Revived Footage of Atmospheric Nuclear Tests

[MikuMiku]

So I was browsing around one of my favourite news blogs one day and they happened to cover an event about the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Apparently, they obtained permission to revive some old Nuclear Test footage in between 1945 to 1962 before open air nuclear tests were banned.

 

I watched a few of them and am amazed and horrified at the power of these tests. Here's one of the footage that they had.

 

 

It puts the meaning of Cold War into a new perspective for me. You can check out their other footage in the playlist on their youtube channel.

[CapnCappy]

Nutmeg

 

NUTMEG predicted fallout, surface radiological exclusion area (radex), ship positions, and aircraft participation. The second Bikini shot, NUTMEG, was detonated at 0920 on 22 May 1958. NUTMEG was detonated on a barge in the ZUNI crater, and produced a 25.1 kt yield range.[3] The detonation cloud stabilized at 20,000 feet (6.1 km) by 0926. DOD-sponsored experiments for NUTMEG were Projects 6.3, 6.3a, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, and 6.11. Projects 6.3 and 6.3a had stations near the burst point on Eneman Island.

[pewpewpew42]

Personally, I think that something like anthrax is scarier. That said, the power of those bombs is incredible.

[bassmasta76]

I love watching the old test footage. Ive seen most of what was previously available and am excited to see more of what they release.

 

I can't recall if it is out there or not, but I would like to see video with the USS Prinz Eugen during the blast...

 

B

[Lonewolfpj]

As a CBRN solider I can tell you all of this stuff should scare the crap out of people.

[Shield380]

I was an ordinance officer in the navy for more than a decade, and being around explosives they do not scare me too much. Sure, I never want to be on the receiving end of any explosive ordinance but the power of those bombs is something I hope nobody ever has to experience.

[BrassFire]

So I was browsing around one of my favourite news blogs one day and they happened to cover an event about the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Apparently, they obtained permission to revive some old Nuclear Test footage in between 1945 to 1962 before open air nuclear tests were banned.

 

I watched a few of them and am amazed and horrified at the power of these tests. Here's one of the footage that they had.

 

 

It puts the meaning of Cold War into a new perspective for me. You can check out their other footage in the playlist on their youtube channel.

 

Wow...

[BrassFire]

I love watching the old test footage. Ive seen most of what was previously available and am excited to see more of what they release.

 

I can't recall if it is out there or not, but I would like to see video with the USS Prinz Eugen during the blast...

 

B

 

As a CBRN solider I can tell you all of this stuff should scare the crap out of people.

 

I was an ordinance officer in the navy for more than a decade, and being around explosives they do not scare me too much. Sure, I never want to be on the receiving end of any explosive ordinance but the power of those bombs is something I hope nobody ever has to experience.

 

Personally, I think that something like anthrax is scarier. That said, the power of those bombs is incredible.

 

Nutmeg

 

NUTMEG predicted fallout, surface radiological exclusion area (radex), ship positions, and aircraft participation. The second Bikini shot, NUTMEG, was detonated at 0920 on 22 May 1958. NUTMEG was detonated on a barge in the ZUNI crater, and produced a 25.1 kt yield range.[3] The detonation cloud stabilized at 20,000 feet (6.1 km) by 0926. DOD-sponsored experiments for NUTMEG were Projects 6.3, 6.3a, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, and 6.11. Projects 6.3 and 6.3a had stations near the burst point on Eneman Island.

 

So I was browsing around one of my favourite news blogs one day and they happened to cover an event about the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Apparently, they obtained permission to revive some old Nuclear Test footage in between 1945 to 1962 before open air nuclear tests were banned.

 

I watched a few of them and am amazed and horrified at the power of these tests. Here's one of the footage that they had.

 

 

It puts the meaning of Cold War into a new perspective for me. You can check out their other footage in the playlist on their youtube channel.

 

I hear this in my mind right now. It's freaking terrifying.

 

 

My parents were born into and grew up during the Cold War. They're immigrants from Venezuela; they grew up knowing that this sound meant the end of the freaking world.

 

I'm honestly terrified right now.

[AVR_Project]

The initial dissipating blast cloud is caused by the atmosphere absorbing the mega-lethal doses of Gamma and X-ray radiation.

The lower frequency Infra-red energy is not attenuated as much in the air, and ends up setting things on fire.

