US Atmospheric Nuclear Tests Discussions

[NMaude]

I looked around and I couldn't find a thread dealing with US atmospheric nuclear tests (Which I find surprising as there's something similar in regards to the UK's 1950s atmospheric test programmes) so I decided to create one. This thread is to discuss the various US atmospheric nuclear test programmes that ran from July 1945 till November 1962 (Including a 1958-1961 nuclear test moratorium) along with various videos (There a LOT on YouTube), books on the matter, electronic documents such as PDFs and anyone else related along with various developments in nuclear warhead technology and various nuclear-warhead and bomb designs.​

Here's my initial contribution:

The Nevada National Security Site (N2S2 or NNSS), known as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until August 23, 2010,[2] is a United States Department of Energy (DoE) reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles northwest of the city of Las Vegas. Formerly known as the Nevada Proving Grounds, the site was established on January 11, 1951 for the testing of nuclear devices, covering approximately 1,360 square miles of desert and mountainous terrain. Nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site began with a 1-kiloton-of-TNT bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat on January 27, 1951. Over the subsequent four decades, over one thousand nuclear explosions were detonated at the NTS. Many of the iconic images of the nuclear era come from the NTS. NNSS is operated by Mission Support and Test Services, LLC.​

During the 1950s, the mushroom clouds, from the 100 atmospheric tests, could be seen from almost 100 mi away. The city of Las Vegas experienced noticeable seismic effects, and the mushroom clouds, which could be seen from the downtown hotels, became tourist attractions. St. George, Utah, received the brunt of the fallout of above-ground nuclear testing in the Yucca Flats/Nevada Test Site. Westerly winds routinely carried the fallout of these tests directly through St. George and southern Utah. Marked increases in cancers, such as leukaemia, lymphoma, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, bone cancer, brain tumours, and gastrointestinal tract cancers, were reported from the mid-1950s through 1980. A further 921 nuclear tests were carried out underground.​

#NuclearWeapons #Documentary #AtomicBomb #Atomic #Bomb #History #Science #Nuclear #Detonation #Thermonuclear #Radiation #Doomsday #Movie #Rare #Footage #HydrogenBomb #Hydrogen #Energy #Film #Entertainment #Effect #Underwater #NuclearExplosion #NuclearTesting #AlbertEinstein #Oppenheimer #LosAlamos #NationalSecurityScience​

Edit: Mods please move it to the appropriate one, please.

 

[xena]

Wasn't there a movie filmed near the test site where most of the people later died of cancer? The movie was considered one of the worst ever made starring John Wayne.

 

[NMaude]

Wasn't there a movie filmed near the test site where most of the people later died of cancer?

That was the Conquerer a film which was widely derided by critics (John Wayne played Temujin which was laughable given that Wayne wasn't Asian).

Nuclear incident and controversy, there were some 91 cases of cancer over the decades afterwards so I'd say exposure to nuclear fallout had a role but while John Wayne died from stomach-cancer he attributed it to his heavy smoking and while Lee Van Clef had throat-cancer (He died from a heart-attack) it was no doubt due to his heavy smoking (Something that was common in his generation).​

 

[NMaude]

Here are some documentaries on operation Crossroads (1946):

July, 1946. Bikini. It was the first of 23 nuclear tests the US government made in their race against the Soviets during the Cold War.​

A remote atoll in the Marshall Islands, set in the vast blue expanse of the Pacific Ocean between the Philippines and Hawaii. Ironically though, it was this isolation, that sealed the atoll's fate: During "Operation Crossroads" in July of 1946, two atom bombs were used to sink a ghost fleet of 84 vessels, destroying the natural environment and leaving parts of the huge atoll ring permanently contaminated in the process. The islanders are still reliant on imported food even today.

The American armed forces singled out Bikini Atoll as the place to detonate the first atomic bombs since Nagasaki. They assembled a huge fleet of decommissioned warships to be sunk in the most dramatic way possible. It wasn't just about testing the destructive power of the bombs though; at the outset of the cold war, they were also seeking to make an impression on the Soviet Union.

