Operation Grapple
Grapple | |
---|---|
hydrogen bomb test, it was in fact a failure. | |
Information | |
Country | United Kingdom |
Test site |
|
Period | 1957–1958 |
Number of tests | 9 |
Test type | Air drop, balloon |
Max. yield | 3 megatonnes of TNT (12.6 PJ) |
Test series chronology | |
→ |
Operation Grapple was a set of four series of
During the Second World War, Britain had a nuclear weapons project, codenamed Tube Alloys, which was merged with the American Manhattan Project in August 1943. Many of Britain's top scientists participated in the Manhattan Project. After the war, fearing that Britain would lose its great power status, the British government resumed the atomic bomb development effort, now codenamed High Explosive Research. The successful test of an atomic bomb in Operation Hurricane in October 1952 represented an extraordinary scientific and technological achievement, but Britain was still several years behind the United States, which had developed the more powerful thermonuclear weapons in the meantime. In July 1954, the Cabinet agreed that the maintenance of great power status required that Britain also develop thermonuclear weapons.
The
A second test series was required, which consisted of a single test, Grapple X, in November 1957. This time the yield of 1.8 megatonnes of TNT (7.53 PJ) exceeded expectations. It was a true hydrogen bomb, but most of its yield came from
Background
During the early part of the
The British government had trusted that America would continue to share nuclear technology, which it considered to be a joint discovery.[6] On 16 November 1945, Churchill and Roosevelt's successors, Clement Attlee and Harry S. Truman, signed a new agreement that replaced the Quebec Agreement's requirement for "mutual consent" before using nuclear weapons with one for "prior consultation", and there was to be "full and effective cooperation in the field of atomic energy", but this was only "in the field of basic scientific research".[7] The United States Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) ended technical cooperation. The revelation of a Canadian spy ring that included British physicist Alan Nunn May while the bill was being prepared caused the United States Congress to add the death penalty for sharing "restricted data" with foreign nations.[8] Efforts to restore the nuclear Special Relationship with the United States over the following decade were dogged by repeated spy scandals, including the arrest of Klaus Fuchs in 1950,[9] and the defection of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean in 1951.[10] Fearing a resurgence of American isolationism and Britain losing its great power status, the British government restarted its own development effort,[11] now codenamed High Explosive Research.[12]
The successful test of an atomic bomb in
The
Location
Preliminary testing of
Another test site was therefore required. For safety and security reasons, in the light of the
The Kermadec Islands were part of New Zealand, so Eden wrote to the
Preparations
Organisation
The test series was given the secret codename Operation Grapple.
Group Captain
The light aircraft carrier HMS Warrior was the operation control ship, and the flagship of Commodore Peter Gretton, the overall Naval Task Group commander.[53] She embarked three Grumman TBF Avenger attack aircraft and four Royal Navy Whirlwind helicopters, along with two RAF Whirlwinds from No. 22 Squadron. Damage to the ship caused by a storm in the North Atlantic necessitated two days' of repairs in Kingston, Jamaica. By the time they were complete, there was insufficient time to sail around Cape Horn, so she traversed the Panama Canal, negotiating the narrowest part of the locks with just inches to spare.[54] HMS Narvik reprised the role of control ship it had in Hurricane; but it also participated in Operation Mosaic, and had very little time to return to the Chatham Dockyard for a refit before heading out to Christmas Island for Grapple.[52] In addition there were the frigates HMS Alert and HMS Cook, and Royal New Zealand Navy frigates HMNZS Pukaki and Rotoiti.[53]
Base development
An advance party arrived on Christmas Island in an RAF Shackleton on 19 June 1956. The
Narvik would have to spend long periods of time at Malden, but could not anchor there because of the steep grade of the ocean floor, so a deep-water
The RAF and
The construction force was built around
The
The first project, which was finished in October, was to rebuild the main runway at the airport to handle Valiants. This involved levelling a surface to extend it to 2,150 yards (1,970 m) long and 60 yards (55 m) wide. Some 20 miles (32 km) of access roads were built, and 700,000 square yards (590,000 m2) of scrub were cleared. Existing buildings were refurbished, and new ones erected to provided 7,000 square yards (5,900 m2) of building space. Twelve 105,000-imperial-gallon (480,000 L) storage tanks were provided for petrol, diesel and aviation fuel, along with pumping stations.[61]