[MikuMiku]

Here's another one of their footage that struck me. Normally, I don't get to see closeup what a blast is capable of but this footage puts focus on the shockwave rolling across the ground.

 

 

I'm also learning a lot of new things from you guys about these tests

[Shield380]

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hear this in my mind right now. It's freaking terrifying.

 

 

My parents were born into and grew up during the Cold War. They're immigrants from Venezuela; they grew up knowing that this sound meant the end of the freaking world.

 

I'm honestly terrified right now.

 

Yeah, but that sound to me means testing of ordinance. A naval vessel has a "shock trial" (not actual term) during sea trials. A 10,000lb "bomb" (large piece of ordinance which I cannot describe due to security reasons) is placed very close to the ship, placed underwater, and then detonated. The shockwave of the blast hits the ship both above and below the waterline and we measure how the ship handles it. The new Independence-class vessels recently underwent these trials.

[Wulfgarn]

Oppenheimer later remarked that it brought to mind words from the Bhagavad Gita:

 

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

[Shield380]

The initial dissipating blast cloud is caused by the atmosphere absorbing the mega-lethal doses of Gamma and X-ray radiation.

The lower frequency Infra-red energy is not attenuated as much in the air, and ends up setting things on fire.

 

Hence the reason there were so many burn victims in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The initial heat of the blast, disruption of gas lines/telephone lines which caused fires, and the sheer infrared radiation that followed

[AVR_Project]

 

Hence the reason there were so many burn victims in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The initial heat of the blast, disruption of gas lines/telephone lines which caused fires, and the sheer infrared radiation that followed

 

Those within the Gamma bubble were simply vaporized.  Only their shadows remain.

[Shield380]

 

Those within the Gamma bubble were simply vaporized.  Only their shadows remain.

 

As a ordinance officer I saw a lot of photos from the wreckage, some still haunt me today

[BrassFire]

 

Yeah, but that sound to me means testing of ordinance. A naval vessel has a "shock trial" (not actual term) during sea trials. A 10,000lb "bomb" (large piece of ordinance which I cannot describe due to security reasons) is placed very close to the ship, placed underwater, and then detonated. The shockwave of the blast hits the ship both above and below the waterline and we measure how the ship handles it. The new Independence-class vessels recently underwent these trials.

 

Thank you sir. I can't help but think of real sirens though; the kind that would play in the Cold War if WWIII began...

[AVR_Project]

Densitometry results from the Nagato, New York, and Pennsylvania show that heavy armor saves lives.

Data showed that if the sailors were huddled into the more heavily armored sections of the battleships, like the turrets, they would be spared the lethal doses of radiation found in the rest of the superstructure.  This, even though the Nagato was directly UNDER the nuke.

Of course, they'd probably die of blunt force, asphyxiation, or smoke inhalation after the blast.

... pity the poor bastards who had to retrieve the film cartridges.

[Captain_Dorja]

 

Those within the Gamma bubble were simply vaporized.  Only their shadows remain.

 

Simply put - that's so fvcked up. Being blown up would suck already. Being blown up so hard that you got vaporized would suck even more. Being blown up in a way that your body is vaporised, but your fvcking shadow persists is some next level kind of hell.

[Shield380]

 

Thank you sir. I can't help but think of real sirens though; the kind that would play in the Cold War if WWIII began...

 

Yeah, I know what you mean

[BrassFire]

 

Yeah, I know what you mean

 

And now I'm thinking about the souls of damned Vietnamese soldiers.

 

[edited].

[bassmasta76]

Oppenheimer later remarked that it brought to mind words from the Bhagavad Gita:

 

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

 

Unless I'm mistaken, he said that after the successful Trinity test of the "gadget".

 

B

[Lonewolfpj]

I would rather go in the blast

[Black_Jack_Pershing]

Having been born towards the end of the Cold War, when things were cooling rapidly, I find port-war and early Cold War stuff as well as this sort of footage fascinating. Thanks for posting it, MikuMiku.

 

Also, if you truly wanted to hear one of the Harbingers of the Apocalypse and what the sound of World War III would have been like, look no further than the (rather auspiciously named) Chrysler Victory Air Raid siren.

 

[Captain_Dorja]

^That was the last victorious thing ever made by Chrysler to date.

[Black_Jack_Pershing]

^That was the last victorious thing ever made by Chrysler to date.

 

*Cough*

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Abrams

*Cough*