Documentary: Radioactive Paradise : Bikini Atoll (2008)
Director: Kirstin Bergmann, Andreas Sawall, Uli Weidenbach
Production: Context TV

#documentary #freedocumentary #bikiniatoll #atomicbomb #pacificocean #usa #marshallisland #atoll #island #bomb #operationcrossroads #america #sovietunion​

Courtesy: U.S. Department of Energy

0800002 - Project Crossroads - 1946 - 41:30 - Black & White - Project Crossroads was a series of two nuclear tests, Able and Baker, the first tests conducted at the Pacific Proving Ground, near the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. These were the fourth and fifth nuclear detonations in history, following the Trinity test in July 1945 and the two weapons dropped on Japan to end World War II.​

The two bombs used in Crossroads were of the Fat Man configuration, very similar to the implosion-type weapons tested at Trinity and dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. It had a plutonium pit. The only other nuclear weapon available at the time was the uranium gun-type Little Boy, which was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. The Fat Man was a more complex weapon than Little Boy, thus needing more testing to gain experimental data.​

On July 24, 1946, the Baker shot was set off in the Bikini lagoon at a depth of about 90 feet with a yield of 21 kilotons. Two million tons of water were contained in the eruption and two million yards of sediment were removed from the lagoon floor. Nine ships were sunk.​

Dating from 1946, this film "Radiological Safety at Operation Crossroads" shows some of the planning that went into the Operation Crossroads nuclear test series, to ensure that personnel were not exposed to dangerous levels of radiation and radioactive fallout resulting from the bomb explosions. This included the use of drone aircraft to fly through the atomic cloud, and extensively monitoring throughout the target area. Unfortunately the measures taken proved insufficient and in reality, many personnel may have suffered exposure as a result of the test, resulting in an average shorter lifespan of three months for participants.

The first atomic bomb explosion released a destructive blast equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT, but its greatest threat was deadly radiation, including neutrons, alpha and beta particles, and gamma rays. The severe effects of radiation, observed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, led to the formation of the Radiological Safety Section to protect personnel during Operation Crossroads. This section planned test schedules, monitored weather conditions, and tracked radioactive clouds. Specialized teams, including aircraft pilots and drone operators, gathered radiation data, while radiological monitors ensured safety by measuring exposure levels. Target ships and surrounding waters were carefully surveyed before personnel re-entered hazardous zones. Instruments like Geiger counters, dosimeters, and film badges were crucial for monitoring radiation exposure. The second test, an underwater detonation, created prolonged radioactive contamination, spreading fission products widely. Lessons from Operation Crossroads highlighted the long-term dangers of radiation and the importance of safety protocols in nuclear testing.

00:00:Introduction. First atomic bomb, an air burst, explodes.​

0:39: Blast matches 20,000 tons of TNT; radiation is the real threat.
1:04: Invisible rays and particles pose the greatest danger.
1:10: Hiroshima and Nagasaki showed radiation’s severe effects.
1:25: Radiological Safety Section formed for Operation Crossroads.
1:50: Weather tracked to predict atomic cloud movement.
2:13: Test Able set for July 1, 1946.
2:26: Monitors assigned to measure radioactivity.
3:04: Monitors joined aircraft and patrols with Geiger counters.
3:38: Drones guided through radioactive clouds.
4:35: Test Able detonated above the lagoon.
4:54: B-17 drone filmed the radioactive cloud.
5:06: Drone boats collected radioactive water samples.
6:08: Radiation contours drawn for safe re-entry.
6:16: Patrols surveyed the lagoon post-clearance.
7:08: Geiger counters measured radiation continuously.
7:29: Exposure limited to 0.1 roentgen daily.
8:19: Monitors checked target ships before boarding.
9:18: Dosimeters tracked accumulated exposure.
10:52: Film badges recorded radiation for all personnel.
13:41: Test Baker detonated underwater.
13:56: Fission products spread widely, increasing contamination.
15:39: Salvage ships washed radioactive material off vessels.
16:13: Long-lived fission products posed ongoing hazards.
24:44: Underwater test showed radioactivity’s devastating impact.
25:40: Lessons emphasized radiation’s severity and safety needs.

 

[NMaude]

Here's an EG&G documentary concerning operation Sandstone (The next nuclear test series after operation Crossroads):

In 1948, the U.S. nuclear stockpile consisted of approximately 50 atomic bombs. Since the industrial complex to produce more nuclear weapons was not fully complete and there were limited amounts of plutonium, researchers wanted to develop more efficient implosion bombs. Operation Sandstone was a series of atmospheric nuclear "proof tests" conducted in the Pacific Proving Grounds Marshall Islands area April and May 1948. The goal of this test series was to prove the workability of changes to implosion warhead design that used less plutonium. The first shot, X-ray, conducted on April 14, 1948, had a yield of 37 kilotons. The second shot, Yoke, detonated on April 30, had a yield of 49 kilotons, while the last shot, Zebra, occurred on May 14 with a yield of 18 kilotons.
​

