The UK's Royal Navy are set to oversee a two month operation this summer to remove the masts from the UK's and one of the World's most dangerous shipwrecks - SS Richard Montgomery - which lies in the Thames 1.5 miles north of Sheerness on the Kent coast.

The doomed WW2 American liberty ship was loaded with 7000 tonnes of explosives and sailed from the USA to the UK as part of a convoy.

On arrival in the Thames Estuary the vessel was directed to anchor in the Great Nore Anchorage, off Sheerness. but ended up drifting onto a sandbank and breaking in two in August 1944. Some of the explosives were removed when the ship first ran aground, but bad weather meant the operation had to be halted. This resulted in the ship sinking with 1400 tonnes of explosives onboard, which have laid undisturbed for 78 years.

There is a no-entry exclusion zone around the wreck marked out by a ring of buoys, which watercraft are prohibited from entering, and it is kept under 24 hour surveillance by the Port of Sheerness.

This extensive close up footage recorded on a summer's evening in July 2020, shows clearly the three rusting masts which can be seen above the waterline.

Authorities fear if the masts were to collapse due to corrosion, there's a risk of the bombs could be set off resulting in a tsunami.