Operation Wigwam

Wigwam underwater burst

Operation Wigwam involved a single test of the Mk-90 "Betty" nuclear depth bomb. It was conducted on May 14, 1955, about 500 miles Southwest of San Diego, California. 6,800 personnel aboard 30 ships were involved in Wigwam. The purpose of Wigwam was to determine the vulnernabilty of submarines to a deeply-detonated nuclear weapons, and to evaluate the feasibility of using such weapons in a combat situation.
The test device was suspended by a 2,000 feet cable under a barge. A six-mile tow line connected a fleet [tug], the Tawasa(the Wigwam command ship), and the shot barge itself. Suspended from the line were three miniature unmanned submarines named "Sqwaws", each packed with cameras and instruments.
The time of detonation was 1300 hrs Pacific Time. The test was carried out without incident, and radiation effects were negligable. The device yielded 30 kilotons. Only three personnel recieved doses of over 0.5 rems.