> Bullshit, the Halifax explosion of 1917 AFAIK remains the largest non-nuclear explosion ever;
>
> >From http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=feature/week2002/media02/hfxexp, and available elsewhere;
>
> >Although the ships drew apart without much damage, the Mont Blanc was carrying a devil's brew. In its hold there was 2,335 tons of picric acid, 203 tons >of TNT (ie. 400K pounds) and 10 tons of gun cotton.
Cf. Port Chicago 1944 explosion.
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq80-1.htm
>... African-American Navy personnel units were assigned to the
dangerous work at Port Chicago. Reflecting the racial segregation of
the day, the officers of these units were white. The officers and men
had received some training in cargo handling, but not in loading
munitions. The bulk of their experience came from hands-on experience.
Loading went on around the clock. The Navy ordered that proper
regulations for working with munitions be followed. But due to tight
schedules at the new facility, deviations from these safety standards
occurred. A sense of competition developed for the most tonnage loaded
in an eight hour shift. As it helped to speed loading, competition was
often encouraged.
On the evening of 17 July 1944, the empty merchant ship SS Quinault Victory was prepared for loading on her maiden voyage. The SS E.A. Bryan, another merchant ship, had just returned from her first voyage and was loading across the platform from Quinault Victory. The holds were packed with high explosive and incendiary bombs, depth charges, and ammunition - 4,606 tons of ammunition in all. There were sixteen rail cars on the pier with another 429 tons. Working in the area were 320 cargo handlers, crewmen and sailors.
At 10:18 p.m., a hollow ring and the sound of splintering wood erupted from the pier, followed by an explosion that ripped apart the night sky. Witnesses said that a brilliant white flash shot into the air, accompanied by a loud, sharp report. A column of smoke billowed from the pier, and fire glowed orange and yellow. Flashing like fireworks, smaller explosions went off in the cloud as it rose. Within six seconds, a deeper explosion erupted as the contents of the E.A. Bryan detonated in one massive explosion. The seismic shock wave was felt as far away as Boulder City, Nevada. The E.A. Bryan and the structures around the pier were completely disintegrated. A pillar of fire and smoke stretched over two miles into the sky above Port Chicago. The largest remaining pieces of the 7,200-ton ship were the size of a suitcase. A plane flying at 9,000 feet reported seeing chunks of white hot metal "as big as a house" flying past. The shattered Quinault Victory was spun into the air. Witnesses reported seeing a 200-foot column on which rode the bow of the ship, its mast still attached. Its remains crashed back into the bay 500 feet away.
All 320 men on duty that night were killed instantly. The blast smashed buildings and rail cars near the pier and damaged every building in Port Chicago. People on the base and in town were sent flying or were sprayed with splinters of glass and other debris. The air filled with the sharp cracks and dull thuds of smouldering metal and unexploded shells as they showered back to earth as far as two miles away. The blast caused damage 48 miles across the Bay in San Francisco.
-- Michael Pugliese