Halifax - The Largest Human-Made Explosion Before Nuclear Weapons

December 6th, 1917 – Two ships collide at just 1 knot in Halifax harbor—one carrying 2,925 tons of explosives—sparking a fire that railway dispatcher Vincent Coleman warns about via telegraph, typing "Goodbye" before the SS Mont-Blanc explodes at 9:04 AM with 2.9 kilotons of force, the largest human-made explosion before nuclear weapons. Nearly 2,000 dead, 9,000 injured – The fireball reaches 5,000°C, hotter than the sun's surface, vaporizing everything within half a mile and creating a tsunami, but the most horrific toll comes from hundreds watching the burning ship through windows—when the blast wave hits, flying glass shreds faces and eyes, requiring 592 emergency eye surgeries and 249 enucleations.