Test of the first UK atomic device on 3 October 1952, in which a plutonium implosion device was detonated in the lagoon in the Monte Bello Islands in Western Australia
Operation Hurricane made the UK the third nuclear power, after the US and USSR, establishing British independent nuclear deterrence.
Key Facts
- Date of detonation
- 3 October 1952
- Device type
- Plutonium implosion device
- Detonation depth below waterline
- 2.7 metres
- Seabed crater diameter
- 300 metres
- Distance from Trimouille Island
- 350 metres
- UK's nuclear power ranking
- Third, after USA and USSR
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
After the Second World War, the United States ended nuclear cooperation with Britain, prompting a January 1947 cabinet decision to develop an independent British nuclear weapon. Named High Explosive Research, the programme was driven by fears of American isolationism and concern over Britain's great power status, with Lord Portal directing the project and William Penney leading bomb design.
On 3 October 1952, a British plutonium implosion device was detonated inside the hull of the frigate HMS Plym, anchored 350 metres off Trimouille Island in the Montebello Islands, Western Australia. The explosion, designed to simulate a ship-smuggled bomb attack on a port, was detonated 2.7 metres below the waterline and left a saucer-shaped crater on the seabed 6 metres deep and 300 metres across.
The successful detonation made the United Kingdom the third nuclear power in the world, after the United States and the Soviet Union, confirming Britain's capacity for independent nuclear deterrence and reinforcing its status as a major world power in the early Cold War period.
Political Outcome
The United Kingdom successfully detonated its first atomic device, becoming the world's third nuclear power.
Only the United States and Soviet Union possessed nuclear weapons.
The United Kingdom joined as the third nuclear-armed state.