Test:Hurricane; Date:October 03 1952; Hurricane was the first nuclear detonation, and resembled the US design
Fatman, i.e. it was an implosion type bomb, using Plutonium as the fissionable material, but obviously incorporating certain improvements. To
meet the production and test deadline the UK used external help from Canada to acquire the required amount of Plutonium.
The test objective (besides the obvious one) was also to study the effects of the detonation of a nuclear device on a ship. The concern that such a device could be smuggled on
board was apparently a great concern to the British at a time. Therefore, the test device was located 8.7ft (2.7m) below the water line, in the hull of the River-class frigate
Plym.
The Hurricane explosion left a crater about 20ft deep and 1000ft across. The mushroom didn't grow all that big due to the extremely hot and dry weather, rising to only 15 000ft.
Hurricane yielded 25kt.
Unfortunately there are no color pictures available of the Hurricane test. I believe they exist though :) In case you stumble upon one somewhere on the net, please Contact me.
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