The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the atomic tests of the 1940s and '50s, left a truly indelible impression. The only thing scarier than The Bomb was the idea that the "commies" might gain an atomic edge and deal a thermonuclear death-blow to Western capitalism once and for all.
Such was the impetus for Operation Ivy, the first-ever series of hydrogen bomb tests, carried out by Joint Task Force 132 at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Proving Grounds. The tests were coordinated by the Atomic Energy Commission and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is interesting that during the testing of hydrogen bombs, the military was relegated to a strictly operational role, while the AEC supervised the scientific aspects of the program.
JTF-132's film on Operation Ivy, the source of the images and quotes on this page, was produced by the USAF at its Lookout Mountain Laboratory in Hollywood. By this time, nuclear propaganda-meisters were really catching their stride. The lively Operation Ivy film is shot like an old South Pacific war movie, and it is hosted by a narrator who guides us through the operation like a Bob Villa of the Apocalypse, accenting key points of Cold War propaganda with dramatic jabs of his ever-present pipe. Obviously, the film is not merely meant to inform its viewers, but to influence them as well. Some of the results, however, are quite surreal.As the world's first hydrogen bomb, "Mike," is shown arriving at Enewetak Atoll in crates, the narrator describes it as "a thing dismembered, a sleeping giant. A robot taken apart for the long trip... the days of preparation fly in kaleidoscopic fashion across your mind. Days now in the past. Just as Mike itself will soon be in the past."
"This is the significance of the moment," the narrator informs us, his shirt darkly stained with humid South Pacific sweat. "This is the first full-scale test of a hydrogen device. If the reaction goes, we're in the thermonuclear era. For the sake of all of us, and for the sake of our own country, I know that you will join me in wishing this expedition well."
The narrator tells us that the Ivy tests are rooted in the "broad international picture, in the larger aspects of the atomic weapons development program, and in complex scientific conclusion." In other words, we know theoretically that it can be done, so we gotta do it before the Russians do it, lest an H-bomb gap tip the odds in the Soviets' favor. The narrator informs us that atomic weapons researchers were "willing to take calculated risks" to save time and cut corners during the development and testing of the hydrogen bomb.
Cut to Los Alamos nuclear weaponeer Alvin C. Graves, who informs our narrator that "We're not really sure what progress the Russians have made in this area of research. It's obvious we don't want them to have a hydrogen bomb before we do, and so time is urgent. Time is the thing we have to beat... That's the way it is today. We're taking a gamble."
"I see that now," the narrator says. "But then, the uneasy state of the world puts everything on a gambling basis, I guess."The projected yield of the "Mike" bomb was 4 to 10 megatons, but the actual yield came in at 10.4 megatons, roughly 750 times as powerful as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The "success" of the Mike shot proved that thermonuclear weapons were a viable reality.
A devilish little grin sneaking onto his face, Graves says, "Hydrogen permits us to have an inexhaustible supply of energy. If we can use deuterium, we can distill it from ordinary sea water. We're floating on it right now!"
As Zero Hour approaches, the narrator tells us, "We'll soon see the largest explosion ever set off on the face of the earth. That is, the largest that we know of."
The film also provides a propaganda-laden "average man" perspective on the Mike shot, as the supervisor of a Military Police guard detail delivers a voice-over soliloquy:
"I have been a member of firing parties before, but this was different somehow... Inside, a handful of men... were arming a device which could be the key to a new era in atomic weaponeering. I don't know just how the others felt, but I felt small when I thought of the experiment being readied inside. This one test could take us out of the world of kilotons and into the fantastic world of megatons."
And what fantastic things awaited us in this fantastic world of megatons.
The second Operation Ivy test was the "King" shot, a thermonuclear bomb air-dropped on November 19, 1952. At the pre-flight briefing, an implied question of rationality and morality was raised in relation to the wartime use of the H-bomb. Obviously, this bomb would be able to wreak incomprehensible havoc on civilian population centers, vastly exceeding the destructive capacity of earlier atomic weapons.
The briefing officer says to the men: "Perhaps some of you are wondering about the idea behind the dropping of such a high yield weapon. The Department of Defense has indicated that certain targets may require a bomb of such yield as the one you'll be carrying tomorrow. And it's your job to stick it down the pickle barrel."
Any questions? No? Then have a good mission, and remember to turn in your film badges at the end.
The "King" bomb's yield was 10 megatons, producing a fireball wide enough to engulf "one quarter of downtown Manhattan." The detonation left a crater one mile across, "big enough to fit 14 Pentagon buildings." The mushroom cloud above this crater rose to a height of "32 Empire State Buildings" within 2 minutes of detonation. This single blast yielded more force than all the bombs dropped by all the Allied Forces during World War II.
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As the Operation Ivy film closes, the narrator is shown strolling down a debris-strewn beach, tugging on his pipe and watching the waves roll in. "You get a feeling, even now, that nothing is really over, like a lull in battle before the next attack," he says. "This is characteristic of the progress being made in the weapons development program. What is new today is old hat tomorrow. And of the day after tomorrow, who knows what these Pacific sands may see."
NEXT: Operation Castle -- More Hydrogen Bomb Tests
