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Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mines_in_the_Battle_of_Messines_%281917%29?wprov=sfla1
TIL that 15 mines detonated at the Battle of Messines on 7th June 1917 created what is still one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in human history. The blast created a 12-metre deep crater and was reportedly heard as far away as Dublin.
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Just 6 months later, the Halifax harbor explosion was nearly 3 kilotons, which was vastly more powerful.
For the record the largest happened in December of that year in Halifax when the Imo hit the Mont-Blanc sparking a fire which then detonated the Mont-Blanc’s entire cargo of TNT. It leveled everything for half a mile all around.
For context: Dublin is about 430 miles away from Messines. And rather than the small round devices, ‘mines’ means actual mineshafts dug by trained tunnellers and packed with just over 450 tonnes of explosives.