Little-Acorn
Well-Known Member
64 years ago today, on July 16, 1945, the first atomic explosion on earth was triggered at the Trinity test site near Alamagordo, New Mexico. A plutonium implosion bomb created an explosion equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT.
Three weeks later, a uranium slug-gun bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, killing more than 60,000 people. Three days after that, another plutonium implosion bomb was flown over it primary target of Kokura, Japan. But the weather over the target was poor, so the plane diverted to its assigned alternate target of Nagasaki, Japan, and dropped the bomb there, where more than 40,000 people died.
Japan surrendered a week later, cancelling the planned U.S. invasion and conquest of the Japanese mainland and averting a projected 500,000+ U.S. casualties.
Three weeks later, a uranium slug-gun bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, killing more than 60,000 people. Three days after that, another plutonium implosion bomb was flown over it primary target of Kokura, Japan. But the weather over the target was poor, so the plane diverted to its assigned alternate target of Nagasaki, Japan, and dropped the bomb there, where more than 40,000 people died.
Japan surrendered a week later, cancelling the planned U.S. invasion and conquest of the Japanese mainland and averting a projected 500,000+ U.S. casualties.