Curator's Choice: Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll

Clip from ADM 24 OPERATION CROSSROADS: film taken at Bikini Island of the Atomic Bomb test, 1946

In anticipation of next year’s 80th anniversary of US-nuclear test Operation Crossroads, Cold War Curators Michelle Kirby and Nathan Doherty highlight IWM archive material available for licensing

In July 1946, the blast of the first nuclear bombs to be detonated since Hiroshima and Nagasaki reverberated around the shores of the remote Pacific Marshall Islands of the Bikini Atoll. Appropriately named, Operation Crossroads ushered in a new era of nuclear weapons testing, since which there have been over 2000 nuclear tests globally. 

The aim of the joint US Army-Navy task force was to test the survivability of a naval fleet, in a nuclear-armed world. At the time, it was claimed by those involved that “lessons learned may save many lives”. The USA was at this point the only nation on earth to possess nuclear weapons, but already it was anticipating the need for defence from the possibility of future nuclear attack. 

HU 69119. US Navy photographer, 1946

The ‘mushroom cloud’ is one of the most iconic images associated with nuclear weapons

The Bikini Atoll tests were one of the most photographed events of the 20th century, although most images were not made public. The photo above was taken by a US Navy patrol bomber.

In contrast to the secretive Manhattan Project, Operation Crossroads involved many observers, including the world’s press. Almost 500 cameras officially recorded the blast from nearly every angle. Although the majority of this was not publicly released, some of the footage achieved notoriety in Stanley Kubrick’s movie Doctor Strangelove (1964).

FRE 12739: B-17 Flying Fortresses, like this one, were modified so that they could be radio controlled and fly through mushroom clouds, collecting data without risking pilots.

The devastating effects of nuclear weapons testing

The clip above, from official US-footage, shows the radioactive blast of water after an underwater detonation, which drenched the vessels to such an extent that decontamination efforts afterwards had to be halted and some were eventually sunk. 

The ecological after effects of Crossroads were later described by world-renowned nuclear chemist, Glenn T. Seaborg, of the Atomic Energy Commission, as  “the world’s first nuclear disaster”. 

The environmental impact of the tests was so great that the indigenous population of the affected Atoll, who had been relocated prior to the tests, were never able to return permanently. Approximately 40,000 US military personnel were present during the tests and some of them suffered from health problems they attributed to the radiation exposure. Nuclear weapons testing continued in this region for years afterwards. Islanders, veterans and their families still struggle with access to healthcare and compensation today. 

Find out more

ADM 24 was digitised through Digital Futures, IWM’s mass digitisation project which ended this year, with a focus on the Cold War era.

See more nuclear warfare films. For further information regarding licensing IWM's collections, please contact the Image & Film Licensing team.