The explosion was set in Texas City, Texas. It was on the southwestern shore of Galveston Bay. Seven miles from Galveston and 11 miles from the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston County. This eventful day had two explosion from two ships, S.S. Grandcamp and S.S. High Flyer.
The S.S. Grandcamp was a 437 foot long Liberty ship. This ship has the cargo of peanuts, tobacco, twine, and bunker oil. The Grandcamp arrived from Houston, Texas where the port authority did not permit the loading of ammonium nitrate.
April 16, 1947 at 9:12 am, S.S. Grandcamp exploded, killing almost everyone on the dock. The series of events happened early in the morning around 8:00 am when longshore men removed the hatch covers to finish loading a cargo of ammonium nitrate fertilizer which already had great amount on board. The Fire Department was called by the railway terminal sounding a siren alerting …show more content…
The theory of this method will be to put out the fire without damaging the goods. Steam vapors did not help but most likely have liquefied the ammonium nitrate to produce nitric oxide. Fire could not be extinguished and pressure blew off the hatch covers around 8:30 am with orange smoke coming out.
An order for a fire to happened there needs to be three things: combustible, heat, and oxygen. The rest of the cargo including the twine was the the combustible, the steam created the heat to about 850 degrees Fahrenheit, and the oxygen was produced by the ammonium nitrate itself. 9:12 am came and so did the boom that was felt 100 miles away at Port Arthur.
The once blue sky was now covered in black, thick, and suffocating smoke. The entire dock was destroyed as well as the Monsanto Chemical Company and numerous oil and chemical storage tanks. A chain reaction began of smaller explosions and fires were triggered by fiery pieces falling from the sky. More than 1,000 residences were
The S.S. Grandcamp was a 437 foot long Liberty ship. This ship has the cargo of peanuts, tobacco, twine, and bunker oil. The Grandcamp arrived from Houston, Texas where the port authority did not permit the loading of ammonium nitrate.
April 16, 1947 at 9:12 am, S.S. Grandcamp exploded, killing almost everyone on the dock. The series of events happened early in the morning around 8:00 am when longshore men removed the hatch covers to finish loading a cargo of ammonium nitrate fertilizer which already had great amount on board. The Fire Department was called by the railway terminal sounding a siren alerting …show more content…
The theory of this method will be to put out the fire without damaging the goods. Steam vapors did not help but most likely have liquefied the ammonium nitrate to produce nitric oxide. Fire could not be extinguished and pressure blew off the hatch covers around 8:30 am with orange smoke coming out.
An order for a fire to happened there needs to be three things: combustible, heat, and oxygen. The rest of the cargo including the twine was the the combustible, the steam created the heat to about 850 degrees Fahrenheit, and the oxygen was produced by the ammonium nitrate itself. 9:12 am came and so did the boom that was felt 100 miles away at Port Arthur.
The once blue sky was now covered in black, thick, and suffocating smoke. The entire dock was destroyed as well as the Monsanto Chemical Company and numerous oil and chemical storage tanks. A chain reaction began of smaller explosions and fires were triggered by fiery pieces falling from the sky. More than 1,000 residences were