Navy Exonerates 256 Black Sailors Unjustly Punished After 1944 Explosion

The Navy has exonerated 256 Black sailors who were unjustly punished following a deadly California port explosion in 1944.

On Wednesday (July 17), the Navy announced the exonerations exactly 80 years after an explosion at Port Chicago Naval Magazine left 320 people dead and 400 others injured from ammunition that detonated while it was being loaded onto a cargo ship, per The Hill .

Following the incident, white supervising officers at Port Chicago were given hardship leave, but surviving Black sailors were ordered to go back to work, clearing debris and removing human remains.

258 Black sailors refused to return to work as the reason behind the explosion and improvements in safety remained unclear. After the Navy threatened disciplinary action, 208 men returned to work, but they were still convicted for disobeying orders at a court-martial.

The remaining 50 sailors, known as the Port Chicago 50, were convicted of mutiny. Each sailor was dishonorably discharged, were forced to give up their pay, and sent to prison.

Upon review of the case, the Navy said it determined there were “significant legal errors during the courts-martial,” and the defendants were “improperly tried together despite conflicting interests and denied a meaningful right to counsel.”

The court-martial also took place before a final Navy report on the explosion, which “would have informed their defense and contained nineteen substantive recommendations to improve ammunition loading practices.”

Though all the Black sailors involved are deceased, their discharges will change to honorable and their family members will have the opportunity to see if past benefits are owed to them.

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