Operation Grapple is the name of four series of British nuclear weapons tests for early atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs conducted in 1957 and 1958 on Malden Island and Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean as part of the British hydrogen bomb program. Nine nuclear explosions began, culminating in Great Britain becoming the third recognized thermonuclear weapon, and the restoration of the Nuclear Special Relations with the United States with the US-British Mutual Defense Treaty of 1958.
During the Second World War, Britain had a nuclear weapons project, codenamed Tube Alloys, combined with the American Manhattan Project in August 1943. Many of Britain's leading scientists participated in the British contribution to the Manhattan Project. After the war, fearing that Britain would lose its great power, the British government continued its atomic development efforts, now called the High Explosive Research. The successful test of an atomic bomb in Operation Hurricane in October 1952 showed remarkable scientific and technological achievements, but Britain is still a few years behind the United States in nuclear weapons technology. In July 1954, the Cabinet decided to develop a hydrogen bomb.
The formation of Atomic Atomic Weapons in Britain at Aldermaston yielded three designs: the Orange Herald, a large reinforced fission gun; Green Bamboo, thermonuclear temporary design; and Green Granite, a true thermonuclear weapon. The first test series consisted of three tests in May and June 1957. In the first, Grapple 1, a Green Granite version known as Short Granite was dropped from Vickers Valiant flown by Wing Commander Kenneth Hubbard. The bomb results are estimated to be 300 kilotons of TNT (1,300 TJ), well below the designed capabilities. Despite the failure, the test was considered a successful thermonuclear explosion, and the government did not confirm or deny reports that Britain has become a third thermonuclear power. The second test is Grapple 2, Orange Herald. Its 720-to-800-kilotonne-of-TNT (3,000-3,300 TJ) result makes it technically a megaton weapon. This is the largest ever achieved by a single-stage device. Grapple 3 tests Purple Granite, a Short Granite with some improvements. The result is very disappointing 300 kilotons of TNT (1,300 TJ).
A second series of tests is required. It consists of one test, known as Grapple X, in November 1957. This time the result of 1.8 megatons TNT (7.5 PJ) exceeded expectations. This is a real hydrogen bomb, but most of the results come from nuclear fission rather than nuclear fusion. In the third series with one test, known as Grapple Y, in April 1958, another design was tested. With an explosive result of about 3 megatons TNT (13 PJ), it remains Britain's biggest nuclear weapon ever tested. The Grapple Y design is especially successful because many of the results derive from the thermonucleic reactions are not the fission of the heavy uranium-238 tamper, making it the real hydrogen bomb, and because the results have been predicted closely - showing that its designers understand what they do. The final series of four tests in August and September 1958, known as Grapple Z, tested techniques for improving and making bombs immune to predationation caused by nearby nuclear explosions. Two of these tests are the detonation of the balloon; the other is a blind radar test test. The testing moratorium came into force in October 1958, and the UK never continued atmospheric testing.
Video Operation Grapple
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During the early part of the Second World War, Britain had a nuclear weapons project, codenamed Tube Alloys. At the Quebec Conference in August 1943, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill and President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, signed the Quebec Agreement, which incorporated Tube Alloys with the American Manhattan Project to create a combined British, American and Canadian project. The Hyde Park Agreement of September 1944 extended commercial and military cooperation into the postwar period. Many of Britain's top scientists participated in British contributions to the Manhattan Project.
The British government has believed that America will continue to share nuclear technology, which is considered a joint discovery. On November 16, 1945, Truman and Attlee signed a new agreement that replaced the terms of the Quebec Agreement for "collective agreement" before using nuclear weapons with one for "prior consultations", and there must be "full and effective cooperation in the field of energy atoms" "in the field of basic scientific research". The United States Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) terminates technical cooperation. Canadian spy disclosures that include British physicist Alan Nunn May while the bill is being prepared led to the United States Congress adding the death penalty for sharing "limited data" with foreign countries. Attempts to rebuild the Nuclear Special Relations with the United States over the next decade were confronted by repeated spy scandals, including the arrest of Klaus Fuchs in 1950, and the defection of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean in 1951. Fear of a revival of American and British isolationism losing its great power status, the British government restarted its own development efforts, now called the High Explosive Research Code.
The successful test of an atomic bomb in Operation Hurricane in October 1952 showed remarkable scientific and technological achievements. Britain became the third nuclear power in the world, reaffirming the status of the state as a major force, but hoped that the United States would be impressed enough to restore the Special Relationship immediately dashed. In November 1952, the United States conducted Ivy Mike, the first successful test of a true thermonuclear device or a hydrogen bomb. Therefore, Britain still lags behind a few years in nuclear weapons technology. The Defense Policy Committee, headed by Churchill and composed of senior cabinet members, considers the political and strategic implications of June 1954, and concludes that "we must defend and strengthen our position as a world power so that His Majesty's Government can exercise a strong influence in counsel world. "In July 1954, the Cabinet agreed to continue the development of thermonuclear weapons.
