Operation Ivy (1952)

Courtesy National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office

0800012 - Operation Ivy, Parts 1 and 2 - 1952 - 1:02:30 - Pacific, Color, Sanitized -

"The island of Elugelab is missing!" President Eisenhower heard this short report on the Mike shot in Operation Ivy from Gordon Dean, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. Mike was the first full-fledged hydrogen bomb to be tested.
The island where the device was detonated was vaporized. The hole Mike left was big enough to accommodate several pentagon-size buildings and deep enough to hold the Empire State Building. Mike's yield was an incredible 10.4 megatons, signaling the expansion of the nuclear arsenal from fission to fusion, the same process that occurs in the Sun.

The detonation of the Mike device was the climax of an intense debate over what would be the nation's correct response to the startling news in 1949 that the Soviet Union had detonated a nuclear weapon. Many wanted the U.S. to develop the means to produce and field a large number of fission bombs of varying yields which could be used for tactical purposes. Others believed that the country should institute a crash program like the Manhattan Project to develop a Super weapon based on the idea of forcing together or fusing light atoms with a fissile device to produce enormous amounts of energy.

After a bitter fight among scientific, government and military officials, the President opted for a crash program to demonstrate the Super bomb, now called a hydrogen or thermonuclear weapon. Many designs were evaluated and rejected until the Mike proposal came along. This concept involved the cooling of hydrogen fuel to a liquid form, near absolute zero, and fusing the hydrogen nuclei into helium using the atomic bomb as a trigger.

The Mike device was a 22-foot-long, 5-foot-diameter cylinder housing canisters of liquid hydrogen fuel. These canisters were surrounded by the atomic trigger. The Mike shot occurred on October 31, 1952, and as scientists watched from 40 miles away as the mushroom cloud rose into the stratosphere, the second generation of nuclear weapons was born.

Mike was followed on November 15, 1952, by the King shot, the largest fission device ever tested. It was an implosion bomb, but with an advanced warhead that enabled it to produce 500 kilotons of power.

[terrencegreenaway]

Can’t imagine who the intended audience would have been for this presentation. Org charts, block diagrams, explanations of nuclear reactions, laudatory descriptions of the heroic support efforts of Army personnel, calmly narrated as if walking through a dairy, all set to “what an adventure we’re on” music and unreal dialog. You’d have to be a psychopathic nuclear physicist to get any happiness or understanding out of this film. What a nightmare we created here.

[johnd]

My grandfather was on the USS Rendova in this scene. He witnessed both the Mike and King blasts. I have documents from the military outlining exactly how much radiation he was exposed to and everything. It's absolutely incredible to think that at 4:20 when the narrator pans over to the Rendova that my granddad was on that ship....at that exact moment....waiting to see the largest explosion man kind had ever seen.

[rickshriver]

My dad was involved in this experiment. He is one of those who did not succumb to the immediate after effects of the blast. This video helped me to understand better what he and others of his team went through. Thanks for posting.

[erictaylor]

40:50 Something not often talked about is the creation of the film strip used to create this move. The chemicals used to make film depend an the expected amount of light that will be used. The light generated by this blast would be changing very fast. So fast that the photographer needed to start the film at exactly the right moment and the chemicals used differ from one frame to the next.
The problem was, the light levels could not be accurately known before the blast, so they just guessed, which is why the film fades in and out.

[ztoxtube]

Mind-blowing megaton footage instantly cuts to the actor just chillin on a boat on a normal Tuesday. "The cloud is still rising."

[paulwilson]

1950's brought to you in part by the R. J. Reynolds tobacco company.

[cameronbalfe]

Both my grandpas were in this operation one on a plane flying through the mushroom cloud to take samples. The other on a ship.

[Leonardo_Di_Ser]

32:44 such cheery music used when talking about vaporizing the ocean and the island and every living thing in the vicinity

[dglass]

I love the coffee and pipes. Like your neighbor talking to you. Such silly tripe technique.

[patrickmartinsr.]

Very interesting video that presents a broad synopsis of this event.

[burntorangeak]

This man is sweating strait up
Bourbon and pipe tobacco tar.

[ChristianEd-xekx]

7:47 “I have here a layout you may be interested in” 😂 that’s gotta be the most non- technical diagram ever 😂

[jamesmills]

I was on the USS RADFORD DDE 446 and we were there for Operation Ivy , we were in the area for about 3 months we spent time anchor in the Lagoon and spent time patrolling the area .When we were at anchor we would got to Japtan Island for R&R they would sell us hot beer, We would get mail off the USS Rendova she was an escort carrier she would send the mail over by Helo, I was a radarman on the Radford, we escorted the Estes back to Pearl, on the way we had a swim call in the Pacific .I saw the H bomb blast on the radar .We were along at sea for the shots. We went back to Eniwetok after the shots .We went to Japtan island for R&R the Capt said we could swim in Ocean but not in the Lagoon.I went wading in the ocean there was foam on top I went splashing in the foam everywhere the foam hit my legs I got a small sore right in .They itch now. I had biotics taken it came back sun damages.Still there

[dominicseanmccann]

First time I've seen one of the things followed through its' drop; cool.

[kdc]

Golly, everybody is SMOKING in this movie!!!

[TheBarrera]

this is the greatest movie ever assembled in the history of man!!!

[Leonardo_Di_Ser]

Love this! I’d love to go back in time and witness this.

[BeltwayBrian]

Another Classic from Lookout Mountain!

[XNOGaming_One]

43:08 Its noteworthy that one of the jets was lost due to the electromagnetic storm (could not find his tanker aircraft). The pilot died.

[marksurviver]

Well I was expecting a doc about the band operation ivy