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operatio...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUM4Zm9rVEtSUFhVZkxDLWNhT3VrX2RvVk1pM3xBR3JiS2FuT2lSWE5JU2tNcm9QdGZyOVMxZUlDdDRtX0NIVVNjOWh0XzJDVjJSRTZ0dDFucWlLR3ZFdm40Z1dFZ2x4Snd0QjRsTGNUQ2tNR2VTOG5pZUxRVXZEUEdjU0RZaHlG&q=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sandstone&v=FAK137HUlAM​

Operation Sandstone was the third American series of nuclear weapon tests. It was conducted in 1948 at Enewetak Atoll. These tests followed Crossroads and preceded Ranger. As was the custom, each explosion was given a nickname.

The tests were authorized on June 27, 1947 and Enewetak Atoll was chosen as the test site on October 11. The 140 inhabitants of the atoll were relocated to Ujelang Atoll in December.

The tests were used to evaluate new atomic weapon designs that had been developed at Los Alamos as part of the Manhattan Project but had not previously been used. The bombs used oralloy, a form of enriched uranium, as a replacement for plutonium, which had been used in all atomic weapons prior to this with the exception of the "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima, which utilized uranium-235. The X-Ray test used a 2:1 mix of oralloy and plutonium. The Yoke and Zebra tests used all oralloy.​

This Sanstone clip is from the excellent "Trinity And Beyond" documentary (Narrated by William Shatner):

his sequence from "Trinity and Beyond" shows the preparation of the atolls for 3 nuclear tests.

Full Operation Sandstone documentary:

Operation Sandstone was a series of nuclear weapon tests in 1948. It was the third series of American tests, following Trinity in 1945 and Crossroads in 1946, and preceding Ranger. Like the Crossroads tests, the Sandstone tests were carried out at the Pacific Proving Grounds, although at Enewetak Atoll rather than Bikini Atoll. They differed from Crossroads in that they were conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission, with the armed forces having only a supporting role. The purpose of the Sandstone tests was also different: they were primarily tests of new bomb designs rather than of the effects of nuclear weapons. Three tests were carried out in April and May 1948 by Joint Task Force 7, with a work force of 10,366 personnel, of whom 9,890 were military.

The successful testing of the new cores in the Operation Sandstone tests rendered every component of the old weapons obsolete. Even before the third test had been carried out, production of the old cores was halted, and all effort concentrated on the new Mark 4 nuclear bomb, which would become the first mass-produced nuclear weapon. More efficient use of fissionable material as a result of Operation Sandstone would increase the U.S. nuclear stockpile from 56 bombs in June 1948 to 169 in June 1949.
https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/documentary
#documentary #Atomic#History #Science #Thermonuclear #Radiation #Movie #Rare #Footage #Hydrogen #Energy #Film #Entertainment #Effect #Underwater #AlbertEinstein #Oppenheimer #LosAlamos #NationalSecurityScience #USA #China #UK #Canada #Soviet #Music#Rare #Footage #Film #2022 #2021 #Cloud #MushroomCloud #ShockWave #Videos #Book #History #Coldwar#History #Education​

 

[NMaude]

This is something LLNL did nine years ago which was concerning the huge archive of deteriorating films of atmospheric tests:

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory released thousands of declassified videos of nuclear explosions and posted them to YouTube. Christin Ayers reports. (3/20/17)

The U.S. conducted 210 atmospheric nuclear tests between 1945 and 1962, with multiple cameras capturing each event at around 2,400 frames per second. But in the decades since, around 10,000 of these films sat idle, scattered across the country in high-security vaults. Not only were they gathering dust, the film material itself was slowly decomposing, bringing the data they contained to the brink of being lost forever.

For the past five years, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) weapon physicist Greg Spriggs and a crack team of film experts, archivists and software developers have been on a mission to hunt down, scan, reanalyze and declassify these decomposing films. The goals are to preserve the films’ content before it’s lost forever, and provide better data to the post-testing-era scientists who use computer codes to help certify that the aging U.S. nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure and effective.​

Read more:
https://www.llnl.gov/news
https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUM4Zm9rUmJUczlpSXR6ajV4MDFkVWJ4ZmN1VHxBR3JiS2FudllGU3labTc2VktxSWVnTnBzWHFnYlhERGdiMC00VHZOZ1VITlZocG9sZkpfNWNLVF9GNS1IazVmQ0xEeWFMSFZpRl9CM3lYNUZzaHRsaV9mSU1RNDYwUFgyUTBO&q=https://www.llnl.gov/news&v=pWpqGKUG5yY
See the declassified LLNL tests:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvGO_dWo8VfcmG166wKRy5z-GlJ_OQND5
• Historical Atmospheric Nuclear Tests

I hope that the nuclear-weapons lab at Los alamos makes the same move.