The formation of Atomic Atomic Weapons of the United States at Aldermaston in Berkshire was directed by William Penney, with William Cook as his deputy. Scientists at Aldermaston did not know how to build hydrogen bombs, but produced three designs: Orange Herald, a large reinforced fission gun in which increased fission yield ("pushed") despite the addition of lithium-6 deuteride; Green Bamboo, a temporary thermonuclear design in which fusion occurs in layers of lithium-6 deuteride alternating with uranium-235 layers; and Green Granite, a true thermonuclear design in which thermonuclear fuels separate and most of the result comes from thermonuclear combustion. The British bomb designers used the terms "Tom" and "Dick" for the primary and secondary stages of each bomb. Tom will be a fission bomb. It will produce radiation to explode Dick. Implied in the creation of a hydrogen bomb is that it will be tested. Eden, who succeeded Churchill as prime minister after his last retirement on April 5, 1955, gave a radio broadcast on which he stated: "You can not prove a bomb to explode, no one can tell if it is effective or not until it has been tested."
Maps Operation Grapple
Location
Enhanced design testing was carried out in Operation Mosaic tests at Monte Bello Islands in May and June 1956. This is a sensitive issue; there is an agreement with Australia that there is no thermonuclear test to be conducted there. Australian Supply Minister Howard Beale responded to rumors reported in the newspaper, stating that "the Federal Government has no intention of allowing hydrogen bomb tests to be conducted in Australia nor is it intended to allow any experimentation related to hydrogen, the bomb test is done here. "Because the test is connected to the development of the hydrogen bomb, it encourages Eden to send Prime Minister Australian cable, Robert Menzies, detailing the nature and purpose of the test. He promised that the results of the second larger test would not exceed two and a half times of the Operation Storm test, which is 25 kilotons of TNT (100 TJ). Menzies sent his approval for a test on June 20, 1955. In that event, the second test result was 60 kilotons of TNT (250 TJ), which was greater than 50 kilotons of TNT (210 TJ) in tests in Australia..
Other test sites are therefore required. For safety and safety reasons, in the light of the Lucky Dragon incident, in which the Japanese fishing boat crew was exposed to radioactive effects from the American Castle Bravo nuclear test, a large, remote site of the population. center is required. Various islands in the South Pacific and the Southern Ocean are considered, along with Antarctica. The Admiralty advises the Antipodes Islands, which is about 860 kilometers (530 mi) southeast of New Zealand. In May 1955, Defense Minister Selwyn Lloyd concluded that the Kermadec Islands, located about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) northeast of New Zealand, would be suitable.
They were part of New Zealand, so Eden wrote a letter to New Zealand's Prime Minister, Sidney Holland, to ask permission to use the islands. Holland refused, afraid of a disastrous public reaction in the upcoming 1957 general elections in New Zealand. Despite the assurances and pressure from the British government, Holland remains firm. The search for the location continues, with Malden Island and McKean Island being considered. It is an uninhabited island claimed by Britain and the United States. The island was previously a pioneer. Three Avro Shackletons from Squadron No. 240 were sent to perform airborne reconnaissance from Canton Island. It was also claimed by the United States and Britain, and co-managed, so America should be notified. The Dutch agreed to send the survey ship HMNZS Lachlan to conduct a maritime survey.
Christmas Island was chosen as the base. It was also claimed by Britain and the United States. Located north of the equator, the island is a tropical island, mostly covered by grass, shrubs and coconut plantations. High temperatures, averaging 88Ã, Â ° F (31Ã, Â ° C) during the day and 78Ã, Â ° F (26Ã, Â ° C) at night, and very high humidity, typically about 98 percent. It lies 1,450 miles (2,330 km) from Tahiti, 1,335 miles (2,148 km) from Honolulu, 3,250 miles (5,230 km) from San Francisco and 4,000 miles (6,400 km) from Sydney. Its remoteness will dominate the logistics preparation for Operation Grapple. It has no natives, but about 260 Gilbert civilians live on the island, in a village near Port London. They are from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, and work in the coconut plantations to produce copra. While most only stay for a year or two, some have been on the island for a decade or more.
South Pacific Air Lines (SPAL) has been granted permission by the United States and the British government to operate the aircraft service from Christmas Island. Patrick Dean asked British Ambassador to the United States Sir Roger Makins to issue a US government vote on terminating the contract. Makins reported in March 1956 that Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was willing to help as long as the inactive US claim to the island was unprejudiced. Island facility rentals, including airports and ports, have been granted to SPAL with a clause in the contract that says it can be stopped if there is a military need to do so. The United States proposed that Britain say the SPAL that they build an air base on the island, and that the United States would support it as long as the SPAL receives fair compensation. An official letter was sent to the SPAL president on May 1, 1956, revoking permission to operate from Christmas Island, regretting the inconvenience, and offering to consider compensation.
