Mark II: July 4 - August 17, 1944 - The Last Wave from Port Chicago

Chapters in PDF format

Chapter 13

Mark II: July 4 - August 17, 1944

James Conant and Vannevar Bush "James Conant's 17 August 1944 report to General Groves that the Mark II could be developed for combat use in 3 or 4 months time was made specifically in consequence of the Port Chicago explosion.

Previous chapters have shown that the fireball and column of flame that did result from the Port Chicago explosion were typical of a nuclear fission explosion and could not have been generated by the explosion of the 1,750 tons TNT and torpex charge weight of munitions emplaced upon the Port Chicago Naval Magazine pier and loaded as cargo aboard the Liberty ship E. A. Bryan, which was moored to the Port Chicago Naval Magazine ship loading pier."

Photo Credit
James B. Conant (left) with Vannevar Bush after witnessing the atomic bomb explosion at Trinity site, Alamogordo, New Mexico, 16 July 1945.
Source:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, photograph VB120

"For The Record" interview with Author Peter Vogel
Part 1 (30 min.) and Part 2 (30 min.)