Largest artificial non-nuclear explosions
There have been many extremely large explosions, accidental and intentional, caused by modern high explosives, boiling liquid expanding vapour explosions, older explosives such as gunpowder, volatile petroleum-based fuels such as petrol, and other chemical reactions. This list contains the largest known examples, sorted by date. An unambiguous ranking in order of severity is not possible; a 1994 study by historian Jay White of 130 large explosions suggested that they need to be ranked by an overall effect of power, quantity, radius, loss of life and property destruction, but concluded that such rankings are difficult to assess.
The weight of an explosive does not correlate directly with the energy or destructive effect of an explosion, as these can depend upon many other factors such as containment, proximity, purity, preheating, and external oxygenation.
For this article, explosion means "the sudden conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy", as defined by the US National Fire Protection Association, or the common dictionary meaning, "a violent and destructive shattering or blowing apart of something". No distinction is made as to whether it is a deflagration with subsonic propagation or a detonation with supersonic propagation. The resulting explosions can still be ranked by their effects however, using TNT equivalence.Fall of Antwerp
On 4 April 1585, during the Spanish siege of Antwerp, a fortified bridge named "Puente Farnesio" had been built by the Spanish on the River Scheldt. The Dutch launched four large hellburners to destroy the bridge and thereby isolate the city from reinforcement. Three of the hellburners failed to reach the target, but one containing four tons of explosive struck the bridge. It did not explode immediately, which gave time for some Spaniards, believing the ship to be a conventional fire ship, to board it to attempt to extinguish it. There was then a devastating blast that killed 800 Spaniards on the bridge, throwing bodies, rocks and pieces of metal a distance of several kilometres. A small tsunami arose in the river, the ground shook for kilometres around and a large, dark cloud covered the area. The blast was felt as far as away in Ghent, where windows vibrated.Wanggongchang Explosion
About nine o'clock in the morning of 30 May 1626, an explosion of combustibles at the Wanggongchang Armory in Ming-era Beijing, China, destroyed almost everything within an area of surrounding the site. The estimated death toll was 20,000. About half of Beijing, from Xuanwumen Gate in the South to the modern West Chang'an Boulevard in the North, was affected. Guard units stationed as far away as Tongzhou, nearly away, reported hearing the blast and feeling the earth tremble.Great Torrington, Devon
On 16 February 1646, 80 barrels of gunpowder were accidentally ignited by a stray spark during the Battle of Torrington in the English Civil War, destroying the church in which the magazine was located and killing several Royalist guards and a large number of Parliamentarian prisoners who were being kept there. The explosion effectively ended the battle, bringing victory to the Parliamentarians. It almost killed the Parliamentarian commander, Sir Thomas Fairfax. Great damage was caused.About 30 tonnes of gunpowder exploded on 12 October 1654, destroying much of the city of Delft in the Netherlands. More than a hundred people were killed and thousands were injured.Siege of Buda
On 22 July 1686, 80 tons of gunpowder exploded in the castle of Buda, killing 1,500 Ottoman defenders and destroying a large portion of the defences. According to contemporary accounts, the blast wave also pushed the Danube out of its riverbed, destroying boats and causing flooding on the left bank. The cause of the explosion was most likely a shot fired by a famed Italian artillery officer and Franciscan friar, "Fiery" Gabriel, which penetrated into the underground ammunition dump.Destruction of the Parthenon
On 26 September 1687, the Parthenon, up until then intact, was ruined partially when an Ottoman ammunition bunker inside was struck by a Venetian mortar. 300 Turkish soldiers were killed in the explosion.On 18 August 1769, the Bastion of San Nazaro in Brescia, Italy was struck by lightning. The resulting fire ignited 90 tonnes of gunpowder being stored, and the subsequent explosion destroyed one-sixth of the city and killed 3,000 people.Leiden gunpowder disaster
