4.3
OPERATION SANDSTONE.
Conducted at the Enewetak Atoll in 1948, Operation SANDSTONE consisted of
three tower shots, all detonated at a height of 200 feet (5: 1):
Event
Date
X-RAY
15 April
Tower
37
YOKE
1 May
Tower
49
15 May
Tower
18
ZEBRA
4.3.1
Type
Yield
(kilotons)
Background and Objectives of Operation SANDSTONE.
Operation SANDSTONE was the second test series carried out in the
Marshall Islands.
It differed from the first, CROSSROADS, in that it was
primarily a scientific series conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission.
The
AEC was activated on 1 January 1947 to assume the responsibilities formerly
held by the Manhattan Engineer District, dissolved at the end of 1946.
The
Armed Forces had a supporting role in SANDSTONZ, whereas they had assumed a
lead role in CROSSROADS (5: 1).
SANDSTONE was a proof-test of second-generation nuclear devices.
The two
weapons detonated at CROSSROADS were the same type of weapon dropped on
Nagasaki.
On 3 April 1947, the General Advisory Committee to the AEC
recommended development and testing of new weapons.
When the President
approved the preliminary SANDSTONE test program on 27 June 1947, the U.S.
apparently had only 13 nuclear weapons in its stockpile.
One year later,
despite heavy emphasis on increased production of fissionable material, the
number of weapons was only about 50, far short of the number that military
planners calculated would be required in a war with the Soviet Union.
The
great expansion in the U.S. stockpile evident by the end of 1949 was the
direct result of the higher production rates of fissionable material and the
more efficient weapons designs proof-tested at SANDSTONE (5: 17,18).
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