Preparation
The test series is given the secret code of Operation Grapple. Rear Adm. Kaye Edden, Commander of the Joint Service Staff College was approached to be the Task Force Commander (TFC), but he pointed out that the test series would be primarily the responsibility of the Royal Air Force (RAF), and it would be more appropriate to have a RAF officer to be responsible. Air Commodore Wilfrid Oulton was appointed commander of the task force on February 6, 1956, with the acting deputy air marshal from 1 March 1956. He secured Group Captain Richard Gething as chief of staff.
Captain Cecil Group (Ginger) Weir was appointed Commander of the Air Task Group. The RAF unit assigned to Grapple includes two bomb squadrons of British Electric Canberra, No. 76 and 100; two Shackleton squadrons, No. 206 and 240; Vickers Valiant bomber from Squadron No. 49; search and rescue helicopter Westland Tornado No 22 Squadron; and No. 1325 Flight with three Dakota transport planes. All will be under the command of No. 160 Wing. Cook will be the Scientific Director. Oulton held the first meeting of the Grapple Executive Committee at New Oxford Street in London on 21 February 1956. With increasing pressure at home and abroad for a testing moratorium, April 1, 1957 was set as the target date.
A forward party arrived at Christmas Island at RAF Shackleton on June 19, 1956. The Royal Fleet Assistant (RFA) Fort Beauharnois was followed on June 23, and became a temporary base ship. It ended up joining four more RFAs, Fort Constantine, Gold Ranger, Fort Rosalie, Wave Prince and > Salvictor . The role of the headquarters vessel is assumed by the Landing Ship, Tank (LST) HMS Messina , which arrived on December 7, 1956. He is equipped with special radio equipment to contact the UK. He brings a large refrigerator on his tank deck for storage of fresh and frozen products, and can supply 100 tons (100 liters) of drinking water per day.
Light carrier HMSÃ, Warrior is the operating control vessel, and flagship Commodore Peter Gretton, commander of the overall commander of the Navy. He started three Grumman TBF Avenger attack aircraft and four whirlwind helicopters, along with two RAF Whirlwinds from No. 22 Squadron. Damage caused by storms in the North Atlantic requires repairs in Kingston, Jamaica. By the time they were done, there was not enough time to sail around Cape Horn, so he crossed the Panama Canal, passing the narrowest key with only a few centimeters. HMS Narvik will repeat the role of the control vessel in Hurricane; but it is also necessary for Mosaic, and has little time to return to Chatham Dockyard for a refit before heading to Christmas Island for Grapple. In addition there are frigates HMSÃ, Alert and HMSÃ, Cook , and Royal New Zealand Navy frigate HMNZSÃ, Pukaki and Rotoiti .
The RAF and Royal Engineers increased the airfield to enable it to operate large and loaded aircraft, and the ports and facilities will be upgraded to allow Christmas Island to operate as a base on 1 December 1956. An estimated 18,640 tonnes of measurement (21,110). Ã, m 3 ) from the store will be required for construction only. The dredging to clear the harbor was towed from Australia. Basic development includes improvements to the road system, and building power supplies, fresh water refineries, sewerage systems and cold storage. The island's population will reach 3,000. The Army Task Force was ordered by Colonel J. E. S. (Jack) Stone; Colonel John Woollett is a garrison commander.
The construction strength is built around 38 Corps Engineer Resiment, with 48, 59 and 61 Field Squadrons, and 63 Field Park Squadron, and 12 and 73 Independent Field Squadrons. Part of the 25 Regiment Engineers was also deployed. They were added by two construction troops from the Military Forces of the Republic of Fiji. By working on plantations suspended during Operation Grapple, civilian Gilbert was also hired on construction works and unloaded the barge.
The Devonshire SS troops sailed to the Central Pacific from East Asia. In Singapore he started 55 Field Squadron, originally from Korea, who had been left there when the remaining 28 Regiment Engineers had returned to England after supporting the 1st Commonwealth Division in the Korean War. It also started a Royal Marines crew of Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM) from Poole. Factory and heavy engineering equipment are loaded in SS Reginald Kerr , an LST is converted to civilian use. Devonshire is anchored in Fiji, where it picks up several forward sappers, and the RAF medical team. Devonshire reached Christmas Island on 24 December, followed by Reginald Kerr , with Woollett on board. By the end of December 1956, there were nearly 4,000 personnel on Christmas Island, including two women from Women's Voluntary Services.
