- /Main Archive Effects Archive Charlie - |Sailor Hat| Date: 16/04/1965 Type: Surface/non-nuclear Yield: 0.5Kt Operation "Sailor Hat" was a series of conventional high explosive tests conducted at Kahoolawe island Hawaii, in 1965 by the US Navy. The purpose of these three tests was to study the effects of shock and blast on warships built to contemporary design standards. Each of the "Sailor Hat" tests used a 500-ton charge of high explosive, stacked in a hemispheric form on Kahoolawe's shore. This clip is of the second shot codenamed Charlie. View 2 | View 3 Operation Blowdown 1963 Date: 18/07/1963 Type: Hig-Ex, Tower @43m Yield: 0.05Kt Operation Blowdown was a joint UK-US-Australian operation at Iron Range in northern Queensland, Australia. The test was conducted to simulate the effects of a small nuclear detonation over a rain forest. It involved the detonation of 50 tons of TNT atop a 43 meter tower. The explosion turned the surrounding forest into a twisted knot making troop movements almost impossible. Operation Snowball 1964 Date: 17/07/1964 Type: Hig-Ex stack Yield: 0.05Kt Operation Snowball was a conventional explosive test to obtain information on nuclear weapon detonations run by the Canadian Defence Research Board with participation from the UK and US. A detonation of 500 short tons of TNT was used to study the resulting phenomena. The test was held at the Suffield Experimental Station in Alberta. The test used a stacked TNT block hemisphere, a method repeated in subsequent tests such as Operation Sailor Hat and Prairie Flat. The casting of the TNT blocks began two years in advance of the test. A total of 30,678 blocks were made with an average weight of 15kg each. When completed the stack measured 10m in diameter. The resulting crater was 73m across and within minutes partially filled with water. Many target objects were damaged by the blast, especially the heavy rockets, and two M113 armored personnel carriers were flipped on their side. PRC Effects Test Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a Mt A series of footage of atomic weapon effects tests conducted by the Peoples Republic of China. Flash Blindness Test Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a Mt Flash blindness studies were conducted during the Baker shot of Operation Buster-Jangle. Seventeen volunteers from the Kirtland AFB viewed the detonation through a variety of different lenses and goggles. The blast was observed 14 kilometers south of ground zero from a C-54 Skymaster. Immediately after observing the flash, the volunteers performed a variety of tasks using special instrumentation to measure the effects on their vision. Chorioretinal Effects Test Date: 10:50 UTC 01/08/1958 Type: Airburst @76800m Yield: 3.8 Mt Animal testing conducted during the high yield high altitude testing during Operation Hardtack I in 1958. Research was required to obtain data on flash blindness and chorioretinal burns recieved as a result of optical exposure to the initial pulse of nuclear weapons. Priscilla pigs Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a Mt Animal testing conducted during shot Priscilla of operation Plumbbob in 1957. The device used was a Mk-15 boosted primary with a yield of 40 kt. Components Tests Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a Mt Excerpt from a U.S. Airforce training film designed to allay fears of an accidental nuclear detonation, in the event of an aircraft carrying a nuclear weapon crashing. Buster Effects Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a Mt During Operation Buster Jangle, extensive testing was done on both materials and live animals. Pine needles, leaves and grass were positioned at along the blast line to measure the effects of a nuclear detonation. Anesthetized dogs and rats were exposed to determine the effects of the thermal pulse on unprotected skin. Redwing Effects 1 Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a Mt Animal testing done during Operation Redwing in 1956. Monkeys and rabbits are restrained and exposed to varying degrees of flash to measure chorioretinal burns. Redwing Effects 2 Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a Mt A compilation of footage showing blast and thermal pulse effects on on generic structures during Operation Redwing in 1956. Effects compilation 1 Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a A compilation of footage showing blast and thermal pulse effects on vehicles, structures and even the hardened cameras that were used to capture the events. This clip also shows images using rapatronic cameras which are able to capture the intitial explosion, an event lasting as little as 10 nanoseconds. The cameras only capture one image each with exposures lasting around 3 millionths of a second, so multiple cameras were needed to capture moving sequences. Effects compilation 2 Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a No additional data Effects compilation 3 Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a No additional data Effects compilation 4 Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a No additional data USSR Effects Test Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a Mt A series of footage of atomic weapon effects tests conducted by the USSR. Project Dugout Date: 04/1965 Type: Subsurface @-13.7m Yield: Yield: 20t (x5) Project Dogout was a non-nuclear underground explosive test series in 1965, consisting of the simultaneous detonation of five chemical charges. The primary purpose of the project was to increase the knowledge of row cratering dimensions in hard, dry rock. Conducted by the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station Corps of Engineers. It was intended to contribute to preparations for "Project Buggy, the first nuclear row-charge experiment in the Plowshare Program. Each charge consisted of 18,150 kilos of the liquid explosive nitromethane (CH3NO2), contained in mined 3 meter spherical cavities at a depth of 18 meters, spaced at 13.7 meter intervals. A mortar known as shotcrete, and a rubber compound were applied to the interior of the cavity to make them impermiable. Final AEC report on the project - [1.9MB] Dice Throw Date: 1977 Type: High Explosive Yield: Various sub-kt Test footage from the the Dice Throw event in 1977. A series of high explosive tests at the White Sands Missile Range designed to simulate seismic, airblast and cratering effects. 100 Ton test Date: 07/05/1945 Type: Tower Yield: 0.1 Kt In preparation for the Trinity shot, the "100 Ton Test" was fired on the 7th of May 1945. This involved detonating 108 tons of TNT stacked on a wooden platform near the Trinity ground zero. This was the largest instrumented explosion conducted up to this date. The test allowed the instrumentation to be calibrated and to give some indication of what they they should expect from the main detonation. The stack of explosives was also laced with radioactive material to give and idea how fissile products from the main blast might be distributed. Clip used by kind permission of Atomcentral.com. Soviet 1000 Ton Test Date: 12/10/1960 Type: Non-nuclear Yield: 1 Kt Footage of a Soviet test designed to simulate the effects of a low yield nuclear weapon using 1000 tons of conventional high explosive. Soviet Explosive Test Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a Mt Footage of an unidentified Soviet high explosive test designed to simulate the effects of a low yield nuclear weapon. Castle Thermal Effects Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a Test footage showing the effects of the thermal pulse from a high yield nuclear weapon on palm trees during Operation Castle in 1954 Plane Damage Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a Test footage showing the effects of blast and thermal pulse from a nuclear weapon on planes and related structures during Operation Upshot-Knothole. X-Ray Date: 16:33 UTC 10/07/1962 Type: Airdrop @1500m Yield: 1Mt Shows a weapon test filmed using specialist x-ray sensitive film developed specifically for test analysis. The actual shot was Sunset from operation Dominic. Mach "Y" Stem Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a This clip demonstrates diagrammatically the phenomena known as the Mach “Y” Stem, where the incident and the reflected shockwaves combine to form a magnified shock front. When the correct ratio of altitude and yield are realized, this effect can dramatically increase the destructive force of an air burst nuclear weapon. An alternate clip showing the same effect generated by conventional explosives. Precursor Wave Date: n/a Type: n/a Yield: n/a This clip demonstrates the phenomena known as the precursor wave, where the initial thermal pulse raises a dust layer close to the ground. This can cause a modification of the blast wave with the formation of an auxiliary or “precursor” wave that precedes the incident shock front.