On July 17, 1944, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine near San
Francisco experienced a catastrophic explosion when two
ammunition ships, the SS E.A. Bryan and the SS Quinault
Victory, detonated while loading munitions for Pacific troops.
The explosion killed 320 sailors and civilians, making it the
worst home-front disaster of World War II. The incident also
highlighted issues of racial inequality in the military, as a
large percentage of the victims were African American
sailors working under unsafe conditions.
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