The first project, completed in October, is rebuilding the main runway at the airport to handle Valiant. It involves leveling the surface to extend it to 2,150 meters (1,970m) long and 60 meters (55 m) wide. About 20 miles (32 km) of access roads are built, and 700,000 square yards (590,000 m 2 ) of scrubs are cleaned. The existing buildings have been repaired, and new ones are set up to provide the 7,000 square meters (5,900 m 2 ) building space. Twelve 105,000-imperial-gallon storage tanks (480,000 liters) are provided for gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel, along with pumping stations. The main camp consists of more than 700 tents and tents, along with 40,000 square feet (3,700 m 2 ) hutted accommodation. The air base was ready to accommodate Valiant and their crew in March 1957. The port was managed by 51 Ports of Detachment. There is no Postal Unit 504, which has detachments at Hickam Air Force Base, United States Air Force Base (USAF) in the American Territory of Hawaii, handles mail reception and delivery, while Special Forces No. 2 Air Force Formation provides communications support. The Royal Army Service Corps provides a butcher shop, bakery and laundry. They also operate DUKW, amphibious trucks working with LCM.
While Christmas Island is the main base, the area around Malden Island 400 nautical miles (740 km) to the south will be the site for bombing trials being dropped, and Penrhyn Island, 200 nautical miles (370 km) farther south is used as a monitoring site technical and as weather station. The USAF special weapons monitoring team is headquartered here, and the airstrip is upgraded to allow its supporters, Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, to use it. The Task Force received generous support from the United States Army, Navy and USAF. RAF planes are allowed to overfly the United States, even when carrying radioactive material or explosives, thus negating the need for winterisation for more journeys over Canada. The RAF ground crew is accommodated at Hickham and Travis Air Force Base in California, and the regular air courier service is operated from Hickham to Christmas Island. Pvt. has made improvements in Pearl Harbor, and the US Army base at Fort DeRussy gave Woollett the use of its facilities.
After deciding the location and date, there are still problems with what will be tested. John Challens, whose arms electronics group at Aldermaston had to produce bomb assemblies, wanted to know the Green Granite configuration. Cook decides that it will use Red Beard Tom, and will fit inside the Blue Danube casing to drop the air. The design was frozen in April 1956. There are two versions of the Orange Herald, large and small. They have the same core, but large versions contain more explosives. Both designs were frozen in July. Green Bamboo design is also nominally frozen, but the tinkering continues. On September 3, John Corner suggested that Green Granite could be made smaller by moving Tom and Dick closer. This design is known as Short Granite.
In January 1957, with a test that only a few months had passed, a tentative schedule had emerged. Short granite will be fired first. Green Bamboo will follow if the Short Granite does not work, but is removed as unnecessarily vice versa. Orange Herald (small) will be fired next. Because the Short Granite is too large to put in missile or guided bombs, this will happen whether the Short Granite succeeds or not. Finally, Green Granite will be tested. In December 1956, Cook proposed another design, known as Green Granite II. It's smaller than Green Granite I, and can fit into the Yellow Sun casing that can be used by guided Blue Steel missiles that are currently under development; but could not be ready to reach Christmas Island before June 26, 1957, and extend Operation Grapple would cost an additional Ã, Â £ 1.5 million.
About 60 Gilbert civilians were transferred to Fanning Island in January 1957 on the copra ships of Tungaru , and another 40 in Tulgai the following month. In mid-March 44 Gilbert's men, 29 women and 56 children remained. At the end of April, 31 men, and all women and children have been taken to Fanning Island by RAF Hastings. The civilian population will remain there for the next three months, before returning to Christmas Island. During the next test series, civilian Gilbertese remained on the island, marshalled in areas such as military personnel.
Grapple series
The first trial series consisted of three shots. All the bombs were dropped and blown up on Malden Island, and exploded high in the atmosphere, rather than being detonated on the ground, to reduce the production of nuclear fallout. British scientists realize that America has been able to reduce the fall by getting most of the bomb results from fusion instead of fission, but they have not figured out how to do this. Amid growing public worries about the dangers of fallout, particularly from strontium-90 entering the food chain, a committee headed by Sir Harold Himsworth was asked to investigate the issue. Another, in the United States led by Detlev Bronk, was also investigated. They reported simultaneously on June 12, 1956. Although different in many respects, they agreed that the strontium-90 level was not high enough to be of concern.
At an altitude of 8,000 feet (2,400 m), the fireball will not touch the ground, thus minimizing the fall. The bombs will be detonated with a clock timer rather than a barometric switch. This means that they must be down from 45,000 feet (14,000 m). Grapple is the second air mine of a nuclear bomb after the Buffalo Operation test at Maralinga on October 11, 1956, and the first of thermonuclear weapons. The United States had not tried this until the Operation Redwing Cherokee test on May 21, 1956, and the bomb landed 4 miles (6.4 km) from the target. Aldermaston wanted a bomb within 300 yards (270 m) from the target, and Oulton felt that a good bomber crew could reach it. A 550-by-600-nautical-mile exclusion zone (1,020 by 1.110 km) was established, covering an area between 3.5 Â ° North and 7.5 Â ° South and 154 Â ° and 163 Â ° West, which is patrolled by Shackletons.
