Remembering the Port Chicago Disaster

This story was originally published in the June 26, 2015 Pioneer.

July 17 will mark the 75th anniversary of the munitions explosion at the Port Chicago Naval base that rocked the tiny town and sent repercussions clear to Washington in undoing racial segregation in the military.

Little noted in modern textbooks, the Port Chicago munitions explosion and subsequent mutiny was an important historical event of unparalleled consequences.

Many Bay Area residents know the Port Chicago Highway exit from Highway 4, but few know the history of this proud little town that provided countless tons of ammunition to both World War II and the Vietnam War efforts.

The 1944 explosion claimed 320 lives and wounded more than 400. The casualties represented the single largest loss of life on American soil during World War II. The blast hit a 40-mile radius, with about 10,000 verified damage claims — mostly broken windows — from as far as Vacaville, Petaluma, Brentwood, Rio Vista and Belmont. More serious structural damage and severe injuries occurred in a smaller radius, including parts of Solano County and central Contra Costa.

Authorities recovered 80 bodies, but could only identify 30 of them. Cleanup crews found boots with feet in them and gloves with severed hands. The SS Quinalt Victory was blown to bits and scattered at least 600 yards away, while no trace of the SS E.A. Bryan could be found.

Dean McLeod, a local historian who did extensive research into the event, said, “The government’s investigation into causes was superficial. The port had to get back to work. Questions remain as to the cause of the explosion, ranging from conspiracy theory to sabotage.”

The official cause of the disaster, listed as faulty handling of the weapons, is certainly understandable. The enlisted men and the officers were poorly trained in the handling of explosives. Competition between divisions in poundage loaded during a shift took precedent over safety.

A curious aftermath to the blast, according to McLeod, was the government investigation: “They seemed more interested in the effects of the explosion, rather than the cause.”

The disaster allowed the Manhattan Project to measure the kind of damage that could be done by a blast. Capt. William Parsons, chief ordnance officer of the Manhattan Project, was immediately on the scene to investigate the effects. Some wondered if perhaps the explosion was not an accident, but rather a test of an experimental port-busting weapon under study by the Manhattan Project.

Another unconfirmed theory maintains that a torpedo-carrying Japanese mini-sub found its way through the bay, as was done at Pearl Harbor.

The Mutiny

Whatever the cause, however, the disaster led to mutiny charges of African-American sailors who refused to continue loading the munitions, and a serious examination of racism in the Navy.

Known as the Port Chicago 50, these African-American sailors represented the largest case of mutiny in the history of the Navy.

After helping in the cleanup and seeing the horrific damage done by the blast, the African-American sailors from Port Chicago were transferred to Mare Island. On Aug. 9 they were told to report to duty. The overriding fear of another blast permeated their thoughts.

Of the three divisions assigned to load munitions that day, 258 out of 328 sailors refused, citing fear as their reason. The dissenters were loaded onto a makeshift prison on a barge and held there.

Steve Sheinkin, who chronicled the events in his book “The Port Chicago 50,” reported that Admiral Carleton Wright addressed the dissenters two days later, telling them that their actions were considered mutinous and the penalty, during wartime, could be death by firing squad. At that point, 214 went back to work, leaving 44 behind.

Eventually, 50 sailors (half of them teenagers) refused to load ammunition. They did not refuse work, but requested any other assignment or changes in the current procedures. The trial began Sept. 14 on Treasure Island. To this day, it remains the largest mutiny trial in the Navy’s history. They were all found guilty, sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in prison and dishonorable discharge from the Navy.

Even after the war was won, the case put considerable pressure on the Navy. Thurgood Marshall presented an appeal; Eleanor Roosevelt followed the case and members of Congress called for an investigation.

After a little over a year at Terminal Island, all 50 were released and given assignments aboard ships. In 1948, President Truman’s historic order ended segregation in the military.

The Evolution of Port Chicago

The name Bay Point was first used as far back as the 1850s and described its primary geographic feature, a spit of land that juts into the Suisun Bay.

The name was officially changed to Chicago in 1931, but was soon amended to Port Chicago after objections from the U.S. Postal Service.

When World War II broke out, the Navy had to expand Mare Island. McLeod stated, “Most of the Bay Area cried ‘not in my backyard,’ but Port Chicago welcomed the Navy with open arms.”

The closing of the Coos Bay Lumber Company in 1932 resulted in the town losing 75 percent of its jobs. The Navy brought prosperity back to Port Chicago.

The key value of the area included a deep-water port and two transcontinental railroads that passed through. Its relative small population and lack of industrial activity also added to its worth as a shipment location. In 1942, the Navy claimed 576 acres of the shoreline.

Two years later, however, the explosion changed everything. The blessing turned to a curse.

A Reunion

The residents who gather for a reunion picnic on the last Saturday of July each year recall when, at the height of the Vietnam War, the Navy served eviction notices and announced it would raze the town. What the residents didn’t know, and the Navy couldn’t tell them, was that the base had become home to top-secret development of nuclear weapons and they needed more of a buffer zone.

The National Park Service offers guided 1.5 hour tours of Port Chicago Naval Magazine throughout the year on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 1:30 p.m. Not all dates may be available, and reservations must be made two weeks in advance online or by phone at 925-228-8860 ext. 6520.

For more information on the history of Port Chicago and the surrounding regions, go to the baypointhistoricalsociety.com.