{"id":41072,"date":"2019-11-03T00:50:32","date_gmt":"2019-11-03T00:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/03\/the-sailor-and-the-super-bomb\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:58:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:58:25","slug":"the-sailor-and-the-super-bomb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/military-honor\/salute-veterans\/2019\/11\/03\/the-sailor-and-the-super-bomb\/","title":{"rendered":"The sailor and the super bomb"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DANVILLE, Va. \u2014 First, there was a blinding light. Next came rolling heat and the sight of a mushroom cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Nov. 1, 1952, and Junior Jennings had just become a part of history when he participated in Operation Ivy \u2014 the United States\u2019 first test of the hydrogen bomb<\/a> at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was behind a gun turret with my head between my arms with my eyes closed,” Jennings, 86, recalled in a written statement. “This blast sent a light brighter than the noonday sun through my arms. I noticed afterward a heatwave came, then they told us we could look at the mushroom cloud.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennings was in the U.S. Navy, on the Ashland-class dock landing ship Oak Hill<\/a>, which was named in honor of President James Monroe\u2019s estate in Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ship was 15 miles away from the bomb when it was detonated 67 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It would have blinded us if we would have looked at it,” he said from his Chatham Drive home in Danville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
In thisOct. 27 photo, Junior Jennings, 86, who witnessed the first testing of the hydrogen bomb on Nov. 1, 1952, points to a photo at his home in Danville, Va. (John Crane\/Danville Register & Bee via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jennings was part of a crew of about 200 and their ship was closest to the operation. The scientist who was to set the bomb to go off was on board, he recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We were the last ship to leave the lagoon at Eniwetok,” he wrote. “The scientist went to this island, set the world’s first hydrogen bomb to go off, then they returned to our ship.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hydrogen bomb was developed by Edward Teller<\/a>, who was part of the Manhattan Project tasked with building the atomic bomb for the Allies during World War II. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teller, however, wanted a hydrogen \u201csuper bomb,\u201d instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The test in 1952 provided the U.S. a temporary advantage in the nuclear arms race over what then was the Soviet Union. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Development of the hydrogen bomb accelerated after the Soviet Union\u2019s successful detonation of its own atomic device in September 1949.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hydrogen bomb was about 1,000 times more powerful than conventional nuclear devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jennings’ son, Daniel Jennings, recalled hearing teachers mentioning detonation of the hydrogen bomb when he was in school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sitting in the classroom like, \u2018Wow, my Dad was there,\u2019\u201d Jennings said at his father\u2019s house on Oct. 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel enjoyed hearing about the event from his dad while growing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s an interesting perspective learning from a first-hand account,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t