The Attack on Black Tom Island (Known as Liberty State Park) June Research Paper

The Attack on Black Tom Island (Known as Liberty State Park) June 30th, 1916 - Research Paper Example Introduction The location of Black Tom Island was at the convergence of Upper New York Harbor and the Hudson River, on the New Jersey side of the bay, immediately offshore of Jersey City. Initially, it was actually little more than a forested mudflat. The name of the island accrues from one resident, who resided in the island referred to as Tom. Studies indicate that this dark-skinned inhabited the island for a long time. Around 1880, a there was erected a causeway to link the island to the Jersey shore and the builders also constructed a railroad on the causeway. Expansion also occurred in the island with landfills and there was construction of warehouses and piers. The Lehigh Valley Railroad Company owned and controlled the railway while the National Dock and Storage Company managed the warehouses. The use of these facilities was for shipping all-purpose consignment (Bryant, 2009). Black Tom was approximately 1,200 feet. It encompassed approximately 20 acres, magnitude of roughly 8 00 feet north and south and 1,200 feet east and west. German saboteurs destroyed the Black Tom warehouse before the United States went into World War I (Groundspeak, Inc, 2011). The attack of Black Tom Island and the resulting explosion of July 30, 1916 in New Jersey was an operation of sabotage on American armory supplies by German agents. The German agents did this as a way of preventing their Allies from using such powerful ammunitions in the First World War. The extension that occurred in the Island by use of landfill added up the boundaries of the Island to the limits of Jersey City. The ammunitions majorly stored in the Island came from the northeast (Unsolvedmysteries.com, 2011). The attack was successful since general rules favored the attackers in a great way although technically, America was a neutral nation during the explosion. Many people thought that the major aim of the attack was for the persuasion of the America to join the Allies and arbitrate in the war in Europe (Waronyou.com, 2011). The attack on Black Tom Island Before a 1915 obstruction of the Central Powers by the British Royal Navy, American companies were open to trade their materials to any buyer, but during the time of the attack, Germans were the solitary likely customers. Investigations indicated that during the night of the explosion, there were two million pounds of ammunition stored at the warehouse in cargo vehicles. This included one hundred thousand pounds of TNT on the Johnson Barge No.17, all pending for final delivery to France and Britain (Unsolvedmysteries.com, 2011). Investigations on the explosion also indicate that there was prior planning before the attack. In 1914, immediately after the beginning of war in Europe, the German administration posted a new ambassador in Washington. Count Johann Von Bernstorff came with a group staff not of envoys, but of trained German intelligence operators. In addition, the staff had an abnormally high budget of 150 million dollars. Although the staff carried out normal consular duties, they also guided a system of other agents in the Unites States. They selected targets for damage, and used their funds to purchase materials and bribe officials. In addition, German agents, for instance master spy Franz von Rintelen, endeavored to augment the injuries imposed by their attacks. Von Rintelen invented a volatile charge called a pencil bomb devised to explode when a ship was already out to sea