BIKINI ATOLL

63 years ago, on 25 july 1946, the u.s. military detonated the "baker explosion", part of operation crossroads, a nuclear weapons test series at bikini atoll to determine the effect on military naval vessels. it was the second u.s. nuclear detonation since the destruction of hiroshima and nagasaki, hence the designation "baker", second letter in the phonetic alphabet of the time. (click on the image for full effect -- those tiny dark shapes beneath the mushroom cloud are navy ships.)