The main camp consisted of over 700 tents and marquees, along with 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) of hutted accommodation. The airbase was ready to accommodate the Valiants and their crews by March 1957. The port was managed by 51 Port Detachment. No. 504 Postal Unit, which had a detachment at Hickam Air Force Base, a USAF base in the American Territory of Hawaii, handled the receipt and despatch of mail, while No. 2 Special Air Formation Signal Troop provided communications support. The Royal Army Service Corps provided a butchery, a bakery and a laundry. They also operated DUKWs, which worked alongside the LCMs.[61]
The Task Force received generous support from the United States Army, Navy and Air Force. RAF aircraft were allowed to overfly the United States, even when carrying radioactive or explosive materials, thereby obviating the need for winterisation for the more northerly journey over Canada. RAF ground crews were accommodated at Hickham and Travis Air Force Base in California, and a regular aerial courier service operated from Hickham to Christmas Island. Warrior had repairs made at Pearl Harbor, and the US Army base at Fort DeRussy gave Woollett use of its facilities.[69]
About 60 Gilbertese civilians were relocated to
Schedule
Having decided on a location and date, there remained the matter of determining what would be tested. John Challens, whose weapons electronics group at Aldermaston had to produce the bomb assembly, wanted to know the configuration of Green Granite. Cook ruled that it would use a Red Beard Tom, and would fit inside a Blue Danube casing for air dropping. The design was frozen in April 1956. There were two versions of Orange Herald, large and small. They had similar cores, but the large version contained more explosive. Both designs were frozen in July. The Green Bamboo design was also nominally frozen, but minor adjustments continued. On 3 September, John Corner suggested that Green Granite could be made smaller by moving the Tom and Dick closer together. This design became known as Short Granite.[73]
By January 1957, with the tests just months away, a tentative schedule had emerged. Short Granite would be fired first. Green Bamboo would follow if Short Granite was unsuccessful, but be omitted as unnecessary otherwise. Orange Herald (small) would be fired next. Because Short Granite was too large to fit into a missile or guided bomb, this would occur whether or not Short Granite was a success. Finally, Green Granite would be tested. In December 1956, Cook had proposed another design, known as Green Granite II. This was smaller than Green Granite I, and could fit into a Yellow Sun casing that could be used by the Blue Steel guided missile then under development; but it could not be made ready to reach Christmas Island before 26 June 1957, and extending Operation Grapple would cost another £1.5 million (equivalent to £34 million in 2019).[73]
Testing
Grapple series (3 tests)
The first trial series consisted of three tests, named Grapple 1, Grapple 2 and Grapple 3. All bombs were dropped and detonated over Malden Island, and exploded
At an altitude of 8,000 feet (2,400 m), the fireball would not touch the ground, thereby minimising fallout. The bombs would be detonated with a clockwork timer rather than a barometric switch. This meant that they had to be dropped from 45,000 feet (14,000 m) in order to detonate at the correct altitude.[76][77] Grapple was Britain's second airdrop of a nuclear bomb after the Operation Buffalo test at Maralinga on 11 October 1956, and the first of a thermonuclear weapon.[78] The United States had not attempted this until the Operation Redwing Cherokee test on 21 May 1956, and the bomb had landed 4 miles (6.4 km) from the target.[79] Aldermaston wanted the bomb within 300 yards (270 m) of the target, and Oulton felt that a good bomber crew could achieve that.[80] A 550-by-600-nautical-mile (1,020 by 1,110 km) exclusion zone was established,[77] covering the area between 3.5° North and 7.5° South and 154° and 163° West, which was patrolled by Shackletons.[81]
No. 49 Squadron had eight Valiants, but only four deployed: XD818, piloted by
The Grapple 1 mission was flown by Hubbard in XD818, with Millett and XD824 as the "grandstand" observation aircraft.[71][83] The two bombers took off from Christmas Island at 09:00.[88] The bomb was dropped from 45,000 feet (14,000 m) off the shore of Malden Island at 10:38 local time on 15 May 1957.[89] Hubbard missed the target by 418 yards (382 m). The bomb's yield was estimated at 300 kilotonnes of TNT (1,300 TJ), far below its designed capability.[90] Penney cancelled the Green Granite test and substituted a new weapon codenamed Purple Granite. This was identical to Short Granite, but with some minor modification to its Dick: additional uranium-235 was added, and the outer layer was replaced with aluminium.[90]
