Editing RDS-1

{{Short description|First Soviet nuclear bomb}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{coord|50|26|15|N|77|48|51|E|display=title}}
{{Infobox weapon
| name               = RDS-1
| image              = [[File:Casing for the first Soviet atomic bomb, RDS-1.jpg|250px|center]]
| caption            = The first Soviet atomic bomb, "RDS-1", was an implosion-type, like the U.S. "[[Fat Man]]" bomb, even in appearance; the front "eyes" are [[Proximity fuze|radar fuzes]].
| origin             = Soviet Union
| type               = [[Nuclear weapon]]
<!--Type selection -->| is_explosive       = yes
<!-- Production history -->| designer           = 
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| number             = <!-- General specifications -->
<!-- Note on units – the weapon was designed and specified in inches (or feet) and pounds.  All the original references are in inches and pounds.  Wikipedia policy is to use as the primary values the original units system and provide conversions from that to the other unit system.  Changing the natively english units values to metric as the base unit violates Wikipedia policy.  As does removing the english units entirely.  Please leave this alone.  -->| weight             = 4.6 tons
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| crew               = <!-- Explosive specifications -->
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| yield              = {{convert|22|kt(TNT)|abbr=on|lk=in}}
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The '''RDS-1''' ({{langx|ru|РДС-1}}), also known as '''Izdeliye 501''' (device 501) and '''First Lightning''' ({{Lang-rus|Пе́рвая мо́лния|Pyérvaya mólniya|ˈpʲervəjə ˈmolnʲɪjə}}),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/Sovwpnprog.html|title=The Soviet Nuclear Weapons Program|last=Sublette|first=Carey|date=12 December 1997|website=nuclearweaponarchive.org|access-date=13 August 2016}}</ref> was the nuclear bomb used in the [[Soviet Union]]'s first [[nuclear weapon test]]. The United States assigned it the code-name '''Joe-1''', in reference to [[Joseph Stalin]]. It was detonated on 29&nbsp;August 1949 at 7:00&nbsp;a.m.,<ref name="Theplace">{{cite news|last=Kjelstrup|first=Christian|title=Dette er stedet der Sovjet testet atombombene sine|url=http://www.dn.no/dnlordag/article2661162.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130814121620/http://www.dn.no/dnlordag/article2661162.ece|archive-date=14 August 2013|newspaper=[[Dagens Næringsliv]]|date=11 August 2013|access-date=13 August 2016|language=no}}</ref> at the [[Semipalatinsk Test Site]], [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kazakhembus.com/Nuc_gp.html|title=The nuclear guinea pigs|last=Righter|first=Rosemary|date=31 July 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070716014902/http://www.kazakhembus.com/Nuc_gp.html|archive-date=16 July 2007|url-status=dead|access-date=13 August 2016 |website=www.kazakhembus.com}}</ref> after top-secret research and development as part of the [[Soviet atomic bomb project]].{{cn|date=April 2023}}

==Etymology==

There are several explanations for the Soviet code-name of RDS-1, usually an arbitrary designation: a [[backronym]] "Special Jet Engine" ({{lang|ru|Реактивный двигатель специальный}}, ''Reaktivnyi Dvigatel Spetsialnyi''), or "Stalin's Jet Engine" ({{lang|ru|Реактивный двигатель Сталина}}, ''Reaktivnyi Dvigatel Stalina''), or "Russia does it herself" ({{lang|ru|Россия делает сама}}, ''Rossiya Delayet Sama'').<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Khalturin|first1=Vitaly I.|last2=Rautian|first2=Tatyana G.|last3=Richards|first3=Paul G.|last4=Leith|first4=William S.|date=1 January 2005|title=A Review of Nuclear Testing by the Soviet Union at Novaya Zemlya, 1955–1990|url=http://scienceandglobalsecurity.org/archive/sgs13khalturin.pdf|journal=Science & Global Security|volume=13|issue=1–2|pages=1–42|doi=10.1080/08929880590961862|bibcode=2005S&GS...13....1K|s2cid=122069080|issn=0892-9882}}</ref> Later weapons were also designated RDS but with different model numbers.

