good reason to be worried. According to a BBC News report, it was determined that if the wreck of the SS Montgomery exploded, it would throw a 300 metres wide column of water and debris nearly 3,000 metres into the air and generate a wave 5 metres high. Almost every window in Sheerness would be broken and buildings would be damaged.

The Restriction of Flying is a Briefing Sheet here. It will be replaced by mauve AIC 150/2025 from 21 August 2025.

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