Squadron No. 49 has eight Valiant, but only four are deployed: XD818, driven by Wing Commander Kenneth Hubbard, squadron commander; XD822, piloted by L. D. (Dave) Roberts Squadron Leader; XD823, piloted by Squadron Leader Arthur Steele; and XD824, which was piloted by Barry Millett's Chief of Staff. The other four Valiant remain in RAF Wittering, where they are used as courier for bomb components. The final component for Short Granite was sent by Valiant courier on May 10, 1957 - three days late due to strong winds between San Francisco and Honolulu. Full-scale training was held on May 11, and on May 14 it was decided to take the Grapple 1 test the following day. The eight official observers - two each from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States - were flown from Honolulu to Christmas Island in Handley Page Hastings, then to Malden Island in Dakota, from where DUKW took them to HMS Alert , the ship's audience. All but a small party were evacuated from Malden by HMS Warrior , Narvik and Messina at 19:00 on May 14th. The rest were picked up by helicopters from the Warrior at 7:45 am on May 15th. Oulton and Cook arrive in Malden by Dakota at 8:25 am, where they meet with a helicopter and taken to Narvik .
The Grapple 1 mission was flown by Hubbard in XD818, with Millett and XD824 as the "Grandstand" observation aircraft. Both bombers took off from Christmas Island at 9am. The bomb was dropped from 45,000 feet (14,000 m) off the coast of Malden Island at 10:38 am local time on May 15, 1957. Hubbard missed the target with 418 meters (382 m). The bomb results are estimated to be 300 kilotons of TNT (1,300 TJ), well below the designed capabilities. Penney canceled the Green Granite test and replaced the new weapon with the code name Purple Granite. It is identical to Short Granite, but with slight modifications to its Dick; additional uranium-235 is added, and the outer layer is replaced with aluminum. Despite the failure, the test was considered a successful thermonuclear explosion, and the government did not confirm or deny reports that Britain has become a third thermonuclear power. When the documents in the series began to be declassified in the 1990s, the test was condemned as a hoax intended to trick Americans into continuing nuclear cooperation; but the report will not deceive American observers, who help analyze samples from radioactive clouds.
The next test is Grapple 2, Orange Herald (small). For this test, two Fijian official observers were added. A detachment of 39 Fijian Navy rankings on board RNZN Pukaki and Roititi was transferred to HMS Soldier . This time there are also media representatives present at HMS Alert , including Chapman Pincher and William Connor. The Orange Herald bomb component arrives in three separate payloads on May 13th. Assemble it takes two weeks. The bomb was dropped by XD822, which was driven by Roberts. XD823, driven by Steele acting as a racetrack. The bomb was dropped at 10:44 pm local time on May 31. After the bomb was released, Roberts made the standard 60  ° turn to escape, but his accelerometer failed, and the plane went into the high-speed booth. This is potentially catastrophic, but through flying abilities, Roberts can recover from kiosks and use a mechanical accelerometer to complete the maneuvers. The 720-to-800-kilotonne-of-TNT (3,000 to 3,300Ã, TJ) results are the largest ever achieved by a single-stage device. This makes it technically a megaton weapon; but that's close to Corner's estimate for unshipped results, no doubt that lithium-6 deuteride has contributed altogether. This is attributed to Taylor's instability, which limits the compression of light elements in the core. The bomb was hailed as a hydrogen bomb, and the truth that it was actually a large fission bomb was concealed by the British government until the end of the Cold War.
The third and final shot of this series is Grapple 3, a Purple Granite test. It was dropped on June 19 by Valiant XD823 steered by Steele, with Millett and XD824 as a horse race aircraft. The result is very disappointing 300 kilotons of TNT (1,300 TJ), even less than Short Granite. The change did not work. "We have not done it right yet," Cook said Oulton was dumbfounded. "We have to do everything again, as long as we can do it before the ban comes into effect, so that means as soon as possible."
Grapple X
The next test series consists of a single experiment known as Grapple X. To save time and money, and as HMS
[T] the rumors circulate around the power that there will be further tests and that they should stay longer at Christmas. This seems to be confirmed by preparations to build an airway in the south of the island. A pleasant and filled attitude with an important attitude of all ranks turned into a somber anger. The forces of the three services had a very sad time, despite all the contrary attempts, but were backed by the belief that the task was of national importance and the sooner they got three tests, the sooner they could return home.
While some boats and units like the No 49 Squadron return to the UK, most of the personnel must remain on Christmas Island. The Supply Minister assures that no personnel should remain on the island for more than a year unless absolutely necessary, in which case a house leave will be granted. To maintain morale, the units are briefed on the importance of their work. The junior officers are very interested in the welfare of the men and their families at home, because they are not allowed to take them to the island. Efficient email systems are maintained to enable them to stay in touch. The quality of the Army ration is better than in any other UK base. The men are given one day a week off work, and sports such as football, cricket, tennis, volleyball, fishing and water skiing are held. Leave is provided which can be taken in Fiji, Hawaii or Gilbert Islands. To eliminate the monotony, some Army personnel on the ground swapped places with several Navy personnel floating. A Christmas Island Broadcasting Service was established with a radio program every night.
