Port Chicago Explosion
From SkepticWiki
The Port Chicago Explosion was a massive accidental explosion that occurred at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine on the Sacramento River in California on 17 July 1944. 320 U.S. sailors were killed.
No official cause was identified for the explosion. Two ships, were present, one empty, and one containing five thousand tons of explosives. Sixteen rail cars were on a pier, containing about 450 tons of explosives. It is suspected that mishandling of the explosives by hurried sailors may have resulted in the tragedy.
Estimates of the size of the explosion range from 1.5 kilotons to 2.2 kilotons [1] By comparison, the Hiroshima explosion was about 12 kilotons.
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[edit] Conspiracy Theories
There are at least two conspiracy theories related to the explosion. The first claims that the explosion was caused by a secret nuclear weapon which detonated accidentally. A more sinister theory claims that the detonation was intentional, and that the casualties were unknowing test subjects. Both of these theories were put forth by journalist Peter Vogel[2] These theories find particular popularity among African-Americans, since the incident and its aftermath were tainted by the racist environment of the day.
[edit] Occam’s Razor
Records indicate that over five thousand tons of explosives were present at the site, and were being loaded onto a ship. The size of the explosion and resulting destruction were consistent with the amount of explosive material known to be present, and the incident is consistent with the danger of the mishandling at a time when safety standards were lower than what they are today. Occam’s Razor suggests that we are not obliged to look for any further than the necessary facts to explain the incident.
[edit] The Nuclear Argument
Belief that the explosion was nuclear in nature is mainly due to eyewitness accounts of the explosion. Witnesses described an intense flash, and most suspiciously, a “mushroom cloud”. This bears a striking similarity to the now-familiar visual effects of the atom bomb, at a time where these effects were not generally known.
One of the strongest arguments that the Port Chicago explosion was nuclear comes from the fact that scientists in the Manhattan project used data on that explosion in their estimates of the effects of a nuclear weapon. A contemporary document estimating the progress of the explosion of a hypothetical nuclear weapon includes the item “Ball of fire mushroom out at 18,000 ft in typical Port Chicago fashion”[3]. This reference to Port Chicago has suggested to some that it represented an earlier stage of progress in nuclear weapon research.
[edit] Against the Nuclear Argument
The “blinding flash” and “mushroom cloud” generally associated with the detonation of nuclear weapons are not due to the nuclear origin per se. Any explosion of sufficient size will cause these effects. However, since non-nuclear explosions are rarely so large, we have come to associate these effects with nuclear explosions. While rare, there have been some “conventional” explosions which approach the size of a small nuclear explosion. The Halifax Explosion of 1917 occurred in very similar conditions, and caused similar effects, long before an atomic bomb had even been conceived. Like Port Chicago, it too was studied by scientists working on the Manhattan project.
The most damning piece of evidence against the nuclear theory is that absolutely no radiation or fission products are detectable at the blast site. These are the true fingerprint of atomic explosions, and can be detected easily at Hiroshima, the Trinity site, Bikini island, and anywhere else that atomic explosions have occurred.
None of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan project have ever claimed that the Port Chicago explosion was related to their work, even though many of them later became vocal anti-nuclear activists.
![[3]](http://www.portchicago.org/lastwave/images/hottg_low.jpg){kind=link}