In 1962 as part of a larger nuclear test program, Operation Dominic, the United States conducted a series of high altitude nuclear tests named Operation Fishbowl. Three high altitude nuclear tests were planned with two low yield tests added at a later date. They were to be launched on Thor missiles from Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean north of the equator. All tests were to be conducted at night to alleviate any potential for eyeburn or permanent retinal damage to the military personnel.
Operation Fishbowl was rapidly planned by the United States after a sudden announcement on August 30, 1961 by the Soviet that they were ending a three-year moratorium on nuclear testing. Consisting of three tests called Bluegill, Starfish and Urraca were to be completed during the first half of 1962. If a test failed, the next attempt at the test it would be named the same plus the word “prime” and “double prime” if the test failed again. Due to the rapid planning of the operation, many changes were made as the project progressed. Just after midnight on June 2, 1962, Bluegill, the first test was performed.
Although everything seemed to be on a normal flight plan, due to the large number of ships and aircraft in the area, the missile could not be found by the radar tracking system causing the United States to order the missile with its warhead to be destroyed. No nuclear explosion occurred and no data was obtained from Bluegill. Starfish, the second test launched just before midnight on June 19, 1962 from Johnston Island flew for only 59 seconds at normal flight plan, the engine stopped suddenly and the missile started to fall apart.
A large number of debris fell into the ocean and on Johnston Island. The missile was between 30,000 and 35,000 feet in altitude when the range safety officer ordered it to be destroyed. Team swimmers recovered around 250 pieces of the missile that were contaminated with plutonium. Plutonium is an extremely serious health hazard that increases your risk to cancer. It generally stays in the body for decades, exposing organs and tissues to radiation and is also a toxic metal that may cause damage to the kidneys. Only essential personnel stayed on the Island during the testing.
The next test, Starfish Prime, launched after 10pm on July 8, 1962, caused an electromagnetic pulse which was larger than originally expected making it difficult to get accurate measurements and caused electrical damage in Hawaii by knocking out streetlights, setting off burglar alarms and damaging a telephone company microwave link. To obtain experimental data from the shot 27 small rockets were launched from Johnston Island and a number of rocket-borne instruments were launched from a firing area in the Hawaiian Islands.
Bright auroras were observed in the detonation over a very large area of the Pacific. The radiation belt persisted for months at high altitude and damaged United States satellites as well as a United Kingdom and Soviet satellite. The second attempt to launch the Bluegill device (Bluegill Prime) was made on July 25, 1962. The missile malfunctions after ignition of the rocket engine due to a sticking valve. The missile warhead was destroyed while still on the launch pad causing extensive damage to the area and alpha-emitting radioactive materials contamination.
The damaged launch pad had to be decontaminated before it could be rebuilt. Operation Fishbowl test operations were cancelled after the disastrous failure of Bluegill Prime. Personnel not directly involved in the radioactive cleanup were sent to their home stations until the tests resumed. To avoid further damage to the satellites, the third test, Urraca was not preformed. During the operation pause of nearly three months, a second launch pad was constructed just in case of another accident.
After the pause in the operation and the failure of the Bluegill Prime test, another attempt at the test was launched, Bluegill Double Prime on October 15, 1962 around 30 minutes prior to midnight. Once again the test was a failure. The missile malfunctioned and began tumbling out of control for about 85 seconds. The warhead and missile were ordered to be destroyed 95 seconds after the launch. A few days later on October 15, 1962 at 90 minutes before midnight a XM33 Strypi Rocket launched a low-yield nuclear warhead that was detonated successfully at an altitude of 147 kilometers or about 91 miles.
This test was named Checkmate. The exact nuclear vield remains classified but it was reported that the yield and burst altitude were close to those desired. Finally, on October 25, 1962 about 1 minute before midnight, the fourth attempt at the Bluegill test (Bluegill Triple Prime) was a success. A submegaton nuclear warhead was officially reported as being in submegaton range of more than 200 kilotons but less than one megaton. Observers believe that the nuclear yield was between 200 and 400 kilotons. Two cases of retinal damage were reported by military personnel on Johnston Island during the Bluegill Triple Prime Test.
Both individuals were not wearing their protective googles at the point of detonation. In one of the cases the individual’s central vision was 20/400 but returned to 20/25 by six months. The other one was not so lucky, their central vision did not improve beyond 20/60. The lesion diameters were 0. 35mm and 0. 50mm. Both having immediate visual disturbances but were not debilitated. The fourth successful detonation of the Fishbowl series, Kingfish, was on November 1, 1962. It was reported as being a submegaton explosion similar to the Bluegill Triple Prime.
Twenty nine small rockets with various scientific instrumentations were launched to monitor the effects of the high-altitude explosion. To obtain accurate Electomagnetic pulse measurements (EMP), after the failure of the Starfish Prime with the EMP being much larger than expected, extra care was taken to obtain the measurements of the Bluegill Triple Prime and Kingfish tests. Prompt gamma ray output measurements we also carefully obtained so that a new theory of the mechanism for high altitude EMP could be developed and confirmed on the later tests.
The EMP waveforms and prompt gamma radiation outputs reported on the Bluegill Triple Prime and the Kingfish tests remained classified as of mid-2010. However, an unclassified report confirms that the measurements were successfully made and a subsequent theory was developed which describes the mechanism by which the high-altitude EMP is generated. This new theory is used now and does give results which are consistent with both the Bluegill Triple Prime and Kingfish data. The report actually uses the data to confirm the new EMP theory is the still-classified Part 2 of the unclassified report.
Tightrope was the final test of Operation Fishbowl detonated on November 3, 1962 around 9:30 pm. A NikeHercules missile was used and detonated at a lower altitude than the other tests. It is sometimes not listed among the highaltitude nuclear tests of Operation Fishbowl because of its lower detonation altitude. In most official documents the nuclear yield of Tightrope was reported as being less than 20 kilotons. There was an intense white flash that was too bright to view even with high-density googles. The effects of these tests were far more than a simple light show.
When the bomb detonated, electrons underwent incredible acceleration which creates a brief but extremely powerful magnetic field. This is called an electromagnetic pulse or EMP. The EMP measurements generated during the Operation Fishbowl tests caused input circuit troubles in radio receivers during the Starfish and Checkmate bursts; the triggering of surge arresters on an airplane with a trailing-wire antenna during Starfish, Checkmate and Bluegill; the streetlight incident involving 300 streetlights and telephone outages in Honolulu extinguished by the Starfish Prime detonation.
The Starfish Prime pulse was far larger than expected; many of the electrons from the blast didn’t fall down into the Earth’s atmosphere, but instead lingered in space for months, trapped by Earth’s magnetic field, creating an artificial radiation belt high above our plant’s surface. The pulse of electrons detonation damaged at least six satellites which eventually failed due to the blast. The overall effect shocked engineers and scientists. Because of the level that actually occurred, the later Operation Fishbowl tests were designed to have a much lower altitude yield.
Today the explosion energies are still classified. The United States completed six high-altitude nuclear tests in 1958 and the Fishbowl series in 1962 but are still uncertain to permit extrapolation to other altitudes and yields with confidence. There is a strong need for better instrumentation and investigation on effects of nuclear explosions. The electromagnetic pulse generated by highaltitude nuclear explosion that appeared to have significant differences from the lower-altitude explosions.
The auroras that appeared almost instantaneously far away from the explosion in opposite hemisphere are not clearly understood. The nature of the possible radiation belts that were initially generated along the magnetic field lines connecting the areas of the auroral displays was also poorly understood. Areas of blackout of radio communication need to be understood in more detail for military operations during periods of possible nuclear explosions.