Despite its failure, the Grapple 1 test was hailed as a successful thermonuclear explosion, and the government did not confirm or deny reports that the UK had become a third thermonuclear power.[91] When documents on the series began to be declassified in the 1990s, they created a spirited debate among nuclear historians. Norman Dombey and Eric Grove denounced the Grapple tests in the London Review of Books in 1992 as a hoax intended to deceive the Americans into resuming nuclear cooperation,[92][93][94] but others, like the British nuclear weapons historian John Bayliss, pointed out that false reports would not have fooled the American observers,[94] who helped to analyse samples from the radioactive cloud.[95]
The next test was Grapple 2, of Orange Herald (small). For this test, two Fijian official observers were added. A detachment of 39 Fijian
The bomb was dropped by XD822, piloted by Roberts, while XD823, piloted by Steele, acted as the grandstand aircraft. This bomb was dropped at 10:44 local time on 31 May.
The 720-to-800-kilotonne-of-TNT (3,000 to 3,300 TJ) yield was the largest ever achieved by a single stage device.[100] This made it technically a megaton-range weapon; but it was close to Corner's estimate for an unboosted yield, there were doubts that the lithium-6 deuteride had contributed at all.[100] This was attributed to Rayleigh–Taylor instability, which limited the compression of the light elements in the core.[101] The bomb was hailed as a hydrogen bomb, and the fact that it was actually a large fission bomb was kept secret by the British government until the end of the Cold War.[93][102]
The third and final test of the series was Grapple 3, the test of Purple Granite. This was dropped on 19 June by a Valiant XD823 piloted by Steele, with Millett and XD824 as the grandstand aircraft.[103][104] The yield was a very disappointing 200 kilotonnes of TNT (840 TJ), even less than Short Granite.[105] The changes had not worked.[100] "We haven't got it right", Cook told Oulton. "We shall have to do it all again, providing we can do so before the ban comes into force; so that means as soon as possible."[106]
Grapple X (1 test)
The next test series consisted of a single trial known as Grapple X. To save time and money, and as HMS Warrior, Alert and Narvik, were unavailable,[107] it was decided to drop the bomb off the southern tip of Christmas Island rather than off Malden Island. This was just 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) from the airfield where 3,000 men were based.[108] It required another major construction effort to improve the facilities, and some of those on Malden Island now had to be duplicated on Christmas Island.[107] Works included 26 blast-proof shelters, a control room, and tented accommodation.[109] To provide some means of chasing away intruders, the destroyer HMS Cossack was allotted.[110] HMNZS Rotoiti and Pukaki reprised their role as weather ships.[111] A cargo ship, the SS Somersby was chartered to bring tentage and stores to Christmas Island. Monitoring equipment was set up on Malden Island and Fanning Island, and the observation posts on Penrhyn Island and Jarvis Island were re-established.[110] Oulton noticed that:
[T]he rumour had gone around the force that there were to be further tests and that they would have to remain much longer on Christmas. This was apparently confirmed by the preparations to build the air strip in the south of the island. The cheerful put-up-with-the-snags-and-get-on-with-this-important-job attitude of all ranks was changing to a sullen resentment. The troops of all three services had had a pretty miserable time, despite all efforts to the contrary, but had been buoyed up by the belief that the task was of great national importance and the sooner they got the three tests done, the sooner they could go home.[112]
While some ships and units such as No. 49 Squadron returned to the UK, most personnel had to remain on Christmas Island. The Minister of Supply gave assurances that no personnel would have to remain on the island for more than a year unless absolutely necessary, in which case home leave would be given.[113] To maintain morale, units were given periodic briefings on the importance of their work. Junior officers took a keen interest in the welfare of the men and their families at home, since they were not permitted to bring them to the island. An efficient mail system was maintained to allow them to keep in contact. The quality of Army rations was better than at any other British base. The men were given one day a week off work, and sports such as football, cricket, tennis, volleyball, sailing, fishing and water skiing were organised. Leave was provided that could be taken in Fiji, Hawaii or the Gilbert Islands. To relieve the monotony, some Army personnel ashore exchanged places with some Navy personnel afloat. A Christmas Island Broadcasting Service was established with nightly radio programmes.[114]
