Sinking a Fleet with a Nuclear Explosion-Generated Underwater Bubble - Operation Wigwam

with the nuclear attack on the continental united states as a real possibility during the cold war the u.s navy conducted hundreds of atomic tests from 1945 to 1962. during the heyday of the trials the navy attempted to test their underwater atomic power through an elaborate and very loud test under operation wigwam navy scientists and sailors sought to measure the range and lethality of underwater nuclear blasts by using a nuclear warhead twice the size of the hiroshima bomb and although the test was supposedly performed in a deserted area hundreds of miles away from the california coast it is said that the implications were far more sinister [Music] betty from 1945 to 1962 the united states conducted hundreds of nuclear tests gearing up for what experts and civilians believed could be world war iii in the mid-1950s during the trials peak the administration of the atomic energy commission and the department of defense began preparations for a unique test to determine the radiation and pressure effects that underwater nuclear detonations would have on american submarines codenamed operation wigwam this unique test had never been attempted before and preparations lasted over a year after a lengthy research period to determine the best location to carry out the test navy scientists and oceanographers from the scripps institute of oceanography chose a target in the deep pacific ocean 500 miles southwest of the san diego california coast the location was three miles deep and far away from shipping lanes and civilians but still close enough to get navy assets in place from their shore bases the area was also chosen because it was considered a biological desert with a complete lack of marine life operation wigwam was composed of over 6 000 personnel from task force 7 led by commander admiral john sylvester it was also made up of the longest ever toad assembly at the time with 30 ships that included amphibious vessels and an aircraft carrier all led by the flagship uss mckinley as for the actual nuke the chosen weapon was the mark 90 nuclear bomb also nicknamed betty this device was a nuclear death charge developed four years prior with a length of 10 feet and a weight of over 1200 pounds the bomb carried a mark 7 atomic warhead with a 32 kiloton yield twice the strength of the hiroshima weapon detonated in japan 10 years before since real submarines were too valuable to lose in such an experiment the long beach naval shipyard constructed three four-fifth scale submarine hulls nicknamed tubs for operation wigwam the tub is 140 feet long with a 20-foot beam all painted white and with installed weighted boxes to simulate engines and other equipment they were also equipped with cameras and the scale models contain ballast systems that the navy testers operated on a support barge through thick high-pressure hoses the day of on may 14 1955 the area in the pacific ocean where the experiment would take place had 20 knot winds and 15 foot seas twisted the long lines of barges and model tubs held together by chains shorn of its fins and other equipment the betty nuke depth charge sat in a specially built steel presser housing suspended two thousand feet below the shot barge meanwhile a six mile tow line connected the uss tawasa cherokee class fleet tug to the shot barge the tubs were each packed with cameras and telemetry instruments and was supposed to float 290 feet below the surface and between one to two and a half miles from the bomb however on the day of the official test the tubs proved difficult to submerge after several failed attempts and when one of the model submarines couldn't sink due to mechanical problems the navy engineers reconfigured it as an above the surface target despite these problems task force seven was ready to launch betty as hour approached the crew vessels were treated at least five miles from the array and only two converted liberty ships remained nearby to monitor radiation finally minutes before 1pm the crews hungered down in shielded compartments and readied for the blast nuking a submarine the equipment intended to measure the underwater bubble generated by the explosion was not operational during the blast because of this and the bad weather the recovery of most of the test data failed however according to estimates betty's detonation fired a hot bubble explosion over 375 feet wide and its pulsation period was approximately 2.83 seconds when the bubble broke the surface it created an enormous 800 foot high plume of highly radioactive salt water the surface disturbance which stretched nearly a mile created a shock wave that formed instant pressure clouds above the plume and bounced off the bottom of the ocean shaking the support barge that was close by the unevenness of the sand and soil at the bottom of the ocean caused unusual reflections and the vessels closest to the explosion was severely damaged including uss tewasa an observer vessel with scientists on board even a ship five miles away from the blast experienced unplanned effects meanwhile over a thousand miles north of the detonation site navy hydrophones picked up the sound of the explosion the noise was so loud that the point sur station soon detected echoes from hawaiian islands over 2500 miles away in addition a greek freighter approaching the bay area was also shaken up believing it was an earthquake the crew issued radio reports and the men stood by in case the city needed assistance to make matters worse the radioactive contamination spread across five square miles of water only half an hour after betty's detonation aftermath within 24 hours of operation wigwam the radioactive contamination had dissipated entirely the navy then concluded that ships and aircraft could continue to operate in the area but contaminated water was found at different depths in the weeks that followed still it came in slow volumes the radioactive mist produced by betty also covered many of the vessels participating in the project according to the official report the radiological safety of the procedure was the responsibility of the naval radiological defense lab which determined the necessary measures to minimize exposures to personnel rank and evaluate radiological hazards and potentially contaminated areas control exposure and spread of radioactive contamination and document the levels of exposure nearly all personnel involved in the operation were given a film badge to measure the exposure crew members whose duties exposed them to greater measures received a badge on a daily basis and to process the results one of the vessels in task force 7 uss wright had a film processing center where scientists could interpret and record the results while government sources destroyed their crews that the doses were low the amount of radiation exposure in the personnel remains contentious had any of the vessels lost propulsion the surface radiation would have obliterated their sailors an hour after the test according to admiral commander john sylvester's report quote it was necessary to direct a few ships into radioactive water salt water systems and hulls were contaminated by this experience but not to a level high enough to become a health hazard when the proper precautions were taken it was also necessary to bring radioactive material such as water samples buoys and cables on board some ships adequate precautions prevented serious health hazards after wigwam several veterans and their families expressed concerns about the operations health implications arguing that the dosametri film badges could not measure ionizing radiation and they pointed to cases of early cancer victims among many of the over 6 000 participants according to r.j ritter a crew member aboard the uss tewasa observership that participated in the operation quote the planner's major concerns were focused on the scientific and military results of the test any concerns for the possible hazards facing thousands of men involved firsthand and stationed at the blast site seemed at the time to be secondary in nature although the test site was deemed a biological desert by experts tom mccarthy a navy veteran that participated in the operation and lost his life to cancer at age 44 said later that after the detonation the ocean was covered in deceased marine life as far as the eye could see several experts also estimate that the blast might have deafened every whale in the nearby pacific however the wigwam test proved the effectiveness of american nuclear anti-submarine weapons as the closest scale tub only a mile away from the explosion sank within a second in addition the next tub survived the initial blast but sank as it was being towed back to california thanks to operation wigwam the us navy proved that an american nuclear death charge exploding in deep waters could destroy a modern submarine more than a mile away in contrast older submarines needed twice that distance to achieve the same feat the operation was the first atomic test trial in the deep ocean ever performed and the experiment remains the only known test ever conducted in waters deeper than one thousand feet [Music] thank you for watching our dark seas video for more historical content please subscribe to this and all our other channels and hit the like button and the bell icon to get notified about new videos also don't forget to leave a comment to tell us your thoughts about this story or if you'd like to see another naval battle featured in a future video

Channel: Dark Seas

Views: 406,615

Keywords: navy, naval, documentary, history, history channel, warships, dark docs, us navy, nuclear, test, experiment, underwater, operation wigwam, sink, sinking, atomic, nuclear test, footage

Id: bjQDy94ytnQ

Length: 8min 44sec (524 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 28 2021