H-Bombs and Hula Girls

H-Bombs and Hula Girls tells the extraordinary tale of ten bright and cheerful young British midshipmen who were part of Operation Grapple, the top secret thermonuclear weapon tests at Christmas Island, which marked in 1957 the first successful test of a British nuclear weapon. Evoking the Cold War atmosphere of Britain in the 1950s as it raced to secure its place among the world's thermonuclear powers, H-Bombs and Hula Girls follows these men on their remarkable journey. Their trip begins on the aircraft carrier HMS Warrior. On it, they sail through an Atlantic hurricane, squeeze through the Panama Canal, and then make Easter Island, where they were witness to three megaton H-bomb explosions. Afterward, they tour Hawaii and the South Pacific and around the coast of South America, serving as goodwill ambassadors. Compiled by crewmember Michael Johnston from journals, letters, and contemporary records, and with a foreword by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, H-Bombs and Hula Girls concludes with a surprising revelat