The Operation Centerboard

 What is Operation Centerboard?

The United States dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as part of Operation Centerboard on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively. On August 6, Hiroshima was the primary target of an atomic bombardment, with Kokura and Nagasaki serving as secondary targets. As such, the codename for this mission was given as the Operation Centerboard. 

How did this occur?

Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbour on 07 December 1941 to destroy the USA Pacific Fleet. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbour surprised Americans and that incident made United States to involve in World War II but its roots go back more than 40 years. As Japan industrialized in the late 19th century, it sought to imitate western countries such as the United States which set up colonies in the Asia-Pacific to secure markets for natural resources and commodities. However, Japan's empire expansion process directed it on a collision course with the United States, specially in relation to China.

Who are the Key Leaders of Operation Centerboard?

    The Operation Centerboard was mainly for surrender Japanese by bombarding two nuclear bombs and was interfered with United States of America. The war was mainly between the USA forces and Japanese and the key leaders of the same are as follows:

1.     Rear Admiral William Sterling Deak Parsons - American Naval Officer who worked as an ordnance expert on the Manhattan Project during WW II.

2.     Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr.- He was a brigadier general in the United States Air force.

3.     Robert A. Lewis- He was a United States Army Air Force Officer serving in the Pacific Theatre during WWII.

4.     Charles W. Sweeney- He was an Officer in the United States Army Air Force during WWII.

5.     Frederick Lincoln Ashworth- He was a United States Naval officer.

Overall synopsis of the operation

The President Truman issued the Potsdam Proclamation as Japan’s final warning as the world soon learned the meaning of complete and utter destruction. The first two atomic bombs ever used were dropped on Japan in early August, 1945 aftermath.

The United States unleashed an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The weapon was called "Little Boy," and it was a uranium gun-type bomb that exploded with a force of around thirteen kilotons. Hiroshima had a population of 280,000-290,000 residents and 43,000 troops at the time of the attack. In the four months following the explosion, between 90,000 and 166,000 people are estimated to have died as a result of the blast. 

The first ever nuclear bombing, codenamed Operation Centerboard I was carried out on 06 August 1945. The B-29 aircraft carried Little Boy nuclear bomb from Tinian Island and the aircraft was piloted by the Paul Tibbet. The bomb was a uranium gun type bomb that exploded with a force of around thirteen kilotons. The US Department of Energy estimates that 200,000 or more people died as a result of the explosion after five years, while the city of Hiroshima estimates that 237,000 people died directly or indirectly from the bomb's effects, such as burns, radiation illness, and cancer.

The second atomic bomb named Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki three days after the explosion of first nuclear bomb on Hiroshima on 06 August 1945. The bomb was plutonium device that exploded with a force of around twenty one kilotons. Nagasaki was not the initial target of the second atomic bomb in which the Kokura was selected since it was the home to one of Japan’s greatest munitions facilities. However, due to the bad weather and visibility the target location was changed to Nagasaki.

     

Finally, Japan surrendered on August 14th. The unexplained "atomic ailment" (the start of radiation sickness) that was killing patients who appeared to have escaped the bomb's effect was described by journalist George Weller, who was the "first into Nagasaki." Weller's essays were not allowed to be published until 2006 since they were controversial at the time and for years afterward.