If you haven't watched these films on YouTube, Scott, they should interest you.

 

[NMaude]

Something I highly recommend for other posters here to watch is Peter Kuran's excellent 1995 documentary Trinity and Beyond:

Here is the "Trinity and Beyond" trailer.

The grand daddy of all atomic testing movies in HD. Now available in blu-ray. "Trinity and Beyond" is an unsettling yet visually fascinating documentary presenting the history of the design, development, production and testing of nuclear weapons between 1945 until 1963. Narrated by William Shatner (Boston Legal, Star Trek) and featuring an original score performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, this award-winning documentary reveals previously unreleased and classified government footage depicting in graphic detail these powerful and awesome weapons.​

See it on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Trinity-Beyond...

The documentary is narrated by William Shatner.

 

[NMaude]

Some more videos from the Nuclear Vault YT channel:

Courtesy: U.S. Department of Energy

0800010 - Operation Ranger and Operation Buster/Jangle - 1951 - 1:17:00 - Nevada, Color, Sanitized - Operation Ranger was the first continental nuclear test series conducted at the Nevada Proving Ground (now called the Nevada Test Site). With the exception of the Trinity shot in New Mexico, all previous weapons testing was conducted at the Pacific Proving Ground in the Marshall Islands area.

From January through February, 1951, five airdrop tests were conducted. Some of the shots were designed to test trigger devices for weapons to be tested in Operation Greenhouse scheduled for the Spring:​

Able, January 27, 1 kiloton
Baker, January 28, 8 kilotons
Easy, February 1, 1 kiloton
Baker-2, February 2, 8 kilotons
Fox, February 6, 22 kilotons

Because of the low yields of the devices, the military conducted many tactical nuclear effects tests for the entire operation. Foxholes, textiles, plastics and wood were placed at various intervals to measure the effects of thermal radiation.

Operation Buster/Jangle, conducted October and November 1951 at the Nevada Proving Ground, was comprised of five shots under Buster and two under Jangle. The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory sponsored all of the Buster events, while the Department of Defense (DoD) sponsored the first Jangle shot, and DoD and the Laboratory jointly sponsored the second event.

The objectives of the Buster tests were to evaluate new devices developed by the Laboratory and to obtain data on the basic phenomena associated with these devices. The DoD Weapons Effects Test Unit evaluated the utility of the five devices for military application, while the AEC Weapons Development Test Unit performed diagnostic tests of the nuclear devices.

The two Jangle shots provided the first experimental data on the military effects of surface and underground nuclear detonations, determining response of structures to nuclear bursts, gamma radiation versus time and distance, and residual contamination from surface and underground bursts.​

Following are the essential details of the seven Buster/Jangle shots:

Able, October 22, 100-foot tower, less than 0.1 kiloton
Baker, October 28, airdrop, 3.5 kilotons
Charlie, October 30, airdrop, 14 kilotons
Dog, November 1, airdrop, 21 kilotons
Easy, November 5, airdrop, 31 kilotons
Sugar, November 19, surface, 1.2 kilotons
Uncle, November 29, crater, 1.2 kilotons

The height of burst for the four airdrops ranged from 1,118 feet on Baker to 1,417 on Dog.

Courtesy National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office

Operation Buster Jangle Military Effects Studies 1951 Vintage Atomic Bomb Film

 

[NMaude]

Several videos concerning operation Tumbler-Snapper* and again unfortunately with some redactions (I'm getting sick and tired of this officious nonsense):

Courtesy: U.S. Department of Energy

​

0800011 - Operation Tumbler/Snapper - 1952 - 47:00 - Nevada, Color, Sanitized - Operation Tumbler-Snapper consisted of eight nuclear shots in two phases. The Tumbler phase was of primary concern to the Department of Defense, which called for airdropped nuclear weapons tests. The Snapper second phase was a set of experiments conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission and the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory to help improve effects of nuclear weapons.

Able, an airdrop event on April 1, 1952, produced a yield of one kiloton. One of the experiments involved an analysis of the shock waves produced by the detonation. The Baker blast on April 15, 1952, with a one kiloton yield, also produced weapons effects data.

