Black Tom explosion

Black Tom explosion
Black Tom explosion
Part of United States entry into World War I
	Black Tom pier shortly after the explosion
Location	Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
Coordinates	40°41′32″N 74°03′20″W / 40.69222°N 74.05556°W
Date	July 30, 1916 ; 2:08:00 a.m. (EST; GMT−5)
Attack type	Sabotage; State-sponsored terrorism
Deaths	7
Injured	>100
Perpetrators	Imperial German agents Kurt Jahnke; Lothar Witzke; Michael Kristoff (alleged);
Motive	Sabotage

The Black Tom explosion was an act of sabotage by agents of the German Empire, to destroy U.S.-made munitions that were to be supplied to the Allies in World War I. The explosions occurred on July 30, 1916, in New York Harbor, killing at least 7 people and wounding hundreds more.^[1] It also caused damage of military goods worth some $20,000,000 ($560 million in 2024 dollars).^[2]^[3] This incident, which happened prior to U.S. entry into World War I, also damaged the Statue of Liberty.^[4] It was one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions in history.

^ "Enemy Activities - Destruction by Enemy in U.S. - Enemy operations in the U.S". National Archives Catalog. National Archives. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
^ "A Byte out of FBI history". Federal Bureau of Investigation. July 30, 2004. Archived from the original on July 15, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
^ "Long: Terrorism's 100th anniversary | Commentary | roanoke.com". May 1, 2021. Archived from the original on May 1, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
^ Warner, Michael (April 14, 2007). "The Kaiser Sows Destruction: Protecting the Homeland the First Time Around". Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved September 30, 2021.