There are of course thousands of stories about World War Two. What happened at Port Chicago is one of them. Port Chicago is located about 35 miles east of San Francisco. During World War II the site was a naval magazine storage and loading facility. The troops stationed there transported the munitions from storage bunkers to waiting ships which then sailed off to join the Pacific war effort. Needless to say the task of moving live ammunition from bunker to ship hold was a dangerous job. It was probably the most dangerous job on American soil. Also this type of job was not something that you wanted to rush and unfortunately, because of loading quotas, this was the case.On the night of July 17, 1944 the largest U.S. mainland World War II disaster took place when a gigantic explosion occurred while troops were loading munitions onto a ship. Five thousand tons of ammunition exploded which lit up the entire east bay San Francisco sky. The blast was so powerful that windows shook 100 miles away and 320 people were killed instantly.
There was much controversy surrounding the Port Chicago disaster. African-American sailors were generally assigned to this hazardous duty commanded by their white officers. There were also many accusations of pressure put upon the sailors to work harder and faster to attain loading quotas. Many felt that this type of work scenario added a much higher level of danger to an already dangerous assignment. There was a sensational court martial afterward regarding mutiny charges against sailors who refused to continue working this highly dangerous duty. The disaster itself was also instrumental in bringing segregation to an end within the military. To give you an idea of the scope of the disaster, approximately 15% of all World War II African-American soldier fatalities were attributed to the Port Chicago disaster. This was one of the largest World War Two navy disasters on record and there are today several good World War Two books available on the subject and the men who served in World War 2.Today, the area of Port Chicago is a Naval Magazine National Memorial. It is located on the grounds of the Concord Naval Weapons Station in Concord, CA. I believe that people traveling past this area will find a stop there historically rewarding.
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