Operation Upshot-Knothole Grable 1953

Credit: Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie (1995) by Peter Kuran

Upshot-Knothole Grable was a nuclear weapons test conducted by the United States as part of Operation Upshot-Knothole. Detonation of the associated nuclear weapon occurred shortly after its deployment at 8:30am PDT (1530 UTC) on May 25, 1953, in Area 5 of the Nevada Test Site. The codename Grable was chosen because the letter Grable is phonetic for, G, stands for "gun", since the warhead was a gun-type fission weapon. It was in the form of a shell, or artillery-fired atomic projectile (AFAP), the first of its kind.

Grable was only the second gun-type warhead ever detonated (the first was Little Boy, the weapon used against Hiroshima; all other atomic weapons were and are implosion-type weapons). The shell, designated a Mark 9 nuclear weapon, had a diameter of 280 mm (11.02 in), was 54.4 in. (138 cm) long and weighed 803 lb. (364 kg) The gun it was fired from had a muzzle velocity of 2,060 ft/s. (625 m/s), for a nominal range of 20 miles, and weighed 85 t (77 metric tons).

The detonation of Grable occurred 19 seconds after its firing.[1] It detonated over 11,000 yards (over 6.25 miles, 10 km) away from the gun it was fired from, over a part of NTS known as Frenchman Flat. The explosion was an air burst of 524 ft. (160 m) above the ground (24 ft./7 m above its designated burst altitude), 87 ft. (26 m) west and 136 ft. (41 m) south of its target (slightly uprange). Its yield was estimated at 15 kilotons, around the same level as Little Boy. An anomalous feature of the blast was the formation of a precursor, a second shock front ahead of the incident wave. This precursor was formed when the shockwave reflected off the ground and surpassed the incident wave and mach stem due to a heated ground air layer and the low burst height.[1] It resulted in a lower overpressure, but higher overall dynamic pressure, which inflicted much more damage on drag sensitive targets such as jeeps and personnel carriers. This lead strategists to rethink the importance of low airbursts in tactical nuclear warfare.[2]

Some images from Upshot-Knothole Grable were accidentally relabeled as belonging to the Priscilla shot from Operation Plumbbob in 1957. As a consequence many publications, even U.S. government ones, have the photo mislabeled.[3]

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[faithnhope10]

My father and numerous other Marines were there in trenches less then a mile away from ground zero. The government put film badges on them to see how much radiation they would receive. After the detonation the wind turned direction. They were all just Guinea Pigs for the government. He, my father, died of the radiation effects,,,,,,,cancer. You may think this is beautiful, but it really isn't,,,,it's sad.

[TitusFlavius79]

I dont think in anyway its beautiful to die on cancer or running into the Nuclear Ground Zero. I have a deep respect for all the unknown Atomic Vets of the Cold War era. I had only few days before a contact with a other child of a Atomic Vet. Yes the US-Goverment used alot of those Soldiers as living Test objects without telling them the dangers of the rad or fallout..

[faithnhope10]

Thank you for sending me to the Atomic Vet site and for your response. I didn't think you thought it was beautiful, someone else had replied, "Beautiful"

thank you again for the additonal info.

[TitusFlavius79]

I know the stupid comment made someone 3 years ago. Anyway im glad that i have helped you. Have a nice day then.

[monkeyman1140]

You pray there isn't a misfire.

[TitusFlavius79]

Well the Test Diablo in the Operation Plumbbob 1957 was a misfire.

[Tomtrapman]

I've always wondered how they filmed those cars and buildings getting destroyed.

[diapedysis]

My father came home after Korea and committed slow suicide with a bottle. He was insane with the vision of the horrors of what men can do to each other and the greif for his friends in the USMC and the Canadian Army in which he served. Now we are at war with the earth destroying the very thing which sustains us. It is said humans are fundamentally insane----can't argue with that at all. I'm truly ashamed to be called a member of the human race.

[RebelGuy95]

@mario6279 you mean caught lol?....well, they subjected pigs to it, you can see them in the vid.

They suffered 80% of their body being burned and probably died of radiation later anyway, so I doubt you would

[mario6279]

what would happen if you were cough in a nuclear explosion would you survive it?

[marmaladekamikaze]

@faithnhope10

My Condolences, I hope you and him had many a close years until his death. may I ask what his film badge Dosimeter reading was, and what sentiments did he express to you about the testing?

[thefurryrailfan]

best video to have brought the new year in with. truly.

[Ballzoil]

Please What the name of this song??

[IstasPumaNevada]

Horrifically fascinating, terrifyingly beautiful.

[kickassmage]

Generals gather in their masses, just like witches at black masses.

[jinto1980]

@faithnhope10

Why would we need to study the effects of radiation after two scientist die in accidents and we dropped two atomic weapons on Japan. We all ready knew the effects.

oh and the leaders of the United States at the time of this test are dead. If you want to drum up a conspiricy might i suggest you join the 911 was an inside job idiots or perhaps the tea party tons of nuts in there.

[KodierungHerz]

57 years ago