UK's First Hydrogen Bomb Test

Date: May 15, 1957 • Location: Malden Island, International

The United Kingdom tested its first hydrogen bomb over Malden Island in Operation Grapple.

A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon, or hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon, using nuclear fusion. The most destructive weapons ever created, their yields typically exceed first-generation nuclear weapons by twenty times, with far lower mass and volume requirements. Characteristics of fusion reactions can make possible the use of non-fissile depleted uranium as the weapon's main fuel, thus allowing more efficient use of scarce fissile material. Its multi-stage design is distinct from the usage of fusion in simpler boosted fission weapons. The first full-scale thermonuclear test was carried out by the United States in 1952, and the concept has since been employed by at least the five NPT-recognized nuclear-weapon states: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, China, and France.