Black Tom Island Explosion (NY)
2 Documents on file
Black Tom Explosion and German Sabotage in New York Harbor
The **Black Tom explosion** was a deliberately caused destruction of a major New York Harbor munitions complex in the early hours of **July 30, 1916**, at a Lehigh Valley Railroad depot on Black Tom in Jersey City. The surviving official record overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that it was part of **Imperial Germany’s sabotage campaign against American war supplies bound for the Allies while the United States was still neutral**.
The Black Tom Explosion of 1916: A Geopolitical Analysis of German Sabotage in New York Harbor
During the opening years of World War I, the United States maintained an official diplomatic posture of neutrality, which permitted American manufacturers to sell military equipment to any belligerent nation. In practice, the British Royal Navy's blockade of the North Sea cut off the Central Powers from Atlantic shipping lanes. Consequently, the vast manufacturing capacity of the United States was directed almost exclusively toward supplying the Entente Powers.