Operation Dominic was a series of 31

nuclear test Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected b ...

explosions with a total yield conducted in 1962 by the United States in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. This test series was scheduled quickly, in order to respond in kind to the Soviet resumption of testing after the tacit 1958–1961 test moratorium. Most of these shots were conducted with free-fall bombs dropped from

B-52 The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...

bomber aircraft. Twenty of these shots were to test new weapons designs; six to test weapons effects; and several shots to confirm the reliability of existing weapons. The Thor missile was also used to lift warheads into near-space to conduct

high-altitude nuclear explosion High-altitude nuclear explosions are the result of nuclear weapons testing within the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere and in outer space. Several such tests were performed at high altitudes by the United States and the Soviet Union betw ...

tests; these shots were collectively called

Operation Fishbowl Operation Fishbowl was a series of high-altitude nuclear tests in 1962 that were carried out by the United States as a part of the larger '' Operation Dominic'' nuclear test program. Flight-test vehicles were designed and manufactured by Avco ...

. Operation Dominic occurred during a period of high

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

tension between the United States and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, since the Cuban

Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called ''Invasión de Playa Girón'' or ''Batalla de Playa Girón'' after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly fi ...

had occurred not long before.

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev ...

announced the end of a three-year moratorium on nuclear testing on 30 August 1961, and Soviet tests recommenced on 1 September, initiating a series of tests that included the detonation of

Tsar Bomba The Tsar Bomba () (code name: ''Ivan'' or ''Vanya''), also known by the alphanumerical designation "AN602", was a Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear aerial bomb, and the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested. Overall, the Soviet ...

. President John F. Kennedy responded by authorizing ''Operation Dominic''. It was the largest nuclear weapons testing program ever conducted by the United States and the last atmospheric test series conducted by the U.S., as the Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

the following year. The operation was undertaken by Joint Task Force 8.

Shots

Sunset

The shot report lists the yield as ±20% measured from a

Bhangmeter A bhangmeter is a non-imaging radiometer installed on reconnaissance and navigation satellites to detect atmospheric nuclear detonations and determine the yield of the nuclear weapon. They are also installed on some armored fighting vehicles, ...

and ±10% from fireball analysis. Other sources give the yield as .

Full list of shots

Gallery

References

External links

Operation Dominic
at Carey Sublette's NuclearWeaponArchive.org
More info on U.S. testing
*
Operation Dominic
at RECA UK (Radiation Exposure Compensation Act) {{US Nuclear Tests Explosions in 1962

Dominic Dominic is a name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans as a male given name. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". Variations include: Domini ...

Exoatmospheric nuclear weapons testing Johnston Atoll American nuclear explosive tests Kiritimati 1962 in military history 1962 in Oceania 1962 in the environment

Military projects of the United States