The scientists at Aldermaston had not yet mastered the design of thermonuclear weapons. Knowing that much of the yield of American and Soviet bombs came from fission in the uranium-238 tamper, they had focused on what they called the "lithium-uranium cycle", whereby neutrons from the fission of uranium would trigger fusion, which would produce more neutrons to induce fission in the tamper. However, this is not the most important reaction. Corner and his theoretical physicists at Aldermaston argued that Green Granite could be made to work by increasing compression and reducing Rayleigh–Taylor instability. The first step would be achieved with an improved Tom. The Red Beard Tom was given an improved high explosive supercharge, a composite uranium-235 and plutonium core, and a beryllium tamper, thereby increasing its yield to 45 kilotonnes of TNT (190 TJ). The Dick was greatly simplified; instead of the fourteen layers in Short Granite, it would have just three.[107] This was called Round A; a five-layer version was also mooted, which was called Round B. A diagnostic round, Round C, was also produced. It had the same three layers as Round A, but an inert layer instead of lithium deuteride. Grapple X would test Round A.[107] Components of Rounds A and C were delivered to Christmas Island on 24, 27 and 29 October. On inspection, a fault was found in the Round A Tom, and the fissile core was replaced with the one from Round C.[115]
This time there was no media presence, and only two foreign observers,
By this time the Valiants had started their engines; they took off at 07:35, and were on the way when Cossack reported that Effie had cleared the area.
Grapple Y (1 test)
The physicists at Aldermaston had plenty of ideas about how to follow up Grapple X, and the possibilities were discussed in September 1957. One was to adjust the width of the shells in the Dick to find an optimal configuration. If they were too thick, they would slow the neutrons generated by the fusion reaction; if they were too thin, they would give rise to Rayleigh–Taylor instability. Another was to do away with the shells entirely and use a mixture of uranium-235, uranium-238 and deuterium. Ken Allen had an idea, which Samuel Curran supported, of a three-layer Dick that used a greater amount of lithium deuteride that was less enriched in lithium-6 (and therefore had more lithium-7) while reducing the amount of uranium-235 in the centre of the core. This proposal was adopted in October, and it became known as "Dickens" because it used Ken's Dick. The device would otherwise be similar to Round A, but with a larger radiation case. The safety limit was again set to 2 megatonnes of TNT (8.37 PJ). Keith Roberts calculated that the yield could reach 3 megatonnes of TNT (12.6 PJ), and suggested that this could be reduced by modifying the tamper, but Cook opposed this, fearing that it might cause the test to fail. The possibility of a moratorium on testing caused the plans for the test, codenamed Grapple Y, to be restricted to the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, who gave informal approval, and a handful of officials.[124]
The New Zealand National Party lost the 1957 election, and Walter Nash became Prime Minister. His New Zealand Labour Party had endorsed a call by the British Labour Party for a moratorium on nuclear testing, but he felt obligated to honour commitments made by his predecessors to support the British nuclear testing programme. However, HMNZS Rotoiti was unavailable, as it was joining the Far East Strategic Reserve; its place would be taken by the destroyer HMS Ulysses.[125] Air Vice Marshal John Grandy succeeded Oulton as Task Force commander, and Air Commodore Jack Roulston became the Air Task Force Commander.[126][127]
The bomb was dropped off Christmas Island at 10:05 local time on 28 April 1958 by a Valiant piloted by Squadron Leader Bob Bates.[128][129] It had an explosive yield of about 3 megatonnes of TNT (12.6 PJ), and remains the largest British nuclear weapon ever tested.[129] The design of Grapple Y was notably successful because much of its yield came from its thermonuclear reaction instead of fission of a heavy uranium-238 tamper, making it a true hydrogen bomb, and because its yield had been closely predicted—indicating that its designers understood what they were doing.[130]
Grapple Z series (4 tests)
On 22 August 1958, US President
Of particular concern was radiation damage. Keith Roberts and
The first test was of Pendant, a fission bomb boosted with solid lithium hydride intended as a primary for a thermonuclear bomb.
