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Operation Crossroads 1946

Effects of nuclear weapons on naval vessels — Able (airburst) and Baker (underwater)

Year
1946
Tests
2
Max yield
23 kt
Hiroshimas
2
Films
1

Two tests against a fleet of 95 target ships. Baker was the first underwater nuclear explosion, producing a massive radioactive lagoon that contaminated the entire target fleet. The tests displaced the Bikini Islanders permanently.

Crossroads inaugurated the Pacific Proving Grounds and the permanent displacement of the Bikini people, whose home remains too contaminated for resettlement nearly eighty years later.

Location
Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands
Country
USA
Coordinates
11.6, 165.5 · view on map →