Operation Hurricane were considered. The Admiralty suggested that the Monte Bello Islands might be suitable, so the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Clement Attlee, sent a request to the Prime Minister of Australia, Robert Menzies. The Australian government formally agreed to the islands being used as a nuclear test site in May 1951. In February 1952, Attlee's successor, Winston Churchill, announced in the House of Commons that the first British atomic bomb test would occur in Australia before the end of the year. A small fleet was assembled for Operation Hurricane under the command of Rear Admiral A. D. Torlesse; it
Operation Upshot–Knothole Operation Upshot–Knothole Operation Upshot–Knothole was a series of eleven nuclear test shots conducted in 1953 at the Nevada Test Site. It followed "Operation Ivy" and preceded "Operation Castle". Over 21,000 soldiers took part in the ground exercise Desert Rock V in conjunction with the "Grable" shot. "Grable" was a 280mm shell fired from the "Atomic Cannon" and was viewed by a number of high-ranking military officials. The test series was notable as containing the first time an atomic artillery shell was fired (shot "Grable"), the first two shots (both fizzles) by University of California Radiation Laboratory—Livermore (now Lawrence Livermore National