Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part II (Center: annex, commission)

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by huckster

If we want to mention other out of state catastropes into a historical old locomotives thread in San Antonio,tx, OK- The nearest one was the Titanic indeed ( no pun intended) Texas City, Texas explosion of 1946 - this one in reality did indeed dwarf the locomotive explosion downtown S.A. alright , and nearly anything else. Two ocean going ships full of deadly chemicals were moored at a dock in Texas City that day.
That detonation was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. Two Ocean going, Europe bound ships full of hundreds of tons of explosive ammonium nitrate, sulfur and fertilizer, detonated, perhaps it was suspected in a fire begun by someones cigarrette. They were never , really certain , the last time I read on it, of how the fire began.
The explosion was worsened by the sealing off of the hold ordered by the Captain of one of these ships, the Van De Camp.
Unable to completely extinguish the fire, so then, in order to avoid the looming explosion he thought = they tried to suphocate it. So. The ship became in essence, a smoldering super heated pressure boiler. The entire Fire Dept. of Texas city was killed immediatly. I believe vaporized.
The next day was the second explosion, the other ship moored next to the Van De Camp super heated by the first ships' fire- detonated, full of the same stuff . Ammonium Nitrate. I think they were attempting to pull the second ship away from the Texas City Dock at the time to prevent the second explosion with a tugboat. Poor people. There seem to be a lot of chemical explosions in this state.

I only mentioned Titanic because it was the same year. Must have been a bad year. You're correct about Texas City. . Wasn't the one in California around that time also?


Edit... Couple years earlier.
http://www.history.com/news/port-chi...n-70-years-ago

[huckster]

That was certainly a bad explosion at the Naval Yard. Horrific pictures of devastation there at the Naval base in California. Considering these three or four last entries -1946, along with 1914- both years could historically be considered as bad years for Titanic sized accidental explosions I'd say.
Yes. I suppose the Texas City, Tx and Port Chicago, California explosions did happen in the same year, 1946.

However. None of these could have been my fault as I was years away from even being born. Plus, I don't even smoke, so it could never have been me.
Do not look to me for any further explanation of these explosions.

Originally Posted by SATX56

I only mentioned Titanic because it was the same year. Must have been a bad year. You're correct about Texas City. . Wasn't the one in California around that time also?


Edit... Couple years earlier.
Port Chicago Disaster Stuns the Nation, 70 Years Ago - History in the Headlines

[TiredandRetired]

I guess I should mention the Medina Base explosion from the early sixties. I remember that one but I was just a kid. Maybe we should try to establish a time line.

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by TiredandRetired

I guess I should mention the Medina Base explosion from the early sixties. I remember that one but I was just a kid. Maybe we should try to establish a time line.

It's been discussed a few times in here.

Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part I

1963 - What a Blast!

[huckster]

One fellow here @ City Data, was working right in Medina Base when the explosion happened in 1963.
Went on to explain here, when I asked, that the storage bunkers were designed to blow off the potential detonation up into the air and away from the other bunkers and in so, not detonating all the other bunkers in a Domino effect.
These bunkers were designed in a funnel or cone shape he wrote, with the small end pointed into the earth and the wide end upwards so the charge would go off up into the air and so minimize collateral damage
from multiple explosions.
Which is exactly the effect it had except for a lot of glass windows in the area. NO other storage bunkers were detonated, so he said.
He also mentioned in ending that, "this was not the place to discuss this topic any further".
OK.

Originally Posted by TiredandRetired

I guess I should mention the Medina Base explosion from the early sixties. I remember that one but I was just a kid. Maybe we should try to establish a time line.

[SATX56]

I remember we had a portable Gieger counter around that time. Don't know if our dad got it to be sure if the Government was being honest or already had it on hand. A maternity nurse from the Nix lived near the old Quarry (Longhorn) off Jones Maltsburger. Her husband worked at Medina and told us about that day I forget now what he had to say. Seems as though he may have hinted it involved nuke materials. Doesn't mean it was a nuke explosion of course.

[huckster]

I don't really know anything about it, Medina Base, but I can find out.
My understanding was that it was a non-nuclear explosion, the risk was, the in nuclear war heads that were once stored there. It was a near miss I think. I really do not remember any more.

Originally Posted by SATX56

I remember we had a portable Gieger counter around that time. Don't know if our dad got it to be sure if the Government was being honest or already had it on hand. A maternity nurse from the Nix lived near the old Quarry (Longhorn) off Jones Maltsburger. Her husband worked at Medina and told us about that day I forget now what he had to say. Seems as though he may have hinted it involved nuke materials. Doesn't mean it was a nuke explosion of course.

[tclhd]

The San Antonio Express-News had an article about the explosion this past June as part of the papers 150th anniversary. It has accounts from the individuals who were working in the bunker.

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by huckster

I don't really know anything about it, Medina Base, but I can find out.
My understanding was that it was a non-nuclear explosion, the risk was, the in nuclear war heads that were once stored there. It was a near miss I think. I really do not remember any more.

From what I recall it's likely nuclear material was involved. But not as an explosive but simply scattered about by the explosion. I remember the event but faint memory of the explosion. We were probably no more than 2-4 miles as a crow flies from the base.

[Deep Forest]

It was tnt only. I was an evening shift security supervisor for the then Security Service area at Medina in the early 70's and was told the entire story. The hole where the bunker use to be was pretty much filled in when I was there and it's probably completely filled today.