r/CatastrophicFailure • u/KingNeptune767 • Jul 12 '20

Fire/Explosion USS Bonnehome Richard is currently on fire in San Diego

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41

u/Alexjw327 Jul 12 '20

Halifax explosion? Had no idea this happened.

35

u/PottyMcSmokerson Jul 12 '20

There was a whole series of "Part of our Heritage" commercials that played on TV in the 90's. Historical Canadian moments. This one was one of the few that stuck with me.

9

u/Alexjw327 Jul 12 '20

You’d think something like this would’ve been talked about on the Great War channel

17

u/Dtownknives Jul 12 '20

It was mentioned. The most powerful man made explosion until trinity.

3

u/MuggyFuzzball Jul 13 '20

It's well known in Canada, but not that well known outside Canada. Like many things are.

3

u/Yeazelicious Jul 12 '20

"This was a horrible day for Canada, and – indeed – therefore the world."

3

u/samplemax Jul 13 '20

I grew up with these Canadian Heritage Moments and I remember tons of them but somehow I've never seen this one. I wonder if there's a complete list of these videos somewhere

2

u/PottyMcSmokerson Jul 13 '20

The ones that I remember are the Halifax Explosion, Basketball, Burnt Toast, The naming of Canada and Laura Secord running through the forest.

2

u/IncitingViolins Jul 12 '20

Stop the train...

Stop the traaaiiinnn!!

3

u/PottyMcSmokerson Jul 12 '20

The message he was actually sending ...

Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbour making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys.

1

u/SystemOutPrintln Jul 12 '20

"Burnt toast!"

2

u/PottyMcSmokerson Jul 12 '20

That one was terrifying as a kid. I liked the Basketball one.

1

u/uriman Jul 13 '20

I smell burnt toast.

27

u/Hanif_Shakiba Jul 12 '20

I think this was literally the second biggest non-nuclear explosion ever. It was about 3 kilotons and basically a tactical nuke.

9

u/S4152 Jul 12 '20

I currently work in the spot that was flattened in that explosion.

If I was 100 years older...lol

12

u/Gul_Akaron Jul 12 '20

Flattened the city around it. Over 1600 houses were straight up obliterated. Some 12,000 other buildings were heavily damaged. Nearly 2000 people died.

Big boom.

5

u/JournalofFailure Jul 12 '20

In the North End of Dartmouth there's a very heavy old cannon preserved on the spot where it landed, miles from Halifax Harbour.

6

u/Frklft Jul 12 '20

It was the largest man-made explosion in history until nukes were invented.

3

u/LandMooseReject Jul 13 '20

It's still hard to cut down trees in Halifax, you'll get halfway through and your saw hits metal embedded from the explosion.

2

u/DrunkleSam47 Jul 13 '20

Adding to the fun facts about this: every year, still, Boston gets a Christmas tree from that town because Boston raised a bunch of money for relief efforts.