The next test was of Flagpole, an unboosted version of Orange Herald known as Indigo Herald.[138] It was air dropped by Valiant XD822, flown by Squadron Leader Bill Bailey, with XD818 flown by Flight Lieutenant Tiff O'Connor as the grandstand aircraft, on 2 September 1958. This was the first live drop of a British nuclear weapon using blind radar technique. This meant that the bomb would be dropped using radar rather than visually with the optical bombsight, a technique normally reserved for when a target is obscured by cloud or smoke. Bailey managed to place the bomb 95 yards (87 m) from the target.[139] It detonated at 8,500 feet (2,600 m) about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) offshore from South East Point on Christmas Island at 08:24 with a yield of about 1.2 megatonnes of TNT (5.02 PJ).[74][140]
The third test was of Halliard, an unusual three-stage design with two nuclear-fission components followed by a thermonuclear stage that was supposedly immune to exposure from another bomb despite its not using boosting. The Americans had indicated an interest in it.[141] Macmillan noted in his diary:
Meeting of atomic experts, just returned from US. Two important facts emerged: (a) Americans are doing ten more kiloton tests before the end of October and would not wish us to stop before them; (b) in some respects we are as far, and even further, advanced in the art than our American friends. They thought interchange of information would be all give. They are keen that we should complete our series, especially the last megaton, the character of which is novel and of deep interest to them. This is important, because it makes this final series complementary rather than competitive—and therefore easy to defend in Parliament.[142]
The success of blind radar bombing in Flagpole led to Grandy deciding to use the technique again. Hubbard was less sure. The 95-yard (87 m) accuracy achieved in Flagpole was exceptional; in 52 practice drops with blind radar, the average error had been 235 yards (215 m) as opposed to 245 yards (224 m) with visual bombing. Thus it was only slightly more accurate, but the aircrew would be dropping a live hydrogen bomb—generally considered a dangerous thing to do—with no means of verifying that their instruments were correct.
