MY ATOMIC LIFE
  • Home
  • Who's Your Daddy?
    • Cryptography - Cyphers, Codes and Characters >
      • Enigma, Bombe & Beyond
      • Code Breakers
    • The Chief's Service Log >
      • Joint Task Forces Served
      • Results. Note Excuses.
      • Ship Assignments - 1939-1960
    • WWII Airwave Romance
  • Naval Gazing
    • Pacific Proving Grounds
    • USS Estes - 1952-1961 - PPG >
      • USS CURTIS Veteran's Notes
    • 1946 - OP Crossroads
    • 1948 - OP Sandstone
    • 1949-1951 - AEC Oak Ridge - Atomic Prep
    • 1951 - OP Greenhouse
    • 1952 - OP IVY
    • 1954 - OP Castle-Bravo
    • 1954 - OP Wigwam
    • 1954 - OP Passage to Freedom - N. Vietnam
    • 1955 - OP Pull Out - Tachen Islands Evacuation
    • 1956 -OP Redwing
    • 1958 - OP Hardtack
    • Hunters Point Rad Labs
    • Treasure Island Naval Base
    • Navy Terms, Slang & Trivia
  • Fallout
    • Bases & Rad Labs
    • Development of the H-Bomb
    • Physically Compromised >
      • Medical Notes & Documents
    • Known Effects of Ionized Radiation Exposure
  • Strange Attractors
    • Rare Photos - Tinian Island with Shutterbuggy
    • Gen. Paul Tibbets - 90th Birthday Celebration
    • Rare Photos - Lost Squadron
    • Fallout Shelters - Then & Now >
      • The Atomic Era
    • Modern Art as a Cold War Weapon of the CIA
    • UFOs & Nukes at the Pacific Proving Grounds >
      • UFOs at PPG
  • Links
    • Atomic Vet Medical Awareness for Healthcare Providers >
      • Atomic Vet's Offspring Study
      • National Nuclear Security Admin.-DOE
      • To the Widows and Children
      • To General Public & Healthcare Workers
    • Cold War Remnant: Cancer for Baby Boomers
    • RECA - Radiation Exposure Compensation Act >
      • Relevant Records List - Defense Threat Reduction Agency
    • Atomic Veteran Pioneers >
      • Veteran Stories
      • Honoring Cold War Veterans
    • Broadcasts, Bios & Documentaries
“It'll be no use their putting their heads down and saying "Come up again, dear!"   ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

PACIFIC PROVING GROUNDS ATOMIC NUCLEAR TESTS

All Pacific Proving Grounds Test operations are listed below.  The Chief movements are tracked for each time period of each test, mostly to determine the career path that led him to be chosen for such crucial and priority placement of his talents.  The sophistication of the communication systems and advances in cryptography technology intensify with each change of duty and ship assignment until The Chief arrives for duty at Oak Ridge in 1949.
Enewetak is a circular atoll in the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Enewetak Atoll is 50 miles in circumference and comprises about 40 islets surrounding a large lagoon.

After an initial series of nuclear tests on Bikini Atoll in 1946 called Operation Crossroads, local inhabitants of Enewetak Atoll were relocated to a new home on Ujelang Atoll in December 1947 in preparation for scheduling of the first series of nuclear tests on Enewetak. Operation Sandstone commenced during April of 1948 and included 3 tests atop of 60 m high steel towers located separately on the islands of Enjebi, Aomen, and Runit. An additional 4 near-surface tests were conducted on towers as part of Operation Greenhouse during 1951. Operation Ivy, in 1952, set the stage for the first test of a large thermonuclear device. The Mike thermonuclear blast of 31 October of 1952 had an explosive yield of 10.4 Mt (USDOE, 2000) vaporizing the island of Elugelab and leaving behind a deep crater about 1 km in diameter. Early analysis of Mike fallout debris showed the presence of two new isotopes of plutonium, plutonium-244 (244Pu) and plutonium-246 (246Pu), and lead to the discovery of the new heavy elements, Einsteinum and Fermium. Operation Castle involved a single nuclear test on Enewetak in 1954 and 5 high-yield tests on Bikini. A total of 11 nuclear tests were also conducted on Enewetak in 1956 as part of Operation Redwing including an air burst from a balloon located overwater.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: Marshall Islands Test History
Picture

Op. Crossroads
1946

Picture

Op. Sandstone
1948

Picture

Op.Greenhouse
1951

Picture

Operation Ivy
1952

Picture

Op.Castle Bravo
1954

Picture

Op. Wigwam
1954

Picture

Op.Redwing
1956

Picture

Op. Hardtack
1958

Picture

Op. Dominick
1961


HOW NUCLEAR WEAPONS WORK

Q-Clearances

"Most who hold this level of a clearance lead something a double life role as a "Q-Clearance" presenter and contributing scriptwriter in top secret films produced by the Atomic Energy Commission and the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP).
"Q-Clearance" was a Top Secret classification within the Atomic Energy Commission, later renamed to the Department of Energy."
 
Lookout Mountain Labs documentaries: 
Q-Cleared "presenters" referenced for the lab include the iconic Charleston Heston and lesser known Reed Hadley, 
> Bio 

Joint Task Forces

Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine and civilian Scientists worked together on these projects as "Joint Task Forces" for a number of reasons. 
Explore their participation.
Picture
Picture

Bikini Atoll &
The Marshall Islands

Lost Island -
Sunken Treasure

Extraordinary footage revisiting
Bikini Island and diving the sunken target ships.


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.