Britain's Pacific H-Bomb Tests
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GRAPPLING WITH THE BOMB BRITAIN’S PACIFIC H-BOMB TESTS GRAPPLING WITH THE BOMB BRITAIN’S PACIFIC H-BOMB TESTS NIC MACLELLAN PACIFIC SERIES Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Creator: Maclellan, Nic, author. Title: Grappling with the bomb : Britain’s Pacific H-bomb tests / Nicholas Maclellan. ISBN: 9781760461379 (paperback) 9781760461386 (ebook) Subjects: Operation Grapple, Kiribati, 1956-1958. Nuclear weapons--Great Britain--Testing. Hydrogen bomb--Great Britain--Testing. Nuclear weapons--Testing--Oceania. Hydrogen bomb--Testing--Oceania. Nuclear weapons testing victims--Oceania. Pacific Islanders--Health and hygiene--Oceania. Nuclear explosions--Environmental aspects--Oceania. Nuclear weapons--Testing--Environmental aspects--Oceania. Great Britain--Military policy. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design and layout by ANU Press. Cover image: Adapted from photo of Grapple nuclear test. Source: Adi Sivo Ganilau. This edition © 2017 ANU Press Contents List of illustrations . vii Timeline and glossary . xi Maps . xxiii Introduction . 1 1 . The leader—Sir Winston Churchill . .19 2 . The survivors—Lemeyo Abon and Rinok Riklon . 39 3 . The fisherman—Matashichi Oishi . 55 4 . The Task Force Commander—Wilfred Oulton . 69 5 . The businessman—James Burns . 81 6 . The pacifist—Harold Steele . 91 Interlude—On radiation, safety and secrecy . 105 7 . The Chief Petty Officer—Ratu Inoke Bainimarama . 125 8 . The sailor—Paul Ah Poy . 135 9 . The high chief—Ratu Penaia Ganilau . 147 10 . The WVS ladies—Mary and Billie Burgess . 157 11 . The pilot—Geoffrey Dhenin . 167 12 . The Prime Minister—Harold Macmillan . 177 13 . The Foreign Officer—Gillian Brown . 193 14 . The telegraphist—Roy Sefton . 205 15 . The soldiers—Isireli Qalo . 221 16 . The Banaban—Tekoti Rotan . .. 231 17 . The mothers—Sui Kiritome . 247 18 . The last soldiers—Josefa Vueti . 257 19 . The President—John F . Kennedy . 267 Interlude—Contested illnesses . 281 20 . The research scientist—Al Rowland . 291 21 . The litigant—Pita Rokoratu . 311 22 . The Rear Admiral—Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama . 323 Aftermath . 339 Acknowledgements . 343 Bibliography . 347 Index . 375 List of illustrations Map 1: Pacific Nuclear Test Sites, 1946–96 ...................xxiii Map 2: Christmas (Kiritimati) Island, 1957–58 ................xxiv Sir Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at the February 1945 Yalta conference ....................19 Yami Lester, Wallatinna Station, South Australia, 2006 ...........29 Lemeyo Abon and Rinok Riklon, Majuro, Marshall Islands ........39 Crew member Matashichi Oishi with the fishing boat Daigo Fukuryu Maru. .55 Grapple Task Force Commander Air Vice Marshall Wilfred Oulton ..69 Postcard of tent city on Christmas Island ......................75 Former Burns Philp & Company headquarters in Sydney .........81 UK security forces tracked the movements of British pacifist Harold Steele from London to Japan .....................92 Map of Grapple Danger Area ..............................106 Fiji Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (FRNVR) sailors aboard HMS Warrior, off Malden Island, May 1957 ..............125 Paul Ah Poy and sailors from HMS Warrior and HMNZS Rotoiti, May 1957 ........................................135 Paul Ah Poy at the Remembrance Day march, Nausori, Fiji, 11 November 2016 .................................144 Ratu Penaia Ganilau and Fiji Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (FRNVR) Commander Stan Brown prepare for the second Grapple test. 147 vii GRAPPLING WITH THE BOMB FRNVR sailor Amani Tuimalabe carries a memento of his service in Operation Grapple. .152 Mary and Billie Burgess at the Ship Inn in Korea, 1954 ..........157 Geoffrey Dhenin and crew before their flight to gather samples after the 1953 Totem 1 test ...........................167 British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, 1957 ...............178 Queen Elizabeth meets Commonwealth prime ministers, including Harold Macmillan of the United Kingdom, Jawaharlal Nehru of India, John Diefenbaker of Canada and Robert Menzies of Australia. .185 Churchill, Eisenhower and Macmillan—improving US–UK relations ...................................193 Roy Sefton, aboard HMNZS Pukaki, 1957 ...................206 On the quarter deck of HMNZS Pukaki preparing for the Grapple 1 test, May 1957. 210 Roy Sefton QSM, Chair of the New Zealand Nuclear Test Veterans Association (NZNTVA) .......................218 English officers and soldiers from the Royal Fiji Military Forces (RFMF), Christmas Island, 1958. 