place

Port Chicago disaster

1944 disasters in the United States1944 in CaliforniaAfrican-American history in the San Francisco Bay AreaAfrican-American history of the United States militaryDisasters in California
Events that led to courts-martialExplosions in 1944History of African-American civil rightsHistory of Contra Costa County, CaliforniaHistory of civil rights in the United StatesIndustrial fires and explosions in the United StatesMaritime incidents in July 1944Military discipline and World War IIMilitary history of CaliforniaMilitary in the San Francisco Bay AreaMutinies in World War IIMutinies in the United States NavyNon-combat internal explosions on warshipsPolitics of the San Francisco Bay AreaShip firesUnited States Navy in the 20th centuryUse American English from April 2016Use mdy dates from April 2016Vague or ambiguous time from July 2023
Portchicago
Portchicago

The Port Chicago disaster was a deadly munitions explosion of the ship SS E. A. Bryan on July 17, 1944, at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California, United States. Munitions while being loaded onto a cargo vessel bound for the Pacific Theater of Operations, detonated killing 320 sailors and civilians and injuring 390 others. Two-thirds of the dead and injured were enlisted African American sailors. A month later, the unsafe conditions prompted hundreds of servicemen to refuse to load munitions, an act known as the Port Chicago Mutiny. Fifty men‍—‌called the "Port Chicago 50"‍—‌were convicted of mutiny and sentenced to 15 years of prison and hard labor, as well as a dishonorable discharge. Forty-seven of the 50 were released in January 1946; the remaining three served additional months in prison. During and after the mutiny court-martial, questions were raised about the fairness and legality of the proceedings. Owing to public pressure, the United States Navy reconvened the courts-martial board in 1945—that board re-affirmed convictions. Widespread publicity surrounding the case turned it into a cause célèbre among Americans opposing discrimination targeting African Americans; it and other race-related Navy protests of 1944–45 led the Navy to change its practices and initiate the desegregation of its forces beginning in February 1946. In 1994, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial was dedicated to the lives lost in the disaster.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Port Chicago disaster (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Port Chicago disaster
Kinney Boulevard,

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Website Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Port Chicago disasterContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 38.0575 ° E -122.02972222222 °
placeShow on map

Address

Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial

Kinney Boulevard

California, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Website
nps.gov

linkVisit website

Portchicago
Portchicago
Share experience

Nearby Places

Suisun Bay
Suisun Bay

Suisun Bay ( sə-SOON; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a shallow tidal estuary (a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay) in Northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, forming the entrance to the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, an inverted river delta. To the west, Suisun Bay is drained by the Carquinez Strait, which connects to San Pablo Bay, a northern extension of San Francisco Bay. Grizzly Bay forms a northern extension of Suisun Bay. Suisun Bay is between Contra Costa County to the south and Solano County to the north. The bay was named in 1811, after the Suisunes, a Patwin tribe of Wintun Indians. The Central Pacific Railroad built a train ferry that operated between Benicia and Port Costa, California, from 1879 to 1930. The ferry boats Solano and Contra Costa were removed from service when the nearby Martinez railroad bridge was completed in 1930. From 1913 until 1954 the Sacramento Northern Railway, an electrified interurban line, crossed Suisun Bay with the Ramon, a distillate-powered train ferry. On April 28, 2004, a petroleum pipeline operated by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners ruptured, initially reported as spilling 1,500 barrels (264m³) of diesel fuel in the marshes, but, this was later updated to about 2,950 barrels. Kinder Morgan pleaded guilty to operating a corroded pipeline (and cited for failing to notify authorities quickly after the spill was discovered) and paid three million dollars in penalties and restitution.

GoMentum Station

GoMentum Station is a testing ground for connected and autonomous vehicles at the former Concord Naval Weapons Station (CNWS) in Concord, California, United States. The property was acquired and repurposed by the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, acquired in August 2018 by AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah.In October 2014, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority announced that the GoMentum Station proving grounds would be used to test self-driving cars; according to them, "The public will not have access to the test site, and the self-driving cars will be restricted to the test bed site. With 2,100 acres (850 ha) of testing area and 19.6 miles (31.5 km) of paved roadway, the CNWS is currently the largest secure test bed site in the United States". Mercedes-Benz is reported to have licenses to test new driving technology, including smart infrastructure such as traffic signals that communicate with cars. Among the site's other notable features: "a 7-mile (11 km)-long roadway is great for testing high-speed driving, and a pair of 1,400-foot (430 m)-long tunnels" for sensor testing.Among the roughly 30 partners listed on the company's site are automakers Toyota and Honda, ridesharing companies Uber and Lyft and China-based autonomous driving company Baidu. In summer 2015, reports suggested the Apple electric car project was interested in using the site, as members of Apple's Special Project group were reported to have met GoMentum representatives but there were no subsequent reports of Apple personnel and vehicles actually using the site.In August 2019, GoMentum announced the October launch of its V2X (vehicles-to-everything) testing facility.