Scientists at Aldermaston have not mastered the design of thermonuclear weapons. Knowing that many American and Soviet bombs result from uranium-238 divisions, they focus on what they call the "lithium-uranium cycle", in which the neutrons of uranium fission will trigger fusion, which will produce more neutrons to induce fission in tamper. However, this is not the most important reaction. Corner and his theoretical physicist at Aldermaston argue that Green Granite can be made to work by increasing compression and reducing the instability of Taylor. The first step will be achieved with the improved Tom. The Red Beard Tom was given a high explosive charge, a uranium-235 composite and a plutonium core, and a beryllium tamper, thereby increasing the yield to 45 kilotons of TNT (190 TJ). Dick is greatly simplified; instead of 14 layers in Short Granite, it will only have three. This is called Round A; a five-layer version is also debated, called Round B. The third round, Round C, is produced, which is a diagnostic round. It has three layers similar to Round A, but the inert layer is not a lithium deuteride. Grapple X will test Round A. The Rounds A and C components are sent to Christmas Island on 24, 27 and 29 October. On examination, a fault is found in Round A Tom, and the fissile core is replaced with the first of Round C.
This time there was no media presence, and only two foreign observers, Rear Admiral Patrick of the US Navy, and Brig. Gen. John W. White of the USAF. When the final preparations were being made for the exam on 8 November, Oulton was advised at 01:00 that a Shackleton had seen SS Effie , an old Victory ship now flying the Liberia flag, in an exclusion area. Wanting to minimize publicity before this test, the British government has delayed sending Notices to Mariners, just released three weeks earlier. It fails to take into account the size of the Pacific Ocean; Effie has left its last call port before it is issued. Shackleton continues Effie under observation while trying to reach him, and Cossack is sent to intercept. By 06:00, everything is ready for the exam, but no news about Effie . Finally, at 6:15 pm, news was received from Shackleton that the crew had woken and Effie had turned and now headed south, out of the exception zone at 12 knots (22 km/h). h). A report from Shackleton at 7:25 shows that Effie is now sailing in a company with Cossacks .
Today the Valiants have started their engines; they leave at 7:35 am, and are on their way when Cossack reports that Effie has cleared the area. The bomb was dropped from Valiant XD824, which was tested by Millett, at 8:47 am on November 8, 1957; Flight Lieutenant R. Bates flew the Valiant XD825 tribune. This time the results of 1.8 megatons TNT (7.5 PJ) exceeded expectations; the predicted result is only 1 megatonne TNT (4.2 PJ). But it is still under 2 megaton TNT (8.4 PJ) security limit. This is the real hydrogen bomb that Britain wants, but it uses huge amounts of very rich and very expensive uranium. Due to a higher-than-expected explosion, there was some damage to the buildings, fuel storage tanks, and helicopters on the island.
Grapple Y
The physicists at Aldermaston have many ideas on how to follow up Grapple X. The possibilities are discussed in September 1957. One is to tinker with the width of the shells in Dick to find the optimal configuration. If they are too thick, they will slow down the neutrons produced by fusion reactions; if they were too thin, they would cause Taylor instability. Another is to completely rid the shell and use a mixture of uranium-235, uranium-238 and deuterium. Ken Allen has an idea, supported by Samuel Curran, of Dick's three layers who use less enriched lithium deuteride in lithium-6 (and therefore have more lithium-7), but more than that, reducing the amount of uranium-235 in the center of the core. This proposal was adopted in October, and came to be known as "Dickens" for using Ken's Dick. The device will be the same as Round A, but with a larger case of radiation. Security limits are again set to 2 megatons TNT (8.4 PJ). Keith Roberts calculated that the results could reach 3 megatons TNT (13 PJ), and suggested that this could be reduced by modifying the tamper, but Cook was against this, fearing that it could cause the test to fail. Due to the possibility of a testing moratorium, plans for the test, codenamed Grapple Y, are restricted to the Prime Minister, which gives oral consent, and a handful of officials.
The New Zealand National Party lost the 1957 election, and Walter Nash became Prime Minister. His New Zealand Labor Party has granted a call by the British Labor Party for a moratorium on nuclear testing, but he feels obliged to honor commitments made by his predecessors to support the British nuclear testing program. However, HMNZS Rotoiti is not available, as it joins the Eastern Strategic Reserve; its place will be taken by HMS Ulysses destroyer. Air Vice Marshal John Grandy replaces Oulton as commander of the Task Force, and Air Commodore Jack Roulston becomes the Air Task Force Commander. The bomb was dropped at 10:05 am on April 28, 1958 by a Valiant driven by the Bob Bates Leader. It has an explosive result of about 3 megatons TNT (13 PJ), and remains Britain's biggest nuclear weapon ever tested. The Grapple Y design is especially successful because many of the results derive from the thermonucleic reactions are not the fission of the heavy uranium-238 tamper, making it the real hydrogen bomb, and because the results have been predicted closely - showing that its designers understand what they do.
