What was the biggest explosion in MODERN times before we dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima?

Question

I'm not looking for ancient meteorite hits.

Answer 1

Halifax explosion.
During WW1 a munitions ship was hit by another ship in the halifax harbour.
2000 died, 9000 injured.

Port Chicago 320 killed, 390 injured NOT EVEN CLOSE.

http://www.cbc.ca/halifaxexplosion/

December 6, 1917 dawned clear and sunny in Halifax. Before darkness fell, more than a thousand people would die, with another thousand to follow. Nine thousand more would be injured and maimed in the biggest man-made explosion the world had ever seen.

I think you wanted only man-made explosions not volcanoes or meteors.

Answer 2

Halifax Harbor
The Halifax Explosion The Halifax explosion took place on December 6th 1917 at 9:04:35. It happened when the Imo and the Mont Blanc collided in the Halifax harbor. The Imo was a German Ship waiting for it's convoy. The Mont Blanc was a French ship trying to get into the Halifax harbor. The Mint Blanc was full of explosives (TNT, petric acid ,Gun cotton and something else). When the ships collide it made sparks witch light the explosives. The Halifax Explosion is the second largest explosion in the world. about 1900 people were killed and many more were injured. Most of the injuries were to the face because when people heard of the crash they ran to there windows and then the Mont Blanc exploded. Many people lost relatives. Halifax was practically flattened by the blast. About 160 people just disappeared. Not because they weren’t identified most of those bodies were found. St. Paul’s is one of the many historical sites that lasted through the explosion. Inside it has a piece of the Mont Blanc and it has a window on the west side with a face in it witch is said to look like Rev. Jhon-Baptiest Marou. He was an assistant at the church. There were tents setup on the commons for those left
The MOAB was and is pretty darn big, it is a 'new' bomb that was developed for US Military stuff.

Answer 3

On May 23, 1941 the HMS Hood, a lightly armored battle-cruiser, was sunk by 15" gunfire from the German battleship Bismarck. A projectile hit the after magazine which should have contained 480 rounds of 15" ammunition. A flash of flame from aft and a tremendously loud explosion destroyed the ship with 1418 men on board. There were only 3 survivors. The forward magazine also contained 480 rounds of 15 " ammo plus a number of torpedos carried above deck.

Port Chicago disaster. On July 17, 1944 in Port Chicago, California the SS E. A. Bryan exploded while loading ammunition bound for the Pacific, with an estimated 4,606 short tons (4178 tonnes) of high explosive, incendiary bombs, depth charges, and other ammunition. Another 429 short tons (389 tonnes) were waiting on nearby rail cars, which also exploded. 320 were killed instantly, another 390 wounded. The disaster is a cause celebre in the African American community, as most of the casualties were black, and led to a mutiny over working conditions.
source: wikipedia confirmed my memory

the question asked for size not deaths
don't sound so snarky I found many others that were bigger but didn't kill anyone to speak of.

Answer 4

The single largest explosion in MODERN times was a test firing of the atomic bomb. It was felt that a full test of the bomb was needed before the scientists and military would be confident it would perform correctly under combat conditions. On July 16, 1945, a device was detonated in a test explosion at a remote site in New Mexico, known as the "Trinity" test. It gave somewhere around 20 kt (80 TJ), 2 to 4 times the expected yield.

Answer 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

The Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the City of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, that had accidentally collided with a Norwegian ship in "The Narrows" section of the Halifax Harbour. Approximately 2,000 people (mostly Canadians) were killed by debris, fires, or collapsed buildings, and it is estimated that over 9,000 people were injured.[1] This was the largest artificial explosion until the first atomic bomb test explosion in 1945 and is still one of the world's largest artificial non-nuclear explosions to date.

Answer 6

Was it that munitions ship in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia during the First World War?

I remember that was devastating to the city.

Oops, others already answered. I remember studying the event in history class in the 1960s when a teacher was comparing the atomic bomb's impact.

Also read a fine novel on the event but can't remember the name of it.

Answer 7

As a footnote to Lynnie's answer, the State of Massachusetts and the City of Boston in particular, provided such rapid and huge assistance to Halifax that to this day Halifax sends Boston a huge and perfect christmas tree as an expression of gratitude.

Answer 8

An explosion of a ship in Galveston harbor, Texas in the 1920s. I don't remember all the details, but it was huge.

Answer 9

Mount Saint Helena explosion in Washington.
Man made- has to be first day of Iraq1 when thousand or more Cruse Missiles were launched each carrying thousand pound of explosive warhead.

Answer 10

I'll go with explosion of Mt. Krakatoa. It changed weather patterns all over the earth for years, and altered sunsets for quite some time, and caused a deadly tsunami, too.