The Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki on 9 August 1945 was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever used in warfare, killing tens of thousands instantly.
Key Facts
- Date detonated
- 9 August 1945
- Weapon type
- Implosion-type plutonium bomb
- Delivery aircraft
- Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bockscar
- Pilot
- Major Charles Sweeney
- Nuclear detonation sequence
- Third nuclear explosion in history
- Plutonium source
- Hanford Site, manufactured at Los Alamos
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The United States, seeking to compel Japan's surrender and end World War II in the Pacific without a costly land invasion, developed plutonium-based implosion devices at Los Alamos Laboratory. Following the Trinity test in July 1945 and the uranium bomb dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August, the military proceeded with a second atomic strike using a Fat Man device.
On 9 August 1945, a Fat Man implosion-type nuclear bomb with a solid plutonium core was dropped from the B-29 Bockscar, piloted by Major Charles Sweeney, and detonated over Nagasaki, Japan. It was the second nuclear weapon ever used in combat and the most powerful nuclear device to be employed in warfare.
The destruction of Nagasaki, combined with the earlier Hiroshima bombing and Soviet entry into the Pacific war, contributed directly to Japan's announcement of surrender on 15 August 1945. The Fat Man design subsequently informed further nuclear tests, including Operation Crossroads in 1946 and Operation Sandstone in 1948, before being superseded by the Mark 4 nuclear bomb.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Major Charles Sweeney.
Side B
1 belligerent