Marshall Islands
Between 1946 and 1958, the United States detonated 67 nuclear bombs on, in and above the Marshall Islands — vaporizing whole islands, carving craters into its shallow lagoons and exiling hundreds of people from their homes.
Operation Crossroads
The first testing series in the Marshall Islands occurred under Operation Crossroads. The purpose of Operation Crossroads was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on naval warships. Testing in the islands began at Bikini Atoll with the Shot Able test, on July 1, 1946. After Shot Able, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists confirmed the power of these weapons. They determined that soldiers on ships up to a mile away from this explosion would be instantly be killed.
The U.S. then conducted the Shot Baker test on July 25.
From the Youtube video on Operation Crossroads
These tests were the first time that the U.S. tested nuclear weapons since…
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Thank you for sharing this article. It isn’t a good part of our history – but it can’t be changed.
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