The tsunami bomb was an attempt during
World War II to develop a
tectonic weapon that could create destructive
tsunamis. The project commenced after
US Navy officer E.A. Gibson noticed small waves generated by explosions used to clear
coral reefs. The idea was developed by the United States and New Zealand military in a programme code named Project Seal.
The weapons concept was deemed feasible, but the weapons themselves were never fully developed or used. A related concept, the
bouncing bomb ''was'' developed and used in World War II, to be dropped into water as a means to destroy German
dams and cause loss of industrial capacity and widespread flooding.
Testing and development
Tests were conducted by Professor Thomas Leech, of the
University of Auckland, in
Whangaparaoa off the coast of
Auckland and off
New Caledonia
)
, anthem = ""
, image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, map_alt = Location of New Caledonia
, map_caption = Location of New Caledonia
, mapsize = 290px
, subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...
between 1944 and 1945. British and US defence chiefs were eager to see it developed, and it was considered potentially as important as the
atomic bomb
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
. It was expected to cause massive damage to coastal cities or coastal defences.
The weapon was only tested using small explosions and never on a full scale. 3,700 test explosions
were conducted over a seven-month period. The tests revealed that a single explosion would not produce a tsunami, but concluded that a line of of explosives about off the coast could create a destructive wave.
Details of the experiments
codenamed "Project Seal" were released to the public by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1999 and are available at
Archives New Zealand in Wellington and at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Archives in San Diego, California.
A 1968 research report sponsored by the US Office of Naval Research addressed this hypothesis of coastal damage due to large explosion-generated waves, and found theoretical and experimental evidence showing it to be relatively inefficient in wave-making potential, with most wave energy dissipated by breaking on the continental shelf before reaching the shore.
Analysis of the declassified documents in 1999 by the
University of Waikato suggested the weapon would be viable.
No specific targets for the weapon were identified, but in 2013 New Zealand broadcaster and author
Ray Waru suggested
coastal fortifications in Japan ahead of an
invasion of the Japanese home islands.
Egyptian magazine ''Al-Osboa'' claimed that the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...
was intentionally caused by a
nuclear weapon detonated in a strategic position under the ocean.
Soviets
Andrei Sakharov was the leader of project ''Lavina'' (Avalanche). Its goal was "to detonate 100 million tons of strategically placed TNT, causing waves that would devastate the U.S. Pacific and Atlantic coasts."
Russia
In 2018, Russia has released plans for a 20 to 100Mt tsunami bomb, named
Status-6
The Poseidon (russian: Посейдон, " Poseidon", NATO reporting name Kanyon), previously known by Russian codename Status-6 (russian: Статус-6), is an autonomous, nuclear-powered unmanned underwater vehicle under development by Rub ...
or Poseidon Torpedo, which is realized as a nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed unmanned underwater vehicle with a length of about 24m. According to russian propaganda during the invasion of the Ukraine, the Poseidon Torpedo may initiate a 500m high shockwave.
Related weapons development elsewhere

The
bouncing bomb was a 5-ton bomb developed, separately, during
World War II. Like the tsunami bomb, it was also designed to explode in water, and one of its intended effects was to cause massive flooding. However its targets were the massive reinforced
dams of
Nazi Germany, which were deemed untouchable by ordinary weapons yet, if broken, would cause extensive harm to Germany's
war effort. The bombs' most unusual feature was that they were deliberately
spun backwards before dropping; this backspin caused them to skip along the surface of the water for a set distance before sinking, and allowed them to evade
torpedo nets that protected the dams before exploding underwater similarly to a
depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
. The inventor of the first such bomb was the British engineer
Barnes Wallis
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (26 September 1887 – 30 October 1979) was an English engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise (the "Dambusters" raid) to attack ...
, whose "Upkeep" bouncing bomb was used in the
RAF's
Operation Chastise of May 1943 to bounce into German dams and explode underwater, with effect similar to the underground detonation of the
Grand Slam and
Tallboy earthquake bombs, both of which he also invented. His April 1942 paper "Spherical Bomb — Surface Torpedo" described this method of attack. The weapons were used successfully against three dams in 1943.
The
earthquake bomb, or seismic bomb, was a separate but related concept that was separately invented by the British aeronautical engineer
Barnes Wallis
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (26 September 1887 – 30 October 1979) was an English engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise (the "Dambusters" raid) to attack ...
early in
World War II and subsequently developed and used on land against strategic targets in Europe.
The earthquake bomb also used the concept of an explosion in a dense medium. It differed somewhat in concept from traditional aircraft-borne bombs, which usually explode at or near the surface, and destroy their target directly by explosive force. By contrast, an earthquake bomb is dropped from very high altitude to gain more speed, and upon impact penetrates and explodes deep underground, causing massive caverns (
camouflets) or craters as well as much more severe
shockwave
In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in the medium. Like an ordinary wave, a shock wave carries energy and can propagate through a me ...
s. In this way, they can affect targets that are too massive to be affected by other types of conventional bomb, as well as difficult targets such as
bridges and
viaduct
A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...
s. Earthquake bombs were used towards the end of World War II for massively reinforced installations (e.g., submarine pens with concrete walls several meters thick, caverns, buried tunnels), and bridges.
["Dam Busters, Paul Brickman.]
File:Mohne Dam Breached.jpg, The Möhne dam breached by Upkeep bombs
See also
*
Halifax explosion, which triggered a tsunami in the harbor area.
*
Status-6
The Poseidon (russian: Посейдон, " Poseidon", NATO reporting name Kanyon), previously known by Russian codename Status-6 (russian: Статус-6), is an autonomous, nuclear-powered unmanned underwater vehicle under development by Rub ...
, a nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed unmanned underwater vehicle
References
{{reflist
Anti-fortification weapons
Military equipment of New Zealand
Military history of New Zealand during World War II
Military history of the United States during World War II
New Zealand in World War II
Pacific theatre of World War II
Bomb
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...