A 21 kiloton underwater nuclear weapons effects test known as operation crossroads or the baker test conducted at bikini atoll in 1946 united states department of defense the arms race that came to define the cold war era produced a staggering amount of scientific advances but not without a few big blunders along the way. 90 foot 30 meter underwater test at bikini atoll central pacific 1946 eight years before the castle bravo test photo courtesy los alamos national laboratory atomic archive atmospheric tests release all the radioactive fallout of a nuclear bomb exploding in mid air or on the surface of the ground. This bomb was detonated underwater and created an enormous tower of water and tsunami that sank ten ships.
The second test known as baker also saw a 21 kiloton device detonated at the atoll. The hardtack umbrella event was a los alamos and dept of defense nuclear weapons explosion shallow depth underwater shot 150 ft. The test was weapons effects related and the yield was 8 kilotons.
Atmospheric testing designates explosions that take place in the atmosphere generally these have occurred as devices detonated on towers balloons barges islands or dropped from airplanes and also those only buried far enough to intentionally create a surface breaking. Nuclear weapons tests have historically been divided into four categories reflecting the medium or location of the test. 580 mi off the coast of san diego.
This test could be considered a continuation of the wigwam nuclear blast a deep water nuclear test 500 nautical miles 930 km. This nuclear test codenamed wahoo was the first underwater test in the operation hardtack series. The nuclear explosion was carried out in open ocean outside of enewetak.
A rapidly expanding gas bubble created a shock wave that caused an expanding ring of apparently dark. The first effect was illumination of the water because of the underwater fireball. The baker nuclear test at bikini atoll in july 1946 was a shallow underwater explosion part of operation crossroads a 20 kiloton warhead was detonated in a lagoon which was approximately 200 ft 61 m deep.
