Today is the 89th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion, which, up until the Atomic Bomb at Hiroshima, was the biggest man made explosion in history. In fact the Halifax Explosion was studied by some of those architects of the Nuclear Age at Los Alamos. Probably the chief lesson they took from it was to make the A-bombs explode in the air (air burst) to maximize damage. The Halifax explosion was caused by a munitions ship full of explosives and it’s floating above the sea bed greatly intensified the explosion.
If you are not familiar with the story a French ship, loaded with explosives bound for the war in Europe, collided with a Norwegian Ship resulting in the French ship catching fire. The crew abandoned the ship and it drifted into a dock at Halifax, catching it on fire. As many Halgonians watched the burning ship, and fire crews rushed to put out the fire, the ship exploded. It destroyed all of Halifax and Dartmouth within a 1/2 mile radius and virtually none of Halifax escaped some damage. Over 2000 people died (no one knows for sure exactly how many) and over 9000 were injured. Part of the anchor of the French ship, weighing over 1000 pounds, was flung over 4 kilometres by the force of the blast.
For a fascinating account of the aftermath of the explosion you can read this pdf, an excerpt of the memoir of Thomas Raddall, a Halifax author.