Operation Grapple

Operation Grapple was a series of four British Nuclear weapons tests carried out in 1957 and 1958 at Malden Island and Kiritimati Island in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (Kiribati). More than five hundred New Zealanders, who were serving with the Royal New Zealand Navy, were witnesses to nine nuclear explosions known as Operation Grapple.

Following the Second World War, the development of atomic and thermonuclear weapons by the United Kingdom was considered a vital national policy. The New Zealand Government at the time supported the production and testing of these weapons as it believed that this would materially enhance the security of New Zealand and the rest of the Commonwealth. ¹

In February 1957 the New Zealand Prime Minister pledged support for Britain, and the New Zealand Cabinet approved participation in Operation Grapple. Two Royal New Zealand Navy frigates, HMNZS Pukaki and HMNZS Rotoiti were sent to join the naval task force as weather ships.² HMNZS Pukaki was sent on four separate deployments to participate in all nine hydrogen bomb tests between 1957 and 1958, HMNZS Rotoiti participated in the first three tests at Malden Island between May and June 1957 and the Grapple X test in November 1957.³

Operation Grapple ended in September 1958, when the United Kingdom and United States signed the US-UK Mutual Defense Agreement, a bilateral treaty between the UK and US on nuclear weapons testing. However, this agreement did not put an end to the nuclear testing in the Pacific. In 1966 France began testing nuclear weapons at Mururoa atoll in French Polynesia, New Zealand was involved in ongoing protests over the French nuclear tests, eventually sending two navy frigates HMNZS Otago and Canterbury into the test area.⁴

Many of the veterans who served during Operation Grapple, recall the radiation being so strong they could see the bones in their hands, as clearly as an x-ray. In 2005 The New Zealand Nuclear Test Veterans’ Association commissioned Dr Al Rowland from the Institute of Molecular Biosciences at Massey University to do chromosome research of 50 Operation Grapple veterans,

“Dr Rowland says the findings are unequivocal: in a matched control group of men of the same age, his team found an expected frequency of 10 chromosome translocations per 1000 cells, but in the veterans’ group, the average number of translocations was considerably higher at 29 chromosome translocations per 1000 cells. Workers who were close to the Chernobyl nuclear accident or involved in the clean-up after the accident had about 20 translocations.”⁵

The effects of radiation from the blasts of the nuclear tests, had long term effects not only for the veterans but for their families too. The recent exhibition at the Royal New Zealand Navy Museum: Operation Grapple - We Were There, explores some of the lasting effects of Operation Grapple on these veterans and their families.

REFERENCES

1. Involvement of RNZN in British Nuclear testing-1957-1958, Veterans Affairs.

2. Grappling with the Bomb: Britain's Pacific H Bomb Tests, Nic MacLellan.

3. NZHistory, Nuclear-Testing in the Pacific, Nuclear Free New Zealand.

4. Massey University, Al Rowland in New Zealander of 2009 list.

These records were created from research by Arthur Venus and Gerry Wright. Operation Grapple was the British Nuclear testing programme in the Pacific.

Results

Record ID	Family name	First names	Force	Wars	Service #
201903	Adams	Richard John	Navy	Regular Military Service	13403
201905	Agnew	Richard Arnold	Navy	Regular Military Service	13756
201906	Aitken	Thomas	Navy	Regular Military Service	13263
201907	Alderson	Raymond Stephen	Navy	Regular Military Service, Korean War, 1950-1953	13113, 13113
201908	Alexander	Colin John	Navy	Regular Military Service	816489
201909	Alker	William George	Navy	Regular Military Service	16038
201910	Allen	Dennis Robert	Navy	Regular Military Service	15603
201911	Allen	Richard Douglas	Navy	Regular Military Service	14815
201912	Allison	Charles John	Navy	Regular Military Service	13742
201913	Alsweiller	Henry Silvester	Navy	Regular Military Service	12496
201914	Amundsen	William Vant	Navy	Regular Military Service	14937
C131604	Anderson	Neil Dudley	Navy	World War II, 1939-1945, Regular Military Service, Korean War, 1950-1953	11789, 11789
C132498	Anderson	William	Navy	World War II, 1939-1945, Regular Military Service	15564, RNR(C)793
201915	Andrell	William John	Navy	Regular Military Service	14172
201916	Andrew	David William	Navy	Regular Military Service, Borneo Confrontation, 1963-1966, Indonesian Confrontation 1962-1966	15183
201917	Andrews	Geofrey Shelton	Navy	Regular Military Service	715136
C144911	Andrews	Leonard Gordon	Navy	Regular Military Service	14884
84639	Anscombe	Herbert	Army	Vietnam War, 1961-1975, Regular Military Service	14046, S14046
201918	Apatu	Nepe	Navy	Regular Military Service, Korean War, 1950-1953	13958, 13958
201919	Apihai	Poai	Navy	Regular Military Service	14248

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The development of the Online Cenotaph is an ongoing process; updates, new images and records are added weekly. In some cases, records have yet to be confirmed by Museum staff, and there could be mistakes or omissions in the information provided.