The final test in the Grapple Z series was of Burgee, at 09:00 on 23 September 1958. This was another balloon-borne test detonated over the south east corner of Christmas Island. Burgee was an atomic bomb boosted with gaseous tritium created by a generator codenamed Daffodil. It had a yield of about 25 kilotonnes of TNT (100 TJ). The Aldermaston weapon makers had now demonstrated all of the technologies that were needed to produce a megaton hydrogen bomb that weighed no more than 1 long ton (1.0 t) and was immune to premature detonation caused by nearby nuclear explosions. The international moratorium commenced on 31 October 1958, and Britain never resumed atmospheric testing.[74][144]
Summary
Name | Date time (UTC) | Location
|
Height | Delivery | Device | Yield | Notes | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Grapple 1 | 15 May 1957 19:37 | Malden Island, Kiribati 4°03′S 154°54′W / 4.05°S 154.9°W |
2,200 m (7,200 ft) | air drop | Short Granite | 300 kilotonnes of TNT (1,260 TJ) | Attempted thermonuclear detonation, most of output from the secondary, but disappointing small yield overall. | [145][146] |
Grapple 2 | 31 May 1957 19:41 | Malden Island, Kiribati 4°03′S 154°54′W / 4.05°S 154.9°W |
2,400 m (7,900 ft) | air drop | Orange Herald | 720 kilotonnes of TNT (3,010 TJ) | Large fission device | [145][146] |
Grapple 3 | 19 June 1957 19:40 | Malden Island, Kiribati 4°03′S 154°54′W / 4.05°S 154.9°W |
2,400 m (7,900 ft) | air drop | Purple Granite | 200 kilotonnes of TNT (837 TJ) | Attempt at fixing the Short Granite device, also unsuccessful | [145][146] |
Grapple X | 8 November 1957 17:47 | Kiritimati (Christmas Island), Kiribati 1°40′43″N 157°13′59″W / 1.67851°N 157.23303°W |
2,250 m (7,380 ft) | air drop | Round A | 1.8 megatonnes of TNT (7.53 PJ) | First successful British thermonuclear bomb. | [146] |
Grapple Y | 28 April 1958 19:05 | Kiritimati (Christmas Island), Kiribati 1°40′15″N 157°14′14″W / 1.6709°N 157.23726°W |
2,350 m (7,710 ft) | air drop | Dickens | 3 megatonnes of TNT (12.6 PJ) | Largest yield from a British thermonuclear device | [146] |
Grapple Z1 | 22 August 1958 18:00 | Kiritimati (Christmas Island), Kiribati 1°43′46″N 157°12′38″W / 1.72934°N 157.21065°W |
450 m (1,480 ft) | balloon | Pennant | 24 kilotonnes of TNT (100 TJ) | [146] | |
Grapple Z2 | 2 September 1958 17:24 | Kiritimati (Christmas Island), Kiribati 1°40′10″N 157°13′39″W / 1.66932°N 157.22742°W |
2,850 m (9,350 ft) | air drop | Flagpole | 1 megatonne of TNT (4.18 PJ) | [146] | |
Grapple Z3 | 11 September 1958 17:49 | Kiritimati (Christmas Island), Kiribati 1°39′09″N 157°13′25″W / 1.65248°N 157.22374°W |
2,650 m (8,690 ft) | air drop | Halliard | 800 kilotonnes of TNT (3,350 TJ) | Chosen after American interest in novel design | [146] |
Grapple Z4 | 23 September 1958 18:00 | Kiritimati (Christmas Island), Kiribati 1°45′07″N 157°11′17″W / 1.75194°N 157.18819°W |
450 m (1,480 ft) | balloon | Burgee | 25 kilotonnes of TNT (105 TJ) | [146] |
Aftermath
Cooperation with the United States
The British breakthrough came in the wake of the Soviet Union's launch of
British information security, or the lack thereof, no longer seemed so important now that the Soviet Union was apparently ahead and the United Kingdom had independently developed the hydrogen bomb. The trenchant opposition from the United States Congress's
The Anglo-American Special Relationship proved mutually beneficial, although it was never one of equals; the United States was far larger than Britain both militarily and economically. Britain soon became dependent on the United States for its nuclear weapons, as it lacked the resources to produce a range of designs.[154] The British decided to adapt the American Mark 28 as a cheaper alternative to doing their own development. This Anglicised version of the Mark 28 became Red Snow.[155] Other weapons were acquired through Project E, under which weapons in American custody were supplied for the use of the RAF and British Army.[156][157]
Nuclear material was also acquired from the United States. Under the Mutual Defence Agreement 5.4 tonnes of UK produced plutonium was sent to the US in return for 6.7 kilograms (15 lb) of tritium and 7.5 tonnes of highly enriched uranium between 1960 and 1979. This replaced production from the British
Operation Dominic
