MOST POWERFUL BOMB (H-bomb) WIPES OUT ISLAND

MOST POWERFUL BOMB (H-bomb) WIPES OUT ISLAND

           In 1954 The US today exploded the most powerful bomb ever made - and tiny  Bikini Atoll in the south Pacific died. The explosion was the equivalent of 15 million tons of TNT - hundreds of times more powerful than the weapons that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The " Bravo" test of the world's first full-scale hydrogen bomb was a complete success. Cameras were there to record the awesome flash and the immense mushroom cloud - the symbol of our post - war era. But the bomb was apparently even more powerful than expected: the shock went right off the dials of the recording instruments. Though the atoll was cleared of islanders and the seas were patrolled, there are reports that Japanese fisherman on boats more than 70 miles from the blast have been seriously burnt by white ash that fell from the sky. In a smaller test blast two years ago , a complete island vanished.  This puts the US well ahead in the arms race, but it is only a matter of time before the Soviets test their own H-bomb.