Grapple Z series
On August 22, 1958, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced a one-year moratorium on a nuclear test, effective October 31, 1958, if the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom also agreed to suspend testing. Britain has indicated that it will be done, and the Soviet Union agreed on 30 August. This does not mean ending the test directly; on the contrary, the three rushed to the test as much as possible before the deadline. British scientists need to collect as much data as possible to enable them to design nuclear weapons production. As the prospect of increased American cooperation increased after October 1957, they knew that the quality and quantity that Americans would share would depend on what they offered. A series of new England tests, known as the Grapple Z, began on 22 August. It explores new technologies such as the use of external neutron initiators, who were first tried with the Orange Herald. Core boosting using tritium gas and an external enhancement with the deuteride lithium layer allows the smaller and lighter Tom to a two-stage device. This will be the UK's biggest and most complex test series.
Of particular concern is radiation damage, known as RI effect. Keith Roberts and Bryan Taylor at Aldermaston have found that radiation flashes from atomic bomb explosions can affect nearby bombs. This opens the possibility of missile missiles being disabled by others launched for this purpose. Plutonium cores are particularly vulnerable, as they are already prone to predetonation. It has the potential to make the UK nuclear deterrent ineffective. This discovery is given the highest level of confidentiality, and Aldermaston will spend much of the next few years to solve the problem. To build a primary immunity to this effect will require techniques that have not been mastered by Aldermaston. The number of tests in the series assumed four for planning purposes, but until May the Prime Minister only approved two shots, tentatively scheduled for August 15 and September 1, 1958. Four Valiants, XD818, XD822, XD824 and XD827, deployed to Christmas Island, the last arriving at July 31st.
The first shot is the Pendant test, a fission bomb boosted with solid lithium hydride intended as a primer for thermonuclear bombs. Instead of being dropped from a bomber, this bomb was suspended from a series of four vertically stacked balloon pairs. It was chosen over the fall of air because the assembly of bombs could not be fitted into the casing that could be lowered, but it introduced a number of problems. A balloon shot was attempted only once before by the British, during Operation Antler in Maralinga in October 1957. William Saxby of Aldermaston was placed in charge of the balloon crew, who began training at RAF Cardington in Bedfordshire in January 1958. Balloon inflates need 1,200 gas cylinders hydrogen, and no reserves. If another balloon test is required, the empty cylinder must be returned to the UK for recharge, and then sent again. An important consideration is how they can be shot down if they release their moorings with live hydrogen bombs. The SS Tidecrest cargo ship arrived on Christmas Island on July 20, but fire extinguisher equipment was lost at San Francisco International Airport on 1 August, and a replacement must be flown. The Pendant fissile core arrives by air on August 12, and the weapon is assembled with an external neutron initiator unit. On August 22, 1958 it lifted 1,500 feet (460 m) in the air, and exploded at 9am. Results were assessed at 24 kilotons of TNT (100 TJ).
The next shot, from Flagpole, Orange Orange's version of Orange is known as the Indigo Herald. It was air dropped by Valiant XD822, flown by Squadron Leader Bill Bailey, with XD818 being flown by Flight Lieutenant Tiff O'Connor as a racetrack, on September 2, 1958. This was the first British nuclear plane to use blind radar technique. Bailey managed to place a bomb 95 yards (87 m) from the target. It was detonated at 8,500 feet (2,600 m) at 08:24 am with a yield of about 1.2 megatons TNT (5.0 PJ).
The third shot is Halliard, an unusual three-stage design with two nuclear fission components followed by a thermonuclear stage that should be immune to exposure from other bombs despite not using boosting. Americans have shown an interest in him. Macmillan noted in his diary:
Atomic experts meeting, just returned from the US. Two important facts arise: (a) Americans are doing ten more kiloton tests before the end of October and will not expect us to stop in their presence; (b) in some ways we have so far, and furthermore, advanced in art than our American friends. They think the exchange of information will be all give . They want us to finish our series, especially the last megaton, a new and exciting character for them. This is important, because it makes this final series complementary rather than competitive - and therefore easy to maintain in Parliament.
The success of the blind bombing in Flagpole caused Grandy to decide to use blind radar techniques again. Hubbard is not sure. In 52 drops of practice with blind radar, the average error was 235 yards (215 m) compared to 245 yards (224 m) with visual bombing. The problem for aircrew is they will drop live hydrogen bombs - it is generally considered a dangerous thing to do - without the tools to verify that their instruments are correct. Chief Marshal Sir Harry Broadhurst, head of the Bomber Command, hopes O'Connor's luck; Its XD827 will make its fall, with Squadron Leader Tony Caillard at XD827, the horse race aircraft. The aircraft took off at 7:15 am on September 11, 1958. Once in the air, though, errors were developed on ground radar transmitters. Grandy then authorizes the visual decline. It was then confirmed that it was 260 meters (240 m) away from the target. It was detonated at 8,500 feet (2,600 m) at 08:49 am with a yield of about 800 kilotons of TNT (3,300 TJ), very close to the predicted 750 kiloton TNT (3,100 TJ).
