Intriguing story,why haven't we heard about this ?

[DemInDistress]

AMERICA'S DARK SECRET
- The Port Chicago Disaster -
In 1944, the Port Chicago disaster killed hundreds of Americans in a single blast. Was it an accident, or was it America's first atomic weapons test?
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/portchicago.html

[Captain Hilts]

1. Because it makes no sense whatsoever.

In a highly populated area?

No.

[DemInDistress]

3. mookie...port chicago is in California

along the sacramento river,after the explosion the Navy bought the
property.At first I thought of the city of Chicago but found in the story its out west.thanks for looking !

[Captain Hilts]

9. I know someone who HEARD the explosion and had herwindows ...

blown out by it.

Her husband was in army ordnance.

She wasn't nuked. She's 83 and thriving to this day.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Yes we have and it was a dramatic explosion

caused by all the things that could go wrong in handling explosives, not nukes.

Sorry... familiar with it.

[DemInDistress]

4. nadin..

I seen many war stories and documentaries in 58 yrs, but i never heard
of the portchicago blast.After reading and listening to the author at
www.portchicago.com I can see how a gun-nuke could happen.I also seen
the Texas City blast from 1947,2 ships loaded with fertiziler blew up.
I saw the video "Trinity" an hour's worth of nukes.I never head of
port chicago.Good for you that you knew,why didn't you share that?

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. the nuke part is a legend

the explosion has actually been covered by the history channel of all places

They were loading explosives to take to the pacific, they were doing it FAST, and many steps were ignored

The sailors doing it were African American and the survivors were blamed never mind they were being pushed by officers, white officers, to ahem not even cover some steps

It also is suspected that these violations led to very specific situations inside the hull and the sympathetic explosions were more impressive than the primary.

[AlphaCat]

8. I hadn't heard of it before maybe 2-3 years ago...

[Captain Hilts]

10. Same thing happened in India during the war with the Brits.

Explosives are dangerous:

What happened on the Iowa happened on the Newport News and other battleships.

[kittykitty]

6. During the Vietnam War it was the scene of The Port Chicago Vigil

...an ongoing vigil. I believe munitions and war materiales were shipped out of there to VietNam. My husband taught in a little school, Canyon, in the hills behind Berekley, and Oakland. One of the kids father was he head of the vigil for years. They finally had to flee the country to Costa Rica.

[AlphaCat]

7. I've certainly read up on it.

There might even have been a show on the History Channel or Discovery about it.