On 12 January 1807, a ship carrying hundreds of barrels of black powder exploded in the city of Leiden in the Kingdom of Holland. The disaster killed 151 people and destroyed more than 200 buildings in the city.On 26 August 1810, in Almeida, Portugal, during the Peninsular War phase of the Napoleonic Wars, French Grande Armée forces commanded by Marshal André Masséna besieged the garrison; the garrison was commanded by British Brigadier General William Cox. A shell made a chance hit on the medieval castle, within the star fortress, which was being used as the powder magazine. It ignited 4,000 prepared charges, which in turn ignited 68 tonnes of black powder and 1,000,000 musket cartridges. The ensuing explosions killed 600 defenders and wounded 300. The medieval castle was destroyed and sections of the defences were damaged. Unable to reply to the French cannonade without gunpowder, Cox was forced to capitulate the next day with the survivors of the blast and 100 cannons. The French losses during the operation were 58 killed and 320 wounded.Fort York magazine explosion
On 27 April 1813, the magazine of Fort York in York, Ontario was fired by retreating British troops during an American invasion. 13.6 tonnes of gunpowder and thirty thousand cartridges exploded sending debris, cannonballs and musketballs over the American troops. Thirty-eight soldiers, including General Zebulon Pike, the American commander, were killed and 222 were wounded.Battle of Negro Fort
On 27 July 1816, a fort built in the War of 1812 by the British Army at Prospect Bluff in Spanish West Florida, and occupied by about 330 Maroons, Seminole, and Choctaw, was attacked by Andrew Jackson's navy as part of the First Seminole War. There was an exchange of cannon fire; the first red-hot cannonball fired by the navy entered the fort's powder magazine, which exploded. The explosion, heard more than away, destroyed the entire post which was supplied initially with "three thousand stand of arms, from five to six hundred barrels of powders and a great quantity of fixed ammunition, shot, shells". About 270 men, women and children lay dead. General Edmund P. Gaines later said that the "explosion was awful and the scene horrible beyond description". Reports mention no American military casualties.On 30 December 1848, in Multan during the Second Anglo-Sikh war, a mortar shell hit 180 tonnes of gunpowder stored in a mosque, causing an explosion and many casualties.The 6 October 1854 great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead, UK, caused the explosion of combustibles in a bond warehouse on the quayside, which rained masonry and flaming timbers across wide areas of both cities, and left a crater with a depth of and in diameter. The explosion was heard at locations as far as away. 53 people died, and 400 to 500 were injured.On 6 November 1856 lightning struck 3,000 to 6,000 hundredweight of gunpowder stored by the Ottoman Empire in the bell tower of the Church of St John of the Collachium near the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes in Rhodes, causing a blast that destroyed large parts of the city and killed 4,000 people.During the US Civil War at 4:44 a.m. on 30 July 1864, the Union Army of the Potomac besieging the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia at Petersburg, Virginia detonated a mine containing 320 kegs of gunpowder, totalling 8,000 pounds under the Confederate entrenchments. The explosion killed 278 Confederate soldiers of the 18th and 22nd South Carolina regiments and created a crater 170 feet long, 100 to 120 feet wide, and at least 30 feet deep. After the explosion, attacking Union forces charged into the crater instead of around its rim. Trapped in the crater of their own making, the Union forces were easy targets for the Confederate soldiers once they recovered from the shock of the explosion. Union forces suffered 3798 casualties vs 1491 total losses for the Confederates. The Union forces failed to break through the Confederate defences despite the success of the mine. The Battle of the Crater was thus a victory for the Confederacy. However, the siege continued.In 1865 during the US Civil War, after the Union Army captured Fort Fisher, North Carolina, the accidental explosion of the fort magazine resulted in an estimated 200 deaths.Mobile magazine explosion
On 25 May 1865, in Mobile, Alabama, in the United States, an ordnance depot exploded, killing 300 people. This event occurred six weeks after the end of the American Civil War, during the occupation of the city by victorious Federal troops.Flood Rock explosion
On 10 October 1885 in New York City, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers detonated 300,000 pounds of explosives on Flood Rock, annihilating the island, in order to clear the Hell Gate tidal strait for the benefit of East River shipping traffic. The explosion sent a geyser of water in the air; the blast was felt as far away as Princeton, New Jersey. The explosion has been described as "the largest planned explosion before testing began for the atomic bomb". Rubble from the detonation was used in 1890 to fill the gap between Great Mill Rock and Little Mill Rock, merging the two into a single island, Mill Rock.