Operation Fishbowl

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ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_FishbowlFirst attempts[edit]

JCS briefing (July 30, 1963) with actual test yields.

Jeremiah 31:37 Thus says the Lord,

“If the heavens above can be measured

And the foundations of the earth searched out below,

Then I will also cast off and abandon all the descendants of Israel

For all that they have done,” says the Lord. (You best believe they tried!)

The PGM-17 Thor missile shown here is very similar to the Thor missile used for the launch of the nuclear warhead in all attempts of the Bluegill, Starfish and Kingfish nuclear tests of Operation Fishbowl.

According to the initial plan of Operation Fishbowl, the nuclear tests were to be Bluegill, Starfish and Urraca, in that order. If a test were to fail, the next attempt of the same test would be of the same name plus the word "prime." If Bluegill failed, the next attempt would be Bluegill Prime, and if Bluegill Prime failed, the next attempt would be Bluegill Double Prime, etc.

Bluegill[edit]

The first planned test of Operation Fishbowl was on June 2, 1962 when a nuclear warhead was launched from Johnston Island on a Thor missile just after midnight. Although the Thor missile appeared to be on a normal trajectory, the radar tracking system lost track of the missile. Because of the large number of ships and aircraft in the area, there was no way to predict if the missile was on a safe trajectory, so the range safety officers ordered the missile with its warhead to be destroyed. No nuclear detonation occurred and no data was obtained, but subsequent investigation found that the Thor was actually following the proper flight trajectory.[10]: 247 

Starfish[edit]

The second planned test of Operation Fishbowl was on June 19, 1962. The launch of a Thor missile with a nuclear warhead occurred just before midnight from Johnston Island. The Thor missile flew a normal trajectory for 59 seconds; then the rocket engine suddenly stopped, and the missile began to break apart. The range safety officer ordered the destruction of the missile and the warhead. The missile was between 30,000 and 35,000 feet (between 9.1 and 10.7 km) in altitude when it was destroyed.

Some of the missile parts fell on Johnston Island, and a large amount of missile debris fell into the ocean in the vicinity of the island. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Underwater Demolition Team swimmers recovered approximately 250 pieces of the missile assembly during the next two weeks. Some of the debris was contaminated with plutonium. Nonessential personnel had been evacuated from Johnston Island during the test.

Starfish Prime[edit]

Main article: Starfish Prime

On July 9, 1962, at 09:00:09 Coordinated Universal Time, which was nine seconds after 10 p.m. on July 8, Johnston Island local time, the Starfish Prime test was successfully detonated at an altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi). The coordinates of the detonation were 16 degrees, 28 minutes North latitude, 169 degrees, 38 minutes West longitude (30 km, or about 18 mi, southwest of Johnston Island).[11] The actual weapon yield was very close to the design yield, which has been described by various sources at different values in the very narrow range of 1.4 to 1.45 megatons (6.0 PJ).

The Thor missile carrying the Starfish Prime warhead actually reached an apogee (maximum height) of about 1100 km (just over 680 miles), and the warhead was detonated on its downward trajectory when it had fallen to the programmed altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi). The nuclear warhead detonated at 13 minutes and 41 seconds after liftoff of the Thor missile.[12]

Starfish Prime caused an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) which was far larger than expected, so much larger that it drove much of the instrumentation off scale, causing great difficulty in getting accurate measurements. The Starfish Prime electromagnetic pulse also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 1,445 kilometres (900 mi) away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights, setting off numerous burglar alarms and damaging a telephone company microwave link[11] (the detonation time was nine seconds after 11 p.m. in Hawaii).

A total of 27 sounding rockets were launched from Johnston Island to obtain experimental data from the shot, with the first of the support rockets being launched 2 hours and 45 minutes before the launch of the Thor missile carrying the nuclear warhead. Most of these smaller instrumentation rockets were launched just after the time of the launch of the main Thor missile carrying the warhead. In addition, a large number of rocket-borne instruments were launched from a firing area at Barking Sands, Kauai, in the Hawaiian Islands.[13]

A very large number of United States military ships and aircraft were operating in support of Starfish Prime in the Johnston Island area and across the nearby North Pacific region, including the primary instrumentation ship USAS American Mariner providing measurements conducted by personnel provided by RCA Service Company and Barnes Engineering Company. A few military ships and aircraft were also positioned in the southern conjugate region for the test, which was near the Samoan Islands. In addition, an uninvited observation ship from the Soviet Union was stationed near Johnston Island for the test and another Soviet scientific expeditionary ship was located in the southern conjugate region,[14] permanent features of all future oceanic nuclear testing.

After the Starfish Prime detonation, bright auroras were observed in the detonation area as well as in the southern conjugate region on the other side of the equator from the detonation. According to one of the first technical reports, "The visible phenomena due to the burst were widespread and quite intense; a very large area of the Pacific was illuminated by the auroral phenomena, from far south of the south magnetic conjugate area (Tongatapu) through the burst area to far north of the north conjugate area (French Frigate Shoals). ... At twilight after the burst, resonant scattering of light from lithium and other debris was observed at Johnston and French Frigate Shoals for many days confirming the longtime presence of debris in the atmosphere. An interesting side effect was that the Royal New Zealand Air Force was aided in anti-submarine maneuvers by the light from the bomb."[15]

The Starfish Prime radiation belt persisted at high altitude for many months and damaged the United States satellites Traac, Transit 4B, Injun I and Telstar I, as well as the United Kingdom satellite Ariel. It also damaged the Soviet satellite Cosmos V. All of these satellites failed completely within several months of the Starfish detonation.[9] There is also evidence that the Starfish Prime radiation belt may have damaged the satellites Explorer 14, Explorer 15 and Relay 1.[16] Telstar I lasted the longest of the satellites that were clearly damaged by the Starfish Prime radiation, with its complete failure occurring on February 21, 1963.[17]

In 2010, the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency issued a report that had been written in support of the United States Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack. The report, entitled "Collateral Damage to Satellites from an EMP Attack," discusses in great detail the satellite damage caused by the Starfish Prime artificial radiation belts as well as other historical nuclear events that caused artificial radiation belts and their effects on many satellites that were then in orbit. The same report also projects the effects of one or more present-day high altitude nuclear explosions upon the formation of artificial radiation belts and the probable resulting effects on satellites that were in orbit as of the year 2010.[5]

Bluegill Prime[edit]

Inspection of Thor engine parts after the radioactive contamination following the Bluegill Prime fire on Johnston Island.

On July 25, 1962, a second attempt was made to launch the Bluegill device, but ended in disaster when the Thor suffered a stuck valve preventing the flow of LOX to the combustion chamber. The engine lost thrust and unburned RP-1 spilled down into the hot thrust chamber, igniting and starting a fire around the base of the missile. With the Thor engulfed in flames, the Range Safety Officer sent the destruct command, which split the rocket and ruptured both fuel tanks, completely destroying the missile and badly damaging the launch pad. The warhead charges also exploded asymmetrically and sprayed the area with the moderately radioactive core materials.

Although there was little danger of an accidental nuclear explosion, the destruction of the nuclear warhead on the launch pad caused contamination of the area by alpha-emitting core materials. Burning rocket fuel, flowing through the cable trenches, caused extensive chemical contamination of the trenches and the equipment associated with the cabling in the trenches.

The radioactive contamination on Johnston Island was determined to be a major problem, and it was necessary to decontaminate the entire area before the badly damaged launch pad could be rebuilt.[10]: 229–241