Project Crossroads - Nuclear Test Film (1946)

Courtesy: U.S. Department of Energy

0800002 - Project Crossroads - 1946 - 41:30 - Black & White - Project Crossroads was a series of two nuclear tests, Able and Baker, the first tests conducted at the Pacific Proving Ground, near the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. These were the fourth and fifth nuclear detonations in history, following the Trinity test in July 1945 and the two weapons dropped on Japan to end World War II.

The two bombs used in Crossroads were of the Fat Man configuration, very similar to the implosion-type weapons tested at Trinity and dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. It had a plutonium pit. The only other nuclear weapon available at the time was the uranium gun-type Little Boy, which was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. The Fat Man was a more complex weapon than Little Boy, thus needing more testing to gain experimental data.

On July 24, 1946, the Baker shot was set off in the Bikini lagoon at a depth of about 90 feet with a yield of 21 kilotons. Two million tons of water were contained in the eruption and two million yards of sediment were removed from the lagoon floor. Nine ships were sunk.

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[COOPERpwnsU]

42 minutes long!!!

[moondogrex]

Most amazing part of this vid is that drone planes were being used back in 1946!

[YBTHAROCKSTAR88]

Would love to go scuba diving here, maybe while wearing a lead jacket

[mczydee]

no wonder we all got disease

[EinsteinsApprentice1]

Morons and their fake sounds...amazing how the camera/mic picks up the sound of the explosion at the moment of detonation, even though it is many miles away :)

[libertechnet]

The saddest loss for me was the USS Nevada - having been raised from Pearl Harbor and then modernized extensively, she was used as a target ship - surviving both the Able and Baker tests. She was later hauled back to Pearl, but sunk in open ocean as a target ship - suffering further indignities.

The Baker shot was not supposed to expose the fireball to the atmosphere - it hosed our sailors with radioactivity - read the book: "Killing our Own"

[nerblebun]

I worked in the Marshall Islands for several years.I dove the Bikini Lagoon before it was opened up for sports diving.I've stood on the deck of the Saratoga as well as explored the Prince Eugene which lies rolled half over in the Kwajalein Lagoon.

[vamosasonreirsiempre]

Japanese battle ship NAGATO was fallen a victim. But people of the US who was taken part in this project alos was victims! Is it democracy? O impearisomo?

[Lockbar]

Too bad so many historic ships had to be lost there.