National Affairs: Operation Hardtack

Operation Hardtack, the U.S. nuclear test program at Eniwetok, will get under way this week, weather permitting. Already 10,000 men, 100 ships and 120 aircraft of Air Force Major General Alvin Luedecke's Joint Task Force Seven are deployed around Eniwetok's dazzling white coral atolls at the heart of a 590,000-sq.-mi. mid-Pacific "danger zone." From April through August Task Force Seven expects to set off 26 to 30 nuclear explosions, ranging from 50 kilotons to several megatons, from test towers, in mid-air and beneath the sea. Programed highlights:

ΒΆ The Navy's first nuclear depth-charge blasts at deep level to establish kill potential...

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