00:00The iconic World War II shipwreck, the SS Richard Montgomery, has been laying dormant for over 80 years since it
00:07sunk off the coast of Sheerness, leaving just its masts visible.
00:11In what's been a lengthy and controversial process, the decision has now been made that they'll be cut down and
00:17preserved at the Historic Dockyard in Chatham as part of a £9.5 million operation.
00:24So once the masts have been removed, they will all being well make their way to the Historic Dockyard where
00:29we will start a process of conservation and preservation.
00:32And the first part of that will be undertaking condition assessments, understanding what actually do they look like, what are
00:39the problems they're going to be facing.
00:40These are masts that have been under the water for over 70 years now, over 80 years actually.
00:45So understanding the condition, what we need to do, how we need to conserve them, what that looks like will
00:51be the first process we then look at.
00:52And then we will start to do that. And our intention is we do that in front of the public
00:57so people can actually get up front and hopefully see these masts whilst they're initially being conserved with us.
01:03So far behind me in the distance is the three masts and there was a planned boat trip today to
01:08go out and see them.
01:09But as you can tell, it's just too windy. But as the masts are being removed, these are the kind
01:15of conditions that the workers could be fighting against.
01:17Still on board the SS Monte is 1,400 tonnes of unarmed munitions, meaning this is no reckless operation.
01:26What we've done is identified areas where this jack-up barge can safely anchor itself at the bow section and
01:34the stern section in order to chop the masts off.
01:37So minimal contact with the ship by the jack-up barge and only the crane and the saw onto the
01:42masts and off.
01:43So I would stress that we're not interacting with the safe to transport munitions.
01:48So those masts that you could barely see in the water will be transported here to Chatham Historical Dockyard.
01:55They're not yet known how they're going to be preserved. They could be half in water, half not in water,
02:00and you could possibly get just close enough to touch them.
02:04Whether or not they're going to stay here at the dockyard is not yet known.
02:07What's happening is these masts are being removed. They're getting taken to Chatham Historic Dockyard for important preservation work.
02:13And then we'll come to a decision about where best they need to be so that local communities can have
02:18access to them and that everybody can share in this really important part of our local maritime history.
02:23While a decision is being made about where the permanent homes for the masts should be, the wreck itself will
02:29remain beneath the waves.
02:30But its most recognisable feature is about to surface in a whole new way.
02:36Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV, Sheerness.
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