Statue of Liberty – Ingliando

On this day, agents of the Office of Naval Intelligence of the German Empire caused the explosion of munitions and military goods worth some $20,000,000 ($580 million in 2025 dollars) that were about to be shipped to the Allies during World War I. The goods were stored on Black Tom island, an artificial island in New York harbour next to Liberty Island. On the night of the Black Tom Explosion, almost 1000 tonnes of small arms and artillery ammunition were being stored at the depot in freight cars and on barges, including 45 tonnes of explosives. Fragments from the explosion lodged in the Statue of Liberty and in the clock tower of The Jersey Journal building 1.6 km away, stopping the clock at 2:12 am. The explosion was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter scale and was felt as far away as Philadelphia.