When I was a kid growing up in Texas in the early 1960s, I remember grown-ups talking a lot about the April 16, 1947 explosions aboard two ships docked at Texas City that devastated the port. Similar accidents have occurred in recent years at the fertilizer plant in West, Texas and the dock warehouse in Beirut, Lebanon a few years ago. But the Texas City disaster was the worst U.S. industrial accident on record and one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded. It started with a fire aboard the docked cargo ship Grandcamp:
en.wikipedia.org
The explosions may have looked something like this:
At 9:12 a.m., the ammonium nitrate reached an explosive threshold from the combination of heat and pressure; the vessel [the Grandcamp] then detonated, causing great destruction and damage throughout the port. The tremendous blast sent a 15-foot (4.5 m) wave that was detectable nearly 100 miles (160 km) off the Texas shoreline. The blast leveled nearly 1,000 buildings on land. The Grandcamp explosion destroyed the Monsanto Chemical Company plant and resulted in ignition of refineries and chemical tanks on the waterfront. Falling bales of burning twine from the ship's cargo added to the damage while the Grandcamp's anchor was hurled across the city. Two sightseeing airplanes flying nearby had their wings shorn off, forcing them out of the sky. 10 miles (16 km) away, people in Galveston were forced to their knees. People felt the shock 250 miles (400 km) away in Louisiana. The explosion blew almost 6,350 short tons (5,760 metric tons) of the ship's steel into the air, some at supersonic speed. Official casualty estimates came to a total of 567, including all the crewmen who remained on board the Grandcamp. All but one member of the 29-man Texas City volunteer fire department were killed in the initial explosion on the docks while fighting the shipboard fire, and with the fires raging throughout Texas City, first responders from other areas were initially unable to reach the site of the disaster.
The first explosion set fire to ammonium nitrate in the nearby cargo ship High Flyer. The crews spent hours attempting to cut the High Flyer free from her anchorand other obstacles, but without success. After smoke had been pouring out of the hold for over five hours, and about 15 hours after the explosions aboard the Grandcamp, the High Flyer exploded, demolishing the nearby SS Wilson B. Keene, killing at least two more people and increasing the damage to the port and other ships with more shrapnel and burning material. One of the propellers on the High Flyer was blown off, and subsequently found nearly a mile inland; it is now part of a memorial park, and sits near the anchor of the Grandcamp. The propeller is cracked in several places, and one of the blades has a large piece missing.
Texas City disaster - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
View from Galveston:
The explosions may have looked something like this:
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