Operation Hurricane: The story of Britain's first atomic test in Australia and the legacy that remains...

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Paul Grace

Operation Hurricane

The story of Britain's first atomic test in Australia and the legacy that remains

Paul Grace

$34.99

Paperback

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English

Hachette Australia
26 July 2023

History; Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000; Military history; Nuclear weapons; Military veterans

'I remember seeing a flash, I turned around and heard a roar like a train approaching in a tunnel. Then a tremendous crack like a whiplash passed directly overhead. I saw a mushroom cloud ... There was black and white smoke, orange and red flames ascending through the centre of the mushroom.' RAN Able Seaman Vince Douglas, participant in Operation Hurricane

At 8.00 a.m. on Friday 3 October 1952, Britain's first atomic bomb was detonated in the hold of a surplus frigate, HMS Plym, moored in the Montebello Islands, 50 miles off the North West Coast of Western Australia. The blast vaporised the Plym, produced a mushroom cloud 2 miles high, and covered the islands and parts of the Australian mainland with fallout.

The test, codenamed Operation Hurricane, was the culmination of years of top-secret planning in London and Canberra and months of clandestine preparations at the site. One of the largest peacetime military operations in Australian history, its success shifted the balance of power in the Cold War and briefly rejuvenated the fading British Empire.

Painstakingly pieced together from declassified government documents and first-person accounts by surviving participants, Operation Hurricane tells the story of Britain's first nuclear test from the point of view of the men on the ground: soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians. It delves into the historical context of the Cold War and examines the controversial legacy of the atomic tests, including the impact of fallout on servicemen, Aboriginal peoples and the environment, and Australia's relationship with the United Kingdom.

By: Paul Grace
Imprint: Hachette Australia
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 154mm, Spine: 34mm
Weight: 480g
ISBN: 9780733650543
ISBN 10: 0733650546
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 26 July 2023
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Paul Grace has a BA (Hons) in English from Curtin University and almost 20 years of experience as a bookseller and manager in general, technical and educational bookshops in Perth, Western Australia. Grace's reason for writing the book is personal: his late grandfather, Flight Lieutenant Ron Grace, was a Dakota pilot who flew security patrols around the islands before the test and 'coastal-monitoring sorties' (looking for fallout on the mainland) afterwards. When Grace began researching his grandfather's role, he found that there were no full-length histories of Operation Hurricane written from an Australian perspective, while British accounts downplayed the dangers of radiation and excluded Australian participants. Eventually, it became clear that if he wanted to read an Australian book about Operation Hurricane, he would have to write it himself.