00:01Just another peaceful day on the Thames estuary off the coast of Sheerness.
00:06But further out to sea a huge underwater operation is taking place.
00:12Works to remove the masts of a second world war shipwreck have begun,
00:17funded by £9.5 million from the government.
00:21The SS Richard Montgomery travelled all the way from the USA
00:25before it anchored in shallow waters and grounded on a sandbank here just outside of Sheerness on sea.
00:32A barge with a recovery crew and seven divers are in place to work on the complex task.
00:38The team here say the removal has gone well so far.
00:42We're quite happy with how it's gone.
00:45Bringing the barge into position went really smoothly and we're off to a great start
00:49hoping to continue that through and see successful projects.
00:52But this high stake operation isn't without its challenges.
00:56The vessel was carrying thousands of tonnes of munitions set for France when she grounded.
01:03The crew in 1944 managed to unload half of the cargo before the ship flooded entirely
01:09and approximately 1,400 tonnes of explosives still remain on board.
01:15You know it's obviously a wreck that means a lot to this community
01:18and a wreck that has risks inherent to itself.
01:21So leading up to it we need to take each of those challenges very seriously
01:25and come up with methods and ways to do each step of the work that might not be how we
01:30normally do it.
01:30They need to be a step up to make sure that we take care of every risk possible
01:34given the unique circumstances of this wreck site.
01:37But how are the divers, five of whom are ex-forces, carrying out their work?
01:42Because of the visibility you don't see a lot. I think we had about a foot of visibility this morning
01:49which is quite good for us. So a lot of it is done by feel so when we're looking for
01:55items to cut
01:56it's done by feel. And we've also got a sonar so I can actually see what's on the seabed
02:02and I can see where the diver is and I can assist him to get where he needs to be
02:06to do the work that he needs to do.
02:08Once removed the masts will be sent to the historic Dockyard Chatham
02:13where they can be properly preserved before going on display locally.
02:17Justine Lata off the coast of Sheppey for KMTV
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