In addition to the British tests during Operation Grapple, the United States used Christmas Island for nuclear testing in
Health effects
In 2005, a
Various veterans' organisations then filed a class action lawsuit against the UK Ministry of Defence following the publication of the study, with many media outlets reporting on it at the time.[167][168][169] The effects of radioactive fallout from the Grapple tests were researched by a 2010 British Government study that concluded the fallout did not reach concentrations that could affect the surrounding nature. The Ministry of Defence maintained that few people were exposed to any radiation or contamination at all, and that studies had shown little or no health effects.[170][171] An analysis of illnesses in veterans of Grapple and other weapons tests produced statistics that are hard to interpret. The veterans showed rates of illness that were slightly higher than the control group, but the control group had lower rates of illness than the population as a whole while the veterans had rates that were about the same. Neither of these results has a clear explanation.[172] Some veterans of Operation Grapple believe that cancers, bone problems and genetic defects passed on to subsequent generations have been consequences of their radiation exposure.[173][174]
In 1993, Ken McGinley, a veteran of five of the tests, and Edward Egan, a veteran of Grapple Y, sued for £100,000 damages (equivalent to £216,707 in 2021) over multiple health problems which they attributed to their involvement in the tests. They took their claim to the European Court of Human Rights, which rejected it in a 5–4 split decision on 9 June 1998.[175][176] An appeal to the court to re-open the case was declined in January 2000.[177] A group of 1,011 British ex-servicemen were denied permission to sue the Ministry of Defence by the Supreme Court in March 2012, on the grounds that too much time had elapsed since they became aware of their medical conditions, under the terms of the Limitation Act 1980.[178] In January 2015, the Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama, announced that the Fijian government would provide Fiji $9,855 compensation payments to the 24 surviving Fijian servicemen who participated in Operation Grapple.[179][180] On 21 November 2022 British veterans of nuclear tests won a medal after years of campaigning.[181]
Notes
- ^ Gowing 1964, pp. 108–111.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, p. 277.
- ^ Farmelo 2013, pp. 239–241.
- ^ Gowing 1964, pp. 340–342.
- ^ Gowing 1964, pp. 236–242.
- ^ Goldberg 1964, p. 410.
- ^ Paul 2000, pp. 80–83.
- ^ Gowing & Arnold 1974a, pp. 105–108.
- ^ Dawson & Rosecrance 1966, pp. 27–29.
- ^ Gowing & Arnold 1974a, pp. 303–305.
- ^ Gowing & Arnold 1974a, pp. 181–184.
- ^ Cathcart 1995, pp. 23–24, 48, 57.
- ^ Gowing & Arnold 1974b, pp. 498–502.
- ^ Arnold & Pyne 2001, pp. 16–20.
- ^ a b Arnold & Pyne 2001, p. 53.
- ^ Arnold & Pyne 2001, pp. 55–57.
- ^ Arnold & Pyne 2001, pp. 77–79.
- ^ a b Arnold & Pyne 2001, pp. 84–87.
- ^ a b c Leonard 2014, pp. 208–211.
- ^ Botti 1987, p. 146.
- ^ a b c Arnold & Pyne 2001, p. 99.
- ^ a b Arnold & Smith 2006, pp. 109–110.
- ^ "No Hydrogen Bomb Tests". The Canberra Times. Vol. 30, no. 8, 772. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 16 February 1956. p. 1. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "We Bar H-Bomb Test Here So Britain Seeks Ocean Site". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 19 February 1955. p. 1. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Arnold & Smith 2006, p. 95.
- ^ "Maralinga nuclear testing. Mosaic tests: were they H-bombs?". The Canberra Times. Vol. 59, no. 17, 900. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 1 October 1984. p. 12. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Arnold & Smith 2006, p. 301.
- ^ Arnold & Pyne 2001, pp. 19–20.
- ^ a b c Arnold & Pyne 2001, p. 96.
- ^ "Antipodes Islands: Places to Go in the Subantarctic Islands, Southland". New Zealand government. Archived from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- ^ "Kermadec Islands". New Zealand government. Archived from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- ^ "The Search for Guano". National Museum of American History. 9 February 2016. Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
- ^ Cranston 1973, pp. 664–665.
