Year retrospective · 1940s

1947

1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1947th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 947th year of the 2nd millennium, the 47th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1940s decade.

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Decade

1940s

Defining moment · 1947

The only mutiny in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy begins.

During April 1947, the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) experienced a series of non-violent mutinies amongst the enlisted sailors of four ships and two shore bases. Over 20 per cent of the RNZN's enlisted personnel were punished or discharged for their involvement. The main cause was the poor rates of pay compared to the rest of the New Zealand Defence Force and equivalent civilian wages, exacerbated by the release of a long overdue government review which failed to address the issue.

See april 1 in detail

Timeline

Defining events of 1947

1947 The only mutiny in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy begins.

Series of mutinies in the New Zealand navy

During April 1947, the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) experienced a series of non-violent mutinies amongst the enlisted sailors of four ships and two shore bases. Over 20 per cent of the RNZN's enlisted personnel were punished or discharged for their involvement. The main cause was the poor rates of pay compared to the rest of the New Zealand Defence Force and equivalent civilian wages, exacerbated by the release of a long overdue government review which failed to address the issue.
1947 Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line.

American baseball player (1919–1972)

Jack Roosevelt Robinson was an American professional baseball player who was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. The Dodgers signing Robinson heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball, which had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s.
1947 An explosion on board a freighter in port causes Texas City in the state of Texas, United States, to catch fire, killing almost 600 people.

1947 explosions in Texas City, Texas

The Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred on April 16, 1947, in the port of Texas City, Texas, United States, located in Galveston Bay. S. history and one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions.
1947 Bernard Baruch first applies the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.

American businessman (1870–1965)

Bernard Mannes Baruch was an American financier and statesman.
1947 The Operation Big Bang, the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion to that time, destroys bunkers and military installations on the North Sea island of Heligoland, Germany.

1947 destruction of bunkers on Heligoland

Operation Big Bang or British Bang was the explosive destruction of bunkers and other military installations on the island of Heligoland. m. on 18 April 1947 by the Royal Navy.
1947 Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to demonstrate that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.

Norwegian anthropologist and adventurer (1914–2002)

Thor Heyerdahl KStJ was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in biology with specialization in zoology, botany and geography.
1947 In Nevada, Boulder Dam is renamed Hoover Dam.
1947 The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.
1947 The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
1947 The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.