Port Chicago explosion was of interest to me. I loaded bombs for Viet Nam there and knew the basic story pretty well. I didn’t know all the details the attached Wikipedia article had though.
The competition to get ships loaded swiftly was not present when I was there but strict safety. The safety part served me well on one voyage where we off loaded a partial load in Korea before heading to Viet Nam. The Korean army practiced unloading the ship at night, trying to set records with regular troops while training them in cargo off loading. They tried breaking most of the safety rules to go faster.
I had a serious face off with the Korean lieutenant.