0800043 - 1962 Pacific Nuclear Tests - 1962 - 21:15 - Color - "Polaris underway with a nuclear warhead," is the narrators description of the first of a two-part video. Joint Task Force 8, made up primarily of Department of Defense and Atomic Energy Commission representatives, was responsible for the upcoming test. The video shows the preparations, installation of safety monitoring and diagnostic equipment, placement of test and observation vessels, and the actual nuclear test of a Fleet Ballistic Missile. Participating in the test were personnel aboard the aircraft carrier Yorktown, the destroyer Norton Sound, and the submarine Carbonero. The May 6, 1962, date loomed for the nuclear detonation FRIGATE BIRD, part of the Operation Dominic/Nougat test series. The test was conducted approximately 525 miles from Christmas Island, the nearest land mass, at coordinates for ground zero of North 4 degrees 50 minutes, West 149 degrees 25 minutes. The submerged submarine Ethan Allen, carrying 16 Polaris missiles, launched the missile, and the warhead detonated on target, giving the cameras and viewers a spectacular scene. The narrator closes: "Polaris on target. . .with design yield and full service." The yield has not been announced, but it was enough to shake the crew of the submarine Carbonero for several seconds. The second part of the video shows an antisubmarine rocket (ASROC) underwater nuclear weapons-effects test, described as another proof test of a Navy nuclear weapon ...
Tags: Nukes, Nuclear, weapons, WMD, radiation, radioactive, testing, warhead, downwinders, atomic, cancer
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