1945

A Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea torpedoed and sank the ship the MV Goya, which Germany was using to transport civilian refugees and wounded soldiers; it’s estimated that up to 7,000 people died.

1947

The cargo ship Grandcamp, carrying ammonium nitrate, blew up in the harbor in Texas City, Texas; a nearby ship, the High Flyer, which was carrying ammonium nitrate and sulfur, caught fire and exploded the following day; the blasts and fires killed nearly 600 people.

1963

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in which the civil rights activist responded to a group of local clergymen who had criticized him for leading street protests; King defended his tactics, writing, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

1972

Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon with astronauts John W. Young, Charles M. Duke Jr. and Ken Mattingly on board.

2007

In one of America’s worst school attacks, a college senior killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech before taking his own life.

Birthdays

Basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is 77. NFL coach Bill Belichick is 72. Actor-comedian Martin Lawrence is 59. Actor Claire Foy is 40. Actor Sadie Sink is 22.