The news media was invited to view the Charlie nuclear detonation, a first at the Nevada Proving Ground. They watched from "News Nob," about seven miles away. Also, approximately 2,000 Army personnel, including paratroopers, conducted maneuvers beneath the mushroom cloud. The 31-kiloton explosion on April 22, 1952, was one of the largest ever conducted in Nevada to that date.

With the 19-kiloton Dog shot on May 1, 1952, the Marines got their turn at a nuclear exercise.​

They loaded into their trucks and drove toward ground zero until intolerable radiation levels forced them to abort the mission.

The Easy shot of 12 kilotons on May 7, 1952, provided scientists the opportunity to record photographically the birth of the blast measured in milliseconds. That is all the time scientists had before entire top of the tower was consumed by the fireball.

The sixth shot, Fox, was an 11-kiloton weapons development related test watched on May 25, 1952, by about 1,000 military observers from a distance of 7,000 yards. The soldiers were conducting radiation monitor training. A military display area filled by jeeps, tanks, machine guns, and artillery pieces was established almost under the shot tower, and all of the hardware was demolished.

The last two shots in Tumbler-Snapper, both weapons development related, were George, 15 kilotons on June 1, 1952; and How, 14 kilotons, on June 5, 1952​

Operation TUMBLER-SNAPPER 1952 https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUM4Zm9rUmhZMHdkS2g3RmpzbEJHMU9Qa3ZOOXxBR3JiS2FrMWZmREJNc2pkTV9TNGNTTW12a1ZoZGk2OE1UeW1CS0RuVk4wVEVRbWFsT1Y4M1QxQjlvTXlQVmNVVjF6NUxYSmNhekM2VTlCUk93MDdKcjIzNGh5U0JsbGp2ZjNN&q=https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/searchResults/titleDetail/ADA122242.xhtml&v=ijqth0l6AVA

Operation Tumbler-Snapper, a series of atmospheric nuclear weapons was conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) at the Nevada Proving Ground (NPG) from 1 April to 5 June 1952. The operation consisted of eight nuclear detonations in two phases. The TUMBLER phase, of primary concern to the Department of Defense (DOD), consisted of four weapons effects tests, Shots ABLE, BAKER, CHARLIE, and DOG. These airdropped devices were detonated to collect information on the effect of the height of burst on overpressure. Shots CHARLIE and DOG were also part of the SNAPPER phase, of primary concern to the AEC and the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. The other weapons . development tests in the SNAPPER phase were Shots EASY, FOX, GEORGE, and HOW. The primary purpose of these four tower shots was to gather information on nuclear phenomena to improve the design of nuclear weapons.​

This film documents the technological and methodological measuring techniques used and photographic analyses employed in the obtaining of data necessary to arrive at more accurate blast yield predictions.

Operation Tumbler : a photographic study of blast and thermal phenomena / scientific photography taken by EG&G, Inc. under direction of LASL for the USAEC; prepared by the United States Air Force, Lookout Mountain Laboratory, Air Photographic & Charting Service, Hollywood, California (22 min.)​

Project No. 85-1A-53

 

[NMaude]

Some videos concerning operation Greenhouse:

0800009 - Operation Greenhouse - 1951 - 22:00 - Pacific, Color - Operation Greenhouse was conducted in April and May of 1951. This test series consisted of four weapons related test shots from the 300-foot level on towers on the Enewetak Atoll Pacific Ocean, two of which greatly aided the pursuit of a hydrogen, or thermonuclear, device.

Carried out by the Atomic Energy Commission, the shots were:​

Dog, April 7, 81 kilotons
Easy, April 20, 47 kilotons
George, May 8, 225 kilotons
Item, May 24, 45.5 kilotons

The George experiment proved an H-bomb was possible and led to a crash development program. Item was the first test of the boosting principle, which involved increasing the yield of a weapon.​

Full documentary:

Joint Task Force Three Report On Operation Greenhouse (1951)

The two below clips are from the "Trinity and Beyond" documentary concerning the Greenhouse George shot:

This is the George Sequence out of the UHD version of Trinity and Beyond - the Atomic Bomb Movie. This version contains new footage of the explosion which has since been declassified from the old morph that was in the film.