The final test in the Grapple Z series is Burgee, at 09:00 on September 23, 1958. This is another test. Burgee is a nuclear bomb boosted with tritium gas made by a generator codenamed Daffodil. It produces about 25 kilotons of TNT (100 TJ). Aldermaston gunmakers have now demonstrated all the technology needed to produce a megatonic hydrogen bomb that weighs no more than 1 ton long (1.0 t) and is immune to premature detonation caused by nearby nuclear explosions. The international moratorium began on October 31, 1958, and Britain never went on atmospheric testing.
Aftermath
Cooperation with USA
Great British time. The launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union, the world's first artificial satellite, on October 4, 1957, came as a big shock to the American public, who had believed that America's technological advantage ensured its immunity. Now, suddenly, there is incontrovertible evidence that, in some areas at least, the Soviet Union is actually ahead. In a widespread call to act in response to the Sputnik crisis, officials in the United States and Britain took the opportunity to improve relations with Britain that had been undermined by the Suez Crisis. On the advice of Harold Caccia, British Ambassador to the United States, Macmillan wrote to Eisenhower on October 10 that urged both countries to gather their resources to face the challenge. To do this, the restrictions of McMahon's Law on nuclear cooperation should be relaxed.
British information security, or its absence, no longer feels so important now that the Soviet Union appears ahead, and Britain has independently developed a hydrogen bomb. The sharp opposition of the Atomic Energy Joint Committee that has derailed previous efforts does not exist. The amendment to the 1954 Atomic Energy Act was adopted by Congress on 30 June 1958, and signed into law by Eisenhower on July 2, 1958. The 1958 US-British Mutual Defense Agreement was signed on July 3, and approved by Congress on 30 July. Macmillan calls this the "Big Prize".
Anglo-American Special Relations proved to be mutually beneficial, though never equal; The United States is much bigger than Britain militarily and economically. Britain soon became dependent on the United States for its nuclear weapons, due to a lack of resources to produce various designs. Britain decided to adjust Mark 28 as a British weapon as a cheaper alternative to their own development, which became the Red Snow. Other weapons are supplied through Project E, where weapons in American custody are provided for the use of the RAF and the British Army.
Nuclear material is also obtained from the United States. According to the Joint Defense Agreement, 5.4 tonnes of British-produced plutonium were delivered to the United States in exchange for 6.7 kilograms (15 pounds) of tritium and 7.5 tons of highly enriched uranium between 1960 and 1979, replacing the production of British uranium enrichment facilities at Capenhurst, although many highly enriched uranium are not used for weapons, but as fuel for the growing fleet of British nuclear submarines. Britain finally acquired the entire weapon system, with the British Polaris program and the Trident nuclear program using American missiles with British nuclear warheads.
Health effects
In 2005, a Massey University study contracted and paid for by a Veterans organization in New Zealand examined about 50 sailors who observed tests from ships. Found in one battery test, that they are indistinguishable from the control group, which is interpreted as indicating that "DNA repair mechanisms in veterans are not deficient". But in another test conducted by the same Massey University team, for chromosome translocation in peripheral blood lymphocytes, study authors, R.E Rowland, suggested that a statistically higher level than this, non-germline abnormality, was found.
Various veteran organizations then filed a class action lawsuit against the British Ministry of Defense after the publication of the research, with many media reporting it at the time. The effects of the radioactive fallout of the Grapple test were examined by a UK Government study in 2010 which concluded that the fall did not reach concentrations that could affect the surrounding nature. The Department of Defense states that few people are exposed to radiation or contamination at all, and that studies have shown little or no health effects. The disease analysis of Grapple veterans and other weapon tests yields statistics that are difficult to interpret. The veterans showed slightly higher rates of illness than the control group, but the control group had lower disease rates than the population as a whole while the veterans had similar rates. None of these results have a clear explanation.
In 1993, two British veteran Grapple Operations, Ken McGinley, a veteran of five tests, and Edward Egan, a veteran of Grapple Y, sued for £ 100,000 in compensation for various health problems they considered their involvement in the test.. They took their claim to the European Court of Human Rights, which rejected it in a 5-4 split decision on 9 June 1998. The appeal to the court to reopen the case was rejected in January 2000. A group of 1,011 former British-service were denied permission to sue the Ministry of Defense England by the Supreme Court in March 2012, arguing that too much time has passed since they became aware of their medical condition, under the provisions of the 1980 Restriction Act. In January 2015, Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama announced that the Fiji government would provide payments compensation of $ 9.85 (US $ 4,788) to 24 surviving Fijian soldiers who participated in Operation Grapple.
Dominic Operations
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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