221 Tekoti Rotan in Suva, Fiji, November 2016 ...................232 Sui Kiritome and her daughter Rakieti in Tarawa, Kiribati, 2004 ...247 Mushroom cloud from the Grapple Y test, 28 April 1958 ........250 Royal Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) soldiers deployed to Christmas Island, 1958 ............................257 Captain Viliame ‘Bill’ Masi and British officers inspect Fijian troops on Christmas Island ...........................262 Harold Macmillan meets US President John F. Kennedy at Key West in Florida to plan US nuclear tests on Christmas Island ...................................267 The first megaton hydrogen bomb test—Grapple X, November 1957. .282 Al Rowland ONZM .....................................292 viii LIST OF ILLUstratioNS HMNZS Pukaki proceeds towards the mushroom cloud after Grapple 1 test at Malden Island, May 1957 ...............297 The Royal Courts of Justice on G.E. Street, The Strand, London ...311 Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, former Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) Commander and current Prime Minister of Fiji .....323 New Zealand nuclear veterans receive the New Zealand Special Service Medal (Nuclear Testing) ........................329 ix Timeline and glossary Nuclear timeline, 1945–1963 16 July 1945 Alamogordo, United States conducts first-ever nuclear New Mexico, USA test, codenamed ‘Trinity .’ 6 August 1945 Hiroshima, Japan US aircraft Enola Gay drops the atomic weapon ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima, killing 80,000 people immediately and an estimated 100,000 people within six months . 9 August 1945 Nagasaki, Japan US aircraft Bockscar drops the atomic weapon ‘Fat Man’ on Nagasaki, killing 70,000 people immediately and tens of thousands in following months . 30 June 1946 Bikini Atoll, Marshall Under Operation Crossroads, United Islands States conducts the first of two atomic tests at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. ‘Able’ and ‘Baker’ are the first of 67 atmospheric tests in the Marshall Islands between 1946–1958 . 6 August 1948 Hiroshima, Japan Hiroshima’s first Peace Festival. 29 August 1949 Semipalatinsk, USSR conducts first atomic test Kazakhstan RDS-1 in Operation Pervaya molniya (Fast lightning), dubbed ‘Joe-1’ by United States . 1950–1954 Korean peninsula United States, Britain and Australia, under a United Nations mandate, join military operations in Korea following clashes between forces from the south and north of Korea. The Democratic People’s Republic is backed by the newly created People’s Republic of China . 3 October 1952 Monte Bello Islands, Under Operation Hurricane, United Western Australia Kingdom begins its nuclear testing program in Australia with a 25 kiloton atomic test . xi GRAPPLING WITH THE BOMB 1 November 1952 Bikini Atoll, Marshall United States conducts its first Islands hydrogen bomb test, codenamed ‘Mike’ (10 .4 megatons) as part of Operation Ivy . 12 August 1953 Semipalatinsk, USSR tests first hydrogen bomb RDS-6 Kazakhstan (‘Joe-4’). 15–27 October 1953 Emu Field, South Under Operation Totem, United Australia Kingdom conducts two atomic tests (‘Totem One’ with an 8 kiloton yield and ‘Totem Two’ with 10 kilotons) in the South Australian desert . 1 March 1954 Bikini Atoll, Marshall United States conducts hydrogen bomb Islands test at Bikini Atoll, codenamed ‘Bravo’ . The test showers radioactive fallout over the country, especially northern atolls and Japanese fishing vessel Lucky Dragon (six H-bomb tests under Operation Castle between February and May) . 6–8 August 1955 Hiroshima, Japan First World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs held on anniversary of atomic attacks . 16 May and 19 June Monte Bello Islands, United Kingdom conducts two atomic 1956 Western Australia tests (‘Mosaic One’—15 kilotons and ‘Mosaic Two’—60 kilotons) off coast of Western Australia under Operation Mosaic . June 1956 Christmas Island United Kingdom begins construction (Kiritimati), British of airstrip, military encampment and Gilbert and Ellice scientific bunkers to prepare for Islands Colony Operation Grapple hydrogen bomb tests . 27 September– Maralinga, South United Kingdom conducts four atomic 22 October 1956 Australia tests (‘One Tree’, ‘Marcoo’, ‘Kite’, ‘Breakaway’) in South Australian desert under Operation Buffalo. October–December Egypt and Hungary Cold War political tensions rise following 1956 United Kingdom, French and Israeli attack on Egypt during Suez crisis, and crushing of Hungarian uprising by Soviet troops . 9 January 1957 London, England United Kingdom Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigns over Suez crisis; replaced the next day by Harold Macmillan, who restructures UK strategic, colonial and nuclear policy . 15 May 1957 Malden