== Description ==
The weapon was designed at the [[Kurchatov Institute]], then at the time officially known as "Laboratory № 2" but designated as the "office" or "base" in internal documents, starting in April 1946.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Goncharov|first1=German A|last2=Ryabev|first2=Lev D|title=The development of the first Soviet atomic bomb|journal=Physics-Uspekhi|volume=44|issue=1|pages=71–93|doi=10.1070/pu2001v044n01abeh000875|year=2001|bibcode=2001PhyU...44...71G|s2cid=250800226 }}</ref>  Plutonium for the bomb was produced at the industrial complex [[Mayak|Chelyabinsk-40]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.cncp.ru/new_site/eng/participants/ozersk/history.shtml
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109161529/http://www.cncp.ru/new_site/eng/participants/ozersk/history.shtml
|archive-date=9 November 2013
|title=Nuclear weapon production at Mayak
|publisher=Closed Nuclear Cities Partnership
|quote=Scientists succeeded in producing weapon-grade plutonium in April 1949 which was used in the first Soviet atomic bomb
|access-date=13 August 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Joe one.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The mushroom cloud from the first RDS-1 test (1949)]]

The RDS-1 [[nuclear weapon yield|explosive yield]] was 22 kilotons [[TNT equivalent]], similar to the US [[Trinity (nuclear test)#"The Gadget"|Gadget]] and [[Fat Man]] bombs.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CPRVbYDc-7kC&pg=PA441|title=Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces|last1=Bukharin|first1=Oleg|last2=Podvig|first2=Pavel Leonardovich|last3=Hippel|first3=Frank Von|date=2004|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-66181-2|pages=441|language=en}}</ref> At [[Lavrentiy Beria]]'s insistence, the RDS-1 bomb was designed as an [[Nuclear weapon design#Implosion-type weapon|implosion type weapon]], similar to the Fat Man bomb dropped on [[Nagasaki]], Japan; RDS-1 also had a solid [[plutonium]] core. The bomb designers had developed a more sophisticated design (tested later as [[RDS-2]]) but rejected it because of the known reliability of the Fat Man type design, the Soviets having received [[atomic spies|extensive intelligence]] on the design of the Fat Man bomb during [[World War II]], which was discovered in the espionage case of [[Julius and Ethel Rosenberg]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.famous-trials.com/rosenberg/2019-trialtranscript |title=Rosenberg Trial Transcript |website=www.famous-trials.com/ |access-date=October 20, 2019}}</ref> and during the [[Venona project]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/declassified-documents/venona/dated/ |title=Venona Decrypts |website=www.nsa.gov |publisher=[[National Security Agency]] |access-date=October 20, 2019 |archive-date=18 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918165225/https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/declassified-documents/venona/dated/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

To test the effects of the new weapon, workers constructed houses made of wood and bricks, along with a bridge, and a simulated [[rapid transit|metro railway]] in the vicinity of the test site. Armoured hardware and approximately 50 aircraft were also brought to the testing grounds as well as over 1,500 animals to test the bomb's effects on life.{{cn|date=April 2023}} In a sector of artillery about 100 guns and mortars were placed at distances ranging from 250 to 1,800 meters from ground zero. At distances 500 to 550 meters from ground zero artillery pieces were either totally destroyed or needed factory repair.<ref name="rds-1-1949">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfHYz25l-sQ&t=512s ''First Soviet atomic bomb. Film report (1949)'']</ref> The resulting data showed the RDS explosion to be 50% more destructive than originally estimated by its engineers.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

[[Mikhail Pervukhin]] served as the chairman of the commission in charge of the RDS-1 testing.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}

Five RDS-1 weapons were completed as a pilot series by March 1950 with serial production of the weapon beginning in December 1951.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bukharin|first1=Oleg|last2=Kadyshev|first2=Timur|last3=Miasnikov|first3=Eugene|last4=Sutyagin|first4=Igor|last5=Tarasenko|first5=Maxim|last6=Zhelezov|first6=Boris|date=2001|editor-last=Podvig|editor-first=Pavel|title=Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces |url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/russian-strategic-nuclear-forces |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|publisher=The MIT Press|isbn=978-02621-6202-9 |format=hardcover }}</ref>

== Detection by the West ==
[[File:Joe-1 location prediction 1949.jpg|thumb|This chart from September 1949 shows the United States Weather Bureau's prediction for where the Soviet Union first tested its atomic bomb in 1949. Each colored zone indicates the probability that the bomb was detonated within that area.]]

Some [[United States Air Force]] [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress variants|WB-29]] weather reconnaissance aircraft were fitted with special filters to collect atmospheric radioactive debris. On 3&nbsp;September 1949, the Air Force Office of Atomic Energy had a WB-29 fly from [[Misawa Air Base]] in Japan to [[Eielson Air Force Base]] in Alaska. The plane collected some debris during this flight. This data was then cross-checked with data from later flights, and it was determined that the Soviet Union had effectively tested a nuclear weapon.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb286/|title=U.S. Intelligence and the Detection of the First Soviet Nuclear Test, September 1949|website=nsarchive.gwu.edu|access-date=18 April 2017}}</ref>

== Response in the West ==
The test surprised the Western powers. American intelligence had estimated that the Soviets would not produce an atomic weapon until 1953, while the British did not expect it until 1954.<ref name="aldrich199807">{{cite journal | title=British Intelligence and the Anglo-American 'Special Relationship' during the Cold War | last=Aldrich|first= Richard J. | journal=Review of International Studies |date=July 1998 | