The TEAPOT schedule was continually revised as the AEC waited for
appropriate weather conditions for firing the test shots.

The delay in one

shot often resulted in postponing subsequent shots, regardless of the weather.
The many schedule changes, affecting all but the first two shots, caused a
6-week extension of TEAPOT from 1 April to 15 May (15: 29).
The following table provides data on the TEAPOT tests (15: 1,5,9):

Event

Date

Type

WASP

18 February

Airdrop

MOTH

22 February

Tower

TESLA

1 March

Tower

TURK

7 March

Tower

43

HORNET.

12 March

Tower

4

BEE

22 March

Tower

ESS

23 March

Crater

APPLE 1

29 March

Tower

WASP PRIME

29 March

Airdrop

HA

6 April

Airdrop

POST

9 April

Tower

15 April

Tower

22

5 May

Tower

29

15 May

Tower

28

MET
APPLE 2

ZUCCHINI

4.11.1

Yield
(kilotons)

1
14

Background and Objectives of Operation TEAPOT.

Operation TEAPOT furthered the efforts of the previous CONUS series, the
1953 Operation UPSHOT-KNOTHOLE, which had studied both the tactical and
strategic uses of nuclear weapons (see section 4.9) (15: 27).

Authorized by

President Eisenhower on 30 August 1954, TEAPOT had two primary objectives:
e

To establish military doctrine and tactics for the use of ground
forces on a nuclear battlefield

108

Select target paragraph3