65 years ago, on December 30 1959, USS George Washington, the world's first nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine, was commissioned. The term “Boomer,” a rather obvious reference, came into vogue as a nickname for those types of submarines shortly after.
During the civil war, the manufacture of powder and explosives was often handled by the most vulnerable, young women and children, whose labor was needed when so many men had been sent off to war. On March 13, 1863, the confederacy experienced a munitions disaster, in the confederate capitol of Richmond.