The Port Chicago Naval Magazine Explosion, July 17, 1944
The Port Chicago Naval Magazine explosion became the worst home-front disaster of World War II. On July 17, 1944, the massive detonation of 3.5 million pounds of high explosives killed 320, injured 390, and caused an estimated $12.5 million in property damage (in 1944 dollars).
Port Chicago, about 30 miles north of San Francisco, was developed into a munitions facility when the Naval Ammunition Depot at Mare Island, Vallejo, California, could not fully meet the war effort. By the summer of 1944, expansion of the Port Chicago facility allowed for loading two ships simultaneously around the clock. Unfortunately, safety requirements were overlooked in the rush to keep up chaotic loading schedules. Nevertheless, white naval officers and senior enlisted personnel assigned generally segregated African-American units to the dangerous loading operations. For the most part, these men had not been trained in handling munitions.
On the evening of July 17, the SS Quinault Victory and S.S.E.A. Bryan, two merchant ships, were being loaded. Their holds were packed with 4,600 tons of explosivesbombs, depth charges and ammunition. Another 400 tons of explosives were nearby on rail cars. Approximately 320 workers had been on or near the pier when, at 10:18 p.m., a sequence of huge explosions over several seconds destroyed everything and everyone in the vicinity. It was reported that blasts were felt as far away as Nevada and the resulting damage extended as far as San Francisco. Most of the buildings in Port Chicago were damaged and people were literally knocked to the ground. Fire and smoke could be seen almost two miles into the air. It was rumored that a pilot of a plane flying at 9,000 feet in the area reported that metal chunks from the explosion flew past him.