Operation Dominic was a series of 31
nuclear test
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of their explosion. Nuclear testing is a sensitive political issue. Governments have often performed tests to signal strength. Bec ...
explosions ("shots") 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 the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...
.
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 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 tests; these shots were collectively called
Operation Fishbowl.
Operation Dominic occurred during a period of high
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
tension between the United States and the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, since the Cuban
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called or after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in April 1961 by the United States of America and the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front ...
had occurred not long before.
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...
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 the
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 by far the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested. The Soviet phy ...
. President
John F. Kennedy responded by authorizing ''Operation Dominic''. It was the last atmospheric test series conducted by the U.S., as the
Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
the following year.
The operation was undertaken by
Joint Task Force 8.
The
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) performed
Operation DOMINIC II, an atmospheric nuclear test series, at the
Nevada Test Site
The Nevada National Security Sites (N2S2 or NNSS), popularized as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a reservation of the United States Department of Energy located in the southeastern portion of Nye County, Nevada, about northwest of ...
(NTS) from July 7 to 17, 1962. The test series included four low-yield shots, three of which were near-surface detonations and one a tower shot. Exercise IVY FLATS included one of the near-surface shots, fired from a
''DAVY CROCKETT'' rocket launcher.
[Operation DOMINIC II Fact Sheet]
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Shots
Sunset
The shot report lists the yield as ±20% measured from a
bhangmeter and ±10% from fireball analysis.
Other sources give the yield as .
Full list of shots
Gallery
File:DominicHousatonic.gif, Dominic-''Housatonic'', 9.96 megatons.
File:DominicHousatonic2.gif, Dominic-''Housatonic''.
File:DominicMuskegon.gif, Dominic-''Muskegon'', 50 kilotons.
File:DominicSunset.gif, Dominic-''Sunset'', 1 megaton.
File:DominicYukon.gif, Dominic-''Yukon'', 100 kilotons.
File:DominicArkansas.gif, Dominic-''Arkansas'', 1.1 megatons.
File:DominicCharma.gif, Dominic-''Chama'', 1.6 megatons.
File:DominicAsrockSwordfish.gif, Dominic-''Swordfish'', <20 kilotons.
File:Nuclear depth charge explodes near USS Agerholm (DD-826) on 11 May 1962.jpg, ''Swordfish'' spray dome and plume with USS Agerholm in foreground. Full scale test of ASROC rocket launched depth charge.
File:DominicFrigateBirdPolaris.gif, Dominic-''Frigate Bird'' via UGM-27 Polaris
The UGM-27 Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fueled nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). As the United States Navy's first SLBM, it served from 1961 to 1980.
In the mid-1950s the Navy was involved in the Jupiter missi ...
missile, 600 kilotons; Only full-scale US test of a strategic missile system.
File:Operation_Dominic_-_Frigate_Bird_nuclear_explosion.jpg, Dominic-''Frigate Bird'', as viewed from the submarine USS Carbonero.
File:Project 26 - Operation Dominic (Johnston Island; Christmas Island; Maui, Hawaii) Detonation.jpg, Dominic-''Truckee'', 210 kilotons.
See also
*
List of United States nuclear weapons tests
References
External links
Joint Task Force 8 video report on Operation Dominicat Carey Sublette's NuclearWeaponArchive.org
More info on U.S. testing*
Operation Dominicat RECA UK (Radiation Exposure Compensation Act)
Operation DOMINIC I Fact Sheet Defense Threat Reduction Agency
{{US Nuclear Tests
Explosions in 1962
Dominic
Dominic, Dominik or Dominick is a male given name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master".
The most promi ...
Exoatmospheric nuclear weapons testing
Johnston Atoll American nuclear explosive tests
Kiritimati
1962 in military history
1962 in Oceania
1962 in the environment
Dominic
Dominic, Dominik or Dominick is a male given name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master".
The most promi ...
Military projects of the United States