Texas City Explosion

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Medium and long-term effects, in particular the outcome of the class action lawsuit mentioned in the introduction and the reconstruction of the port. See en: Texas_City_disaster # Reactions_and_rebuilding and en: Texas_City_disaster # Legal_case .
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The Texas City disaster (Engl. Texas City Disaster ) of 16 April began in 1947 with a fire in the morning and culminating in the detonation of about 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate aboard the registered in France ship Grandcamp at the Port of Texas City , Texas , followed by another 900 ton explosion on board the SS High Flyer . 581 people were killed. The accident was the subject of the first class action lawsuit brought against the United States government by 8,485 victims.

Ships

The High Flyer three days after the disaster.

The Grandcamp was a Liberty freighter (134 m) that was reactivated shortly before the disaster . After its construction in 1942, it originally served as Benjamin R. Curtis in the Pacific and was mothballed in Philadelphia after World War II. Because of the Cold War, the ship was assigned to the French Compagnie Générale Transatlantique to support the reconstruction in Europe. About 200 m from the Grandcamp was the freighter High Flyer , which had loaded a further 900 tons of ammonium nitrate and 1,800 tons of sulfur. The ammonium nitrate in the two ships and in the adjoining warehouse was fertilizer to be brought to farmers in Europe. The Grandcamp had come from the Texas city of Houston, whose port regulations did not allow ammonium nitrate to be loaded.

procedure

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The ammonium nitrate, which is used as fertilizer and also as an explosive, was manufactured in Nebraska and Iowa and shipped to Texas City by rail before being loaded onto the Grandcamp alongside a load of ammunition .

This chemical was manufactured in a patented process, mixed with clay, petroleum jelly, resin and paraffin to moisten and to prevent caking. It was packed in paper bags and then transported. The production temperature was saved, which increased the chemical activity of the substance. Shippers reported that the bags were still warm when they were loaded.

At 8:10 a.m., a fire was noticed on board the Grandcamp . Certain conditions can cause spontaneous inflammation, although the possibility of sabotage has been investigated by federal investigators. The fire could have been caused by a discarded cigarette. There were also reports of machine guns inside the ship, which could explain certain noises during the explosion.

Shortly before 09:00, the master instructed his men to intensify the fire-fighting work. This brought large amounts of water on board, which, however, triggered a chemical reaction and had the opposite effect, so that the explosive substances continued to heat up. The excess heat of the steam caused the ammonium nitrate in the belly of the ship to react with water vapor and nitric oxide that produced even more heat. This quickly led to thermal runaway and reaching a critical temperature.

At around 9:12 a.m., the ammonium nitrate reached an explosive threshold of 454 ° C. The ship exploded. This caused great destruction and damage to the docks, industrial facilities and the city itself, killing hundreds of people. The aircraft used for observation in the area were shaken. The force of the detonation brought people to their knees in Galveston, Texas , 10 miles away. Windows shattered in Houston, 60 kilometers away . People believed they heard the blow 400 kilometers away in Louisiana. The explosion threw almost 6,350 tons of steel from the ship into the air at supersonic speeds.

The High Flyer was badly damaged. Her crew watched the fire, but soon left the ship. After the explosion it burned and attempts were unsuccessful to remove the ship from anchor and to maneuver it away from the dock. About 15 hours after the first explosion, this ship and its cargo also exploded. The nearby Wilson B. Keene was demolished, at least two other people were killed and the docks and other ships with more wreckage and fire were damaged.

Extent of the accident

A parking lot about 400 m from the explosion site

The Texas City accident is generally considered to be the worst industrial accident in United States history. Witnesses compared the scene with the then still fresh images of the bombing of ammunition ships in the port of Bari by the air force in 1943 and with the even greater devastation in Nagasaki. The official death toll was 581. Of the dead, 405 were identified immediately, 63 never. The remaining 113 people were classified as missing or only parts were found. This includes all 28 firefighters who were on the ship when it exploded. It is speculated that the number of those killed could be much higher as no one knows how many sailors, illegal immigrants and travelers were still in the area. However, there were survivors even only 21 meters from the dock. The bodies of the victims quickly filled the local morgue, and some bodies were laid out in a nearby high school gym for the bereaved to identify.

A Monsanto chemical plant near the port was also set on fire by flinged burning debris. The chemicals that escaped as a result intensified the fires so that they could only be extinguished after two days.

More than 5,000 people were injured, 1784 of whom were admitted to the "Twenty One Hospital". More than 500 houses were destroyed, several 100 other buildings were damaged and 2,000 people were left homeless. The seaport was destroyed and many shops were flattened in the explosion or burned in the fires that followed. Over 1100 vehicles were damaged or destroyed, including 362 trucks. The damage amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars.

See also

literature

  • Eastlake, Keith: The Greatest Disasters at Sea . Gondrom Verlag, Bindlach 1998, ISBN 3-8112-1669-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephens, High W .: The Texas City Disaster, 1947. University of Texas Press, 1997. Page 100. ISBN 0-292-77723-X
  2. ↑ http://www.monsanto.de/Monsanto/geschichte_1960.php
  3. ↑ Meidenbauer, Jörg (ed.): Our century in the picture. The great catastrophes and accidents Bertelsmann Lexikon Institut, Gütersloh 1999, ISBN 978-3-577-14551-0 .

Web links

Commons : Texas City Disaster  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 29 ° 22 ′ 39 "  N , 94 ° 53 ′ 29"  W