At 05:29:45 in the morning on July 16th, 1945, the US Army conducted a test of the first atomic bomb, which had an energy equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT. Trinity was the code name for the test.
The site chosen was in a remote part of the Alamogordo Bombing Range, now the White Sands Missile Range. The test site was at the northern end of the range, between the towns of Carrizozo and Socorro, New Mexico, in the Jornada del Muerto in the southwestern United States. The explosion left a crater of radioactive glass in the desert 10 feet deep and 1,100 feet wide. At the time of detonation, the surrounding mountains were illuminated “brighter than daytime” for one to two seconds, and the heat was reported as “being as hot as an oven” at the base camp located 10 miles southwest of the test site. The roar of the shock wave took 40 seconds to reach the observers. The shock wave was felt over 100 miles away, and the mushroom cloud reached 7.5 miles into the atmosphere.
More than sixty years after the test, residual radiation at the site measured remains ten times higher than normal. The Trinity monument, a rough-sided, lava rock obelisk around 12 feet high, marks the explosion’s hypocenter.
More info:
Trinity (nuclear test) – Wikipedia
President Abraham Lincoln signs into law a measure calling for the awarding of a U.S. Army Medal of Honor, in the name of Congress, “to such noncommissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier-like qualities during the present insurrection.”
Today in Military History: 08JUL1950
The Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) is researching the use of hydrogen fuel cell technology to develop an auxiliary power unit (APU) on an M-1 Abrams tank. The APU is designed to convert JP8 diesel fuel into hydrogen and then generate electricity through a fuel cell. The goal is use the APU to give an Abrams tank the ability to accommodate more on-board electricity, which is an increasing demand as more computing, battle command technologies, sensors are being added to the combat platform.
Launched on June 22nd, 1941, Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. One of the largest military offensive operation in history, the invasion force included over 4.5 million troops, 600,000 vehicles, and 750,000 horses, attacking along a 1,800 mile front.