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‘Tsunami bomb’ tested off New Zealand coast
Posted by nesaraaustralia ⋅ January 3, 2013 ⋅ Leave a Comment
Filed Under environment, science
The United States and New Zealand conducted secret tests of a
“tsunami bomb” designed to destroy coastal cities by using underwater
blasts to trigger massive tidal waves.
Photo: ALAMY
By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney
2:50PM GMT 01 Jan 2013
The tests were carried out in waters around New Caledonia and
Auckland during the Second World War and showed that the weapon was
feasible and a series of 10 large offshore blasts could potentially
create a 33-foot tsunami capable of inundating a small city.
The top secret operation, code-named “Project Seal”, tested the
doomsday device as a possible rival to the nuclear bomb. About 3,700
bombs were exploded during the tests, first in New Caledonia and later
at Whangaparaoa Peninsula, near Auckland.
The plans came to light during research by a New Zealand author and film-maker, Ray Waru, who examined military files buried in the national archives.
“Presumably if the atomic bomb had not worked as well as it did, we might have been tsunami-ing people,” said Mr Waru.
“It was absolutely astonishing. First that anyone would come up with
the idea of developing a weapon of mass destruction based on a tsunami …
and also that New Zealand seems to have successfully developed it to
the degree that it might have worked.” The project was launched in June
1944 after a US naval officer, E A Gibson, noticed that blasting
operations to clear coral reefs around Pacific islands sometimes
produced a large wave, raising the possibility of creating a “tsunami
bomb”.
Mr Waru said the initial testing was positive but the project was
eventually shelved in early 1945, though New Zealand authorities
continued to produce reports on the experiments into the 1950s. Experts
concluded that single explosions were not powerful enough and a
successful tsunami bomb would require about 2 million kilograms of
explosive arrayed in a line about five miles from shore.
“If you put it in a James Bond movie it would be viewed as fantasy but it was a real thing,” he said.
“I only came across it because they were still vetting the report, so
there it was sitting on somebody’s desk [in the archives].”
Forty years after the joint testing, New Zealand faced a dramatic
breakdown in its security ties with the US after it banned the entry of
nuclear-armed ships from entering its territory during the 1980s. The
dispute led to the US downgrading its relationship with New Zealand from
an “ally” to a “friend”.
In his new book Secrets and Treasures, Mr Waru reveals other unusual
findings from the archives including Defence Department records of
thousands of UFO sightings by members of the public, military personnel
and commercial pilots.
Some of the accounts of the moving lights in the sky include drawings
of flying saucers, descriptions of aliens wearing “pharaoh masks” and
alleged examples of extraterrestrial writing.
Thanks to: http://nesaraaustralia.com
Posted by nesaraaustralia ⋅ January 3, 2013 ⋅ Leave a Comment
Filed Under environment, science
The United States and New Zealand conducted secret tests of a
“tsunami bomb” designed to destroy coastal cities by using underwater
blasts to trigger massive tidal waves.
Photo: ALAMY
By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney
2:50PM GMT 01 Jan 2013
The tests were carried out in waters around New Caledonia and
Auckland during the Second World War and showed that the weapon was
feasible and a series of 10 large offshore blasts could potentially
create a 33-foot tsunami capable of inundating a small city.
The top secret operation, code-named “Project Seal”, tested the
doomsday device as a possible rival to the nuclear bomb. About 3,700
bombs were exploded during the tests, first in New Caledonia and later
at Whangaparaoa Peninsula, near Auckland.
The plans came to light during research by a New Zealand author and film-maker, Ray Waru, who examined military files buried in the national archives.
“Presumably if the atomic bomb had not worked as well as it did, we might have been tsunami-ing people,” said Mr Waru.
“It was absolutely astonishing. First that anyone would come up with
the idea of developing a weapon of mass destruction based on a tsunami …
and also that New Zealand seems to have successfully developed it to
the degree that it might have worked.” The project was launched in June
1944 after a US naval officer, E A Gibson, noticed that blasting
operations to clear coral reefs around Pacific islands sometimes
produced a large wave, raising the possibility of creating a “tsunami
bomb”.
Mr Waru said the initial testing was positive but the project was
eventually shelved in early 1945, though New Zealand authorities
continued to produce reports on the experiments into the 1950s. Experts
concluded that single explosions were not powerful enough and a
successful tsunami bomb would require about 2 million kilograms of
explosive arrayed in a line about five miles from shore.
“If you put it in a James Bond movie it would be viewed as fantasy but it was a real thing,” he said.
“I only came across it because they were still vetting the report, so
there it was sitting on somebody’s desk [in the archives].”
Forty years after the joint testing, New Zealand faced a dramatic
breakdown in its security ties with the US after it banned the entry of
nuclear-armed ships from entering its territory during the 1980s. The
dispute led to the US downgrading its relationship with New Zealand from
an “ally” to a “friend”.
In his new book Secrets and Treasures, Mr Waru reveals other unusual
findings from the archives including Defence Department records of
thousands of UFO sightings by members of the public, military personnel
and commercial pilots.
Some of the accounts of the moving lights in the sky include drawings
of flying saucers, descriptions of aliens wearing “pharaoh masks” and
alleged examples of extraterrestrial writing.
Thanks to: http://nesaraaustralia.com
