[Yessaniloas]

IN THE Thames estuary, 60 kilometers from central London, lies the 60-year-old wreck of the American liberty ship Richard Montgomery. It still carries 1400 tonnes of TNT, and according to a report commissioned by the UK government, an explosion is "increasingly probable with the passing of time". Which makes it odd that it has taken four years to publish the report, which will appear this week.

New Scientist revealed last year that the then secret report warned of the dangers posed by the wreck (21 August 2004, p 36). The ship is disintegrating and is likely to start collapsing in 10 to 20 years' time. "Experience from other similar wrecks indicates that the explosion of one munition is likely to result in a mass explosion," the report says. It would be the world's biggest non-nuclear explosion apart from volcanoes, and would cause £1 billion of damage and widespread injuries to the public.
It would be the world's biggest non-nuclear explosion apart from volcanoes

Removing the explosives would mean evacuating 40,000 people for six months. The report's favoured solution is to build an 1800-meter earthwork around the wreck to deaden the blast of the explosion.

info taken from new scientist.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4032629.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A22716759

http://www.ssrichardmontgomery.com/i...wsci210804.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery

http://www.submerged.co.uk/montgomery.php

same thing happened just off of Folkestone... a ship carrying explosives blew up digging a 20ft crater in the sea bed, causing an earthquake of magnitude 5 on the sphincter scale scaring the towns people to death

oh dear..