H-Bombs & Hula Girls ─ Operation Grapple 1957 and the Last Royal Navy Gunroom at Sea

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 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 head to Easter Island, where they arewitness 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 revelation that Operation Grapple may not have been quite what it seemed.

Michael Johnston was the oldest of the group of ten midshipmen on Operation Grapple and went on to become a sub-lieutenant.