Topic: Reading about Able&Baker Bikini nuclear tests, came across this amusing quote...  (Read 2169 times)

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Offline EschelonOfJudgemnt

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So, this month marks the 70th Anniversary of the Bikini Nuclear Tests (Able July 1st 1946, Baker July 25th 1946).  In reading some of the articles out there, I came across this quote which I found amusing...

Quote
    The bomb will not start a chain-reaction in the water converting it all to gas and letting the ships on all the oceans drop down to the bottom.
    It will not blow out the bottom of the sea and let all the water run down the hole.
    It will not destroy gravity.
    I am not an atomic playboy, as one of my critics labeled me, exploding these bombs to satisfy my personal whim.


Vice Admiral W.H.P. Blandy, Commander Joint Task Force One, Operation Crossroads

While Baker turned out to be much scarier than they thought it'd be, the fact that some people thought that the bomb might vaporize all of the oceans simultaneously just goes to show how little the public at large really understood these weapons at the time.  Of course, there was speculation  that the Tzar bomb (dropped years later) might catch the upper atmosphere on fire as well.

Nonetheless, they are definitely scary weapons, and we are still dealing with the aftermath of some of them...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/02/bikini-atoll-nuclear-test-60-years

Just thought I'd share...
 ;)