- ^ Arnold & Pyne 2001, pp. 97–98.
- ^ Oulton 1987, pp. 14–18.
- ^ a b c d Muir 1960, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Arnold & Pyne 2001, p. 104.
- ^ Maclellan 2017, p. 233.
- ^ Hubbard & Simmons 2008, p. 52.
- ^ Oulton 1987, p. 134.
- ^ Oulton 1987, p. 211.
- ^ Arnold & Pyne 2001, pp. 101–102.
- ^ Oulton 1987, p. 18.
- ^ Oulton 1987, pp. 26–31.
- ^ "No. 40735". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 March 1956. p. 1667.
- ^ Oulton 1987, pp. 10–11.
- ^ Hubbard & Simmons 2008, p. 79.
- ^ Oulton 1987, pp. 131–132, 140.
- ^ Hubbard & Simmons 2008, p. 58.
- ^ Oulton 1987, pp. 72–74.
- ^ Arnold & Pyne 2001, pp. 118–119.
- ^ a b Arnold & Pyne 2001, p. 136.
- ^ a b c d Hubbard & Simmons 2008, p. 53.
- ^ Oulton 1987, p. 209.
- ^ a b c Oulton 1987, p. 412.
- ^ Oulton 1987, p. 87.
- ^ Oulton 1987, p. 199.
- ^ Oulton 1987, pp. 85–86.
- ^ Oulton 1987, p. 119.
- ^ Arnold & Pyne 2001, pp. 100–101.
- ^ a b c Hubbard & Simmons 2008, pp. 55–58.
- ^ "British Army units from 1945 on – 28 Regiment". british-army-units1945on.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 May 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
- ^ "British Army units from 1945 on – 25 Regiment". british-army-units1945on.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 May 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
- ^ Maclellan 2017, pp. 233–234.
- ^ Oulton 1987, pp. 107, 146–148.
- ^ Oulton 1987, p. 156.
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Further reading
- Johnston, Michael (2017). H-Bombs and Hula Girls: Operation Grapple 1957 and the Last Royal Navy Gunroom at Sea. London: Unicorn Publishing. OCLC 1023308085.
- McIntyre, Donald (2006). The Development of Britain's Megaton Warheads (PDF) (MA). University of Chester. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
- Pasquini, Joe (2020). Curse of the Nuclear Cloud Flyer. Independently published. ISBN 979-86-6817-766-0.
External links
- "Pilot told to fly through atom bomb cloud". The Guardian. 21 December 2001.
- "Grapple Series Begins at Christmas Island". Atomic Weapons Establishment. Archived from the original on 7 June 2007.
- "Photos taken by Sir William Connor ("Cassandra") during the Grapple test series". lorry.org. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
- "Photos and eye-witness accounts". janeresture.com. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
- "Vickers Valiant B1". RAF Museum. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
- Video: British H-Bomb Fired As Debate On Atom Test Ban Rages, 1957/06/03 (1957). Universal Newsreel. 1943. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
- "House of Commons, enquiry for Nuclear Test Veterans". 4 September 2002. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
- "Operation Grapple : The bomb tests... where Britain exploded the most powerful weapon it has ever built". The Mirror. 2018.
- "House of Commons, Christmas Island Nuclear Testing: Compensation debate". 21 May 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
- "Flight Lieutenant Joe Pasquini Obituary". The Times. 13 January 2022.
- "Boris Johnson promises recognition for those who took part in dangerous missions, which included flying planes through bomb's mushroom cloud". The Telegraph. 20 April 2022.
- Video: BBC Arena, A British Guide to the End of the World. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
- "Government pays tribute to Nuclear Test Veterans as UK marks 70th anniversary of first weapons test". Gov.uk. 3 October 2022.
- "Britain's nuclear test veterans FINALLY granted medals they've deserved for 70 years". Daily Mirror. 21 November 2022.