Ed Helms
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
and the Soviet Union had been on again, off again, testing nukes.
And in the late 50s, the Soviets had decided tests were very much backlogged.
on.
In response, the U.S.
launched Operation Fishbowl.
It was a series of high-altitude nuclear tests using Thor missiles.
Fishbowl was part of a larger project which involved 36 nuclear detonations in the Pacific, all done in 1962 alone.
Fishbowl launches had their own maritime-themed code names, Bluegill, Starfish, Kingfish, et cetera.
Very creative, right?
Also, I love how anodyne they sound, right?
Right.
It's very innocuous.
This is not a big... Starfish, jellyfish.
Clownfish.
Nuclear megalodon swallows your entire world.
Let's not give it a scary name as we're doing this thing.
No, you're right.
Operation Fishbowl sounds less like a nuclear testing program and more like something you'd win tickets to see at SeaWorld.
Yeah.
I don't know which is more depressing, but yes.