Okla-homey
7/17/2006, 06:02 AM
July 17, 1944 Port Chicago disaster
62 years ago today, an ammunition ship explodes while being loaded in Port Chicago, California, killing 332 people. The United States’ World War II military campaign in the Pacific was in full swing at the time. Poor procedures and lack of training led to the disaster.
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/3932/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzportchicagov e0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Port Chicago, about 30 miles northeast of San Francisco, was developed into a munitions facility when the Naval Ammunition Depot at Mare Island, California, could not fully supply the war effort. By the summer of 1944, expansion of the Port Chicago facility allowed for loading two ships at once around the clock.
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/1790/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzf aq8qg4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The Navy units assigned to the dangerous loading operations were generally segregated units. For the most part, these black sailors had not been trained in safe handling of munitions. Additionally, safety standards were forgotten in the rush to keep up frenetic loading schedules.
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8206/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzaboutp ortel9.gif (http://imageshack.us)
On the evening of July 17, SS Quinault Victory and SS E.A. Bryan, two merchant ships, were being loaded. The holds were being packed with 4,600 tons of explosives--bombs, depth charges and ammunition. Another 400 tons of explosives were nearby on rail cars. Approximately 320 workers were on or near the pier when, at 10:18 p.m., a series of massive explosions over several seconds destroyed everything and everyone in the vicinity.
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/306/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zz7hg7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The blasts were felt as far away as Nevada and the resulting damage extended as far as San Francisco. Every building in Port Chicago was damaged and people were literally knocked off their feet. Smoke and fire extended nearly two miles into the air. The pilot of a plane flying at 9,000 feet in the area claimed that metal chunks from the explosion flew past him.
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1947/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz716pxpo rtcjh0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Nearly two-thirds of the people killed at Port Chicago were black enlisted men in the Navy--15 percent of all blacks killed during World War II. The surviving men in these units, who helped put out the fires and saw the horrors firsthand, were quickly reassigned to Mare Island. Less than a month later, when ordered to load more munitions, but still having received no training, 258 black sailors refused to carry out the orders.
Two hundred and eight of them were then sentenced to bad conduct discharges and pay forfeiture. The remaining 50 men were put on trial by general court martial. They were sentenced to between eight and 15 years of hard labor, though two years later all were granted clemency.
The black sailors' refusal to accept the situation, their arrest and their subsequent court martial, was one of the events that led to President Harry Truman's desegregation of the Armed Forces three years later in 1948.
A 1994 review of the trials revealed race played a large factor in the harsh sentences. In December 1999, President Clinton pardoned Freddie Meeks, one of only three of the 50 convicted sailors known to be alive at the time.
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/5130/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzuntitledmq8. png (http://imageshack.us)
Freddie Meeks then
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6899/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzmeeksnowxd1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Freddie Meeks at the time of his presidential pardon
The Port Chicago disaster eventually led to the implementation of far safer procedures for loading ammunition. In addition, greater emphasis was put on proper training in explosives handling and the munitions themselves were altered for greater safety.
As an aside, you can "Google" Port Chicago and quickly see there are conspiracy theorists who believe the government deliberately caused the explosion in the form of a covert nuclear weapons test to learn of the weapons' effect on human beings, but frankly, that's whacked.
In 1994 a memorial was dedicated to the Sailors, Marines, Merchant Mariners, and dock workers killed in the blast.
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/5800/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzportchicagoeg9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The Memorial is open to the public, but reservations are required in advance. For more information contact the National Parks Service Memorial Superintendent at (925) 943-1531.
http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/3590/insane7zo9bg.jpg
62 years ago today, an ammunition ship explodes while being loaded in Port Chicago, California, killing 332 people. The United States’ World War II military campaign in the Pacific was in full swing at the time. Poor procedures and lack of training led to the disaster.
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/3932/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzportchicagov e0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Port Chicago, about 30 miles northeast of San Francisco, was developed into a munitions facility when the Naval Ammunition Depot at Mare Island, California, could not fully supply the war effort. By the summer of 1944, expansion of the Port Chicago facility allowed for loading two ships at once around the clock.
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/1790/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzf aq8qg4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The Navy units assigned to the dangerous loading operations were generally segregated units. For the most part, these black sailors had not been trained in safe handling of munitions. Additionally, safety standards were forgotten in the rush to keep up frenetic loading schedules.
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8206/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzaboutp ortel9.gif (http://imageshack.us)
On the evening of July 17, SS Quinault Victory and SS E.A. Bryan, two merchant ships, were being loaded. The holds were being packed with 4,600 tons of explosives--bombs, depth charges and ammunition. Another 400 tons of explosives were nearby on rail cars. Approximately 320 workers were on or near the pier when, at 10:18 p.m., a series of massive explosions over several seconds destroyed everything and everyone in the vicinity.
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/306/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zz7hg7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The blasts were felt as far away as Nevada and the resulting damage extended as far as San Francisco. Every building in Port Chicago was damaged and people were literally knocked off their feet. Smoke and fire extended nearly two miles into the air. The pilot of a plane flying at 9,000 feet in the area claimed that metal chunks from the explosion flew past him.
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1947/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz716pxpo rtcjh0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Nearly two-thirds of the people killed at Port Chicago were black enlisted men in the Navy--15 percent of all blacks killed during World War II. The surviving men in these units, who helped put out the fires and saw the horrors firsthand, were quickly reassigned to Mare Island. Less than a month later, when ordered to load more munitions, but still having received no training, 258 black sailors refused to carry out the orders.
Two hundred and eight of them were then sentenced to bad conduct discharges and pay forfeiture. The remaining 50 men were put on trial by general court martial. They were sentenced to between eight and 15 years of hard labor, though two years later all were granted clemency.
The black sailors' refusal to accept the situation, their arrest and their subsequent court martial, was one of the events that led to President Harry Truman's desegregation of the Armed Forces three years later in 1948.
A 1994 review of the trials revealed race played a large factor in the harsh sentences. In December 1999, President Clinton pardoned Freddie Meeks, one of only three of the 50 convicted sailors known to be alive at the time.
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/5130/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzuntitledmq8. png (http://imageshack.us)
Freddie Meeks then
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/6899/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzmeeksnowxd1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Freddie Meeks at the time of his presidential pardon
The Port Chicago disaster eventually led to the implementation of far safer procedures for loading ammunition. In addition, greater emphasis was put on proper training in explosives handling and the munitions themselves were altered for greater safety.
As an aside, you can "Google" Port Chicago and quickly see there are conspiracy theorists who believe the government deliberately caused the explosion in the form of a covert nuclear weapons test to learn of the weapons' effect on human beings, but frankly, that's whacked.
In 1994 a memorial was dedicated to the Sailors, Marines, Merchant Mariners, and dock workers killed in the blast.
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/5800/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzportchicagoeg9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The Memorial is open to the public, but reservations are required in advance. For more information contact the National Parks Service Memorial Superintendent at (925) 943-1531.
http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/3590/insane7zo9bg.jpg