The 280 mm Gun at the Nevada Proving Ground

About

The testing of the Mark 9 atomic artillery shell was the Grable event, part of a much larger series of nuclear detonations under the umbrella of Operation UPSHOT-KNOTHOLE in 1953.

This operation conducted at the Nevada Test Site consisted of 11 atmospheric tests. There were three airdrops, seven tower tests, and one airburst. Conducted between March 17 and June 4, 1953, this operation involved the testing of new theories. A new and revolutionary method of producing deliverable nuclear weapons was successfully tested. Approximately 21,000 Department of Defense military and civilian personnel participated in Operation UPSHOT-KNOTHOLE as part of the DESERT ROCK V exercise.

Unfortunately, Operation UPSHOT-KNOTHOLE, particularly the "Harry" test, drew a great deal of criticism as resultant fallout levels produced increased offsite radiation exposures.

The tests comprising the 1953 Operation UPSHOT-KNOTHOLE were as follows:

ANNIE, March 17, tower, weapons related, 16 kilotons (kt) NANCY, March 24, tower, weapons related, 24 kt RUTH, March 31, tower, weapons related, 200 tons DIXIE, April 6, airdrop, weapons related, 11 kt RAY, April 11, tower, weapons related, 200 tons BADGER, April 18, tower, weapons related, 23 kt SIMON, April 25, tower, weapons related, 43 kt ENCORE, May 8, airdrop, weapons effects, 27 kt [an important test in correlating blastwave and devastating precursor wave formation data of the Grable event] HARRY, May 19, tower, weapons related, 32 kt GRABLE, May 25, fired from 280 mm gun, 500 feet airburst, weapons related, 15 kt [equivalent to the yield of the bomb the destroyed Hiroshima, Japan] CLIMAX, June 4, airdrop, weapons related, 61 kt

The Mark 9 nuclear artillery shell weighed 550 pounds and was fired 7 miles from the cannon firing location to the target array downrange.

The original state of this film was VERY grainy. The grain has been reduced only enough not to destroy details in artifacts resembling watercolor washing away of visual details. This film was locked away for decades in secret vaults. It therefore deteriorated over time with negelect and lack of controlled environments for what was later to be discovered as very unstable 16 mm Kodachrome I film. Colors faded, others bled through the celluloid, creating greenish to deeply blue patches in clear sky scenes, for example.

The clipping distortion of the cannon firing was in the original film and could be expected for microphones recording blasts from an 11 inches/280 mm bore cannon of 1953.

Related Sites:

http://www.archive.org/details/ExerciseDesertRock1951

http://www.archive.org/details/OperationGreenhouse1951

http://www.archive.org/details/TumblerSnapper1952

Archive

Internet Archive, in Short films

Licence or status

CC BY-NC-ND 2.5, as the Internet Archive states it.

Rights statement

This film has a license because of the personal work in technical processes of digitally improving this film's quality. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ This license for "The280mmGunattheNevadaProvingGround1953" or "The 280 mm Gun at the Nevada Proving Ground" is held by financially contributing administrators of the Nuclear Weapons Vault, the provider of this film.

Credit

AFSWP

Language

English

Who can watch

The archive gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from its collection and subjects. How films are placed