Ground Zero, Nagasaki (Nagasaki)

Japan / Nagasaki / Nagasaki
 memorial, Second World War 1939-1945, explosion site
August 9, 1945. Area of detonation of US atomic weapon nicknamed "Fat Man".The area within a 3 miles radius of the hypocenter was utterly devastated, and the rest of the city was left in ruins.More than 100,000 people were killed.Since then,thousands more have died from injuries or illness attributed to exposure to radiation released by the bombs. "Fat Man" was dropped from the B-29 bomber Bockscar, piloted by Major Charles Sweeney of the 393d Bombardment Squadron,
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   32°46'25"N   129°51'47"E

Comments

  • The "Fat Man" atomic bomb was built of a much more powerful design but it caused a slightly smaller (but still an alarmingly high) amount of destruction because it fell in a valley, meaning large parts of the city were protected. Hiroshima, destroyed by "Little Boy" was mostly flat. Almost as many people had been killed during a night of firebombing on Tokyo some months earlier.
  • Just look at where they dropped it. Right in the middle of a fully populated area with woman and children. I wake up every day and I try so hard to ignore the way this world is.
  • We are all lucky that the Americans were using plutonium instead of uranium, if so Nagasaki and Hiroshima would be uninhabitable for billions of years. Don't believe me? Compare the half-lives of Plutonium And Uranium.
  • But the Little Boy Hiroshima bomb WAS a Uranium bomb!
  • yes...
  • The irony is, that they were actually aiming for mitsubishi shipyards - which suffered little damage. USA.the only country to miss using an atomic bomb
  • Nonsense! Both Uranium & Plutonium were used in the Fat Man implosion type fission bomb. Both metals used were the highly radioactive isotopes. This type of bomb would not work at all if there was no Uranium used. You should have paid more attention to high school physics and chemistry class.
  • Craig Beall (guest), the same amount of people would have died had the war dragged on any longer. At the time, most respectful Japanese people would have gladly kept fighting if all they had left was a knife. Kamikaze fighters were not some curious isolated fluke.
  • explains why the people were able to move back so fast..explained my question
  • Show all comments
This article was last modified 8 years ago