Aside from testing and proving the two new designs, TX-5 and TX-6 (Weaponised as the Mk-5 and Mk-6 bombs), the Item test-shot was the first test of hollow-boosting (Using DD fusion reaction) effecting doubly the efficiency of the test-device yielding 45.5KT instead of ~22KT and the George test-shot was the first test of a fusion-device to see if DT fusion was feasible (25KT out of the total 225Kt was from DT fusion), the George-shot was the most powerful nuclear explosion date (Greatly eclipsed by the 10.4MT Ivy Mike shot in November 1952).​

 

[NMaude]

This is a clip of the first air-dropped tactical nuclear-bomb (A TX-7E) during Operation Buster-Jangle, it was 31KT in yield and was dropped from a B-45 Tornado bomber:

 

[NMaude]

Here are some old film reports in regards to operation Tumbler-Snapper:

0800011 - Operation Tumbler/Snapper - 1952 - 47:00 - Nevada, Color, Sanitized - Operation Tumbler-Snapper consisted of eight nuclear shots in two phases. The Tumbler phase was of primary concern to the Department of Defense, which called for airdropped nuclear weapons tests. The Snapper second phase was a set of experiments conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission and the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory to help improve effects of nuclear weapons.

Able, an airdrop event on April 1, 1952, produced a yield of one kiloton. One of the experiments involved an analysis of the shock waves produced by the detonation. The Baker blast on April 15, 1952, with a one kiloton yield, also produced weapons effects data.

The news media was invited to view the Charlie nuclear detonation, a first at the Nevada Proving Ground. They watched from "News Nob," about seven miles away. Also, approximately 2,000 Army personnel, including paratroopers, conducted maneuvers beneath the mushroom cloud. The 31-kiloton explosion on April 22, 1952, was one of the largest ever conducted in Nevada to that date.

With the 19-kiloton Dog shot on May 1, 1952, the Marines got their turn at a nuclear exercise.

They loaded into their trucks and drove toward ground zero until intolerable radiation levels forced them to abort the mission.

The Easy shot of 12 kilotons on May 7, 1952, provided scientists the opportunity to record photographically the birth of the blast measured in milliseconds. That is all the time scientists had before entire top of the tower was consumed by the fireball.

The sixth shot, Fox, was an 11-kiloton weapons development related test watched on May 25, 1952, by about 1,000 military observers from a distance of 7,000 yards. The soldiers were conducting radiation monitor training. A military display area filled by jeeps, tanks, machine guns, and artillery pieces was established almost under the shot tower, and all of the hardware was demolished.

The last two shots in Tumbler-Snapper, both weapons development related, were George, 15 kilotons on June 1, 1952; and How, 14 kilotons, on June 5, 1952​

The two-phase Tumbler-Snapper Operation is described in this video. The Tumbler phase tests were conducted to primarily study blast pressures under different conditions, while the Snapper portion tests were conducted to provide data for new weapons. The first four tests were airdrops, and the second four were tower explosions. Navy, Army and Marine troops participated in blast effects tests, including psychological effects on personnel viewing the explosions.

The troops also demonstrated that foxholes in the field were the best defense against the atomic blasts. Blast effects testing on vegetation, as well as effects on five different types of military aircraft are shown.
https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/nuclearweapons
#NuclearWeapons #Documentary #AtomicBomb #Atomic #Bomb #History #Science #Nuclear #Detonation #Thermonuclear #Radiation #Doomsday #Movie #Rare #Footage #HydrogenBomb #Hydrogen #Energy #Film #Entertainment #Effect #Underwater #NuclearExplosion #NuclearTesting #AlbertEinstein #Oppenheimer #LosAlamos #NationalSecurityScience​

The two-phase Tumbler-Snapper Operation is described in this video. The Tumbler phase tests were conducted to primarily study blast pressures under different conditions, while the Snapper portion tests were conducted to provide data for new weapons. The first four tests were airdrops, and the second four were tower explosions.

Navy, Army and Marine troops participated in blast effects tests, including psychological effects on personnel viewing the explosions. The troops also demonstrated that foxholes in the field were the best defense against the atomic blasts. Blast effects testing on vegetation, as well as effects on five different types of military aircraft are shown.​

The tests comprising the 1952 Operation Tumbler-Snapper were as follows:

• ABLE, April 1, airdrop, weapons effects, 1 kiloton (kt)
• BAKER, April 15, airdrop, weapons effects, 1 kt
• CHARLIE, April 22, airdrop, weapons related, 31 kt
• DOG, May 1, airdrop, weapons related, 19 kt
• EASY, May 7, tower, weapons related, 12 kt
• FOX, May 25, tower, weapons related, 11 kt
• GEORGE, June 1, tower, weapons related, 15 kt
• HOW, June 5, tower, weapons related, 14 kt