Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 24. Chapters: Port Chicago disaster, Key System, Original Night Stalker, National Register of Historic Places listings in Contra Costa County, California, SS Quinault Victory, Concord Naval Weapons Station, John Muir National Historic Site, SS Red Oak Victory, Richmond Shipyards, California and Nevada Railroad, Maynard Buehler House, Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site, Point Richmond Historic District, Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve, East Shore and Suburban Railway, Harland Hand Memorial Garden, Camp Stoneman. Excerpt: The Port Chicago disaster was a deadly munitions explosion that occurred on July 17, 1944, at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Port Chicago, California, United States. Munitions detonated while being loaded onto a cargo vessel bound for the Pacific Theater of Operations, killing 320 sailors and civilians and injuring 390 others. Most of the dead and injured were enlisted African-American sailors. A month later, continuing unsafe conditions inspired hundreds of servicemen to refuse to load munitions, an act known as the Port Chicago Mutiny. Fifty men, called the Port Chicago 50, were convicted of mutiny and sentenced to long prison terms. Forty-seven of the 50 were released in January 1946; the remaining three served additional months in prison. During and after the trial, questions were raised about the fairness and legality of the court-martial proceedings. Due to public pressure, the United States Navy reconvened the courts-martial board in 1945; the court affirmed the guilt of the convicted men. Widespread publicity surrounding the case turned it into a cause celebre among African Americans and white Americans; it and other race-related Navy protests of 1944-1945 led the Navy to change its practices and initiate the desegregation of its forces beginning in February 1946. In 1994, the Port Chicago Nav...