SS Fort La Montee was a North Sands-class cargo ship, built during the Second World War and seeing use as an ammunition transport for the Allies in the Mediterranean Theatre.

Attempts were made to fight the blaze, whilst the harbour authorities, fearful of the risk of an explosion and damage to the other ships anchored there, ordered her to be towed out into deeper waters.

[1] Efforts to control the fire were eventually unsuccessful, and it spread to the forward compartments and into the holds where the ammunition was stored.

The entire forepart of the burning freighter then blew up, sending flaming debris raining down over a large distance.

A similar disaster occurred in 1944, when Fort Stikine, another hastily built and converted ammunition ship managed for the Ministry of War Transport by the Port Line, caught fire and exploded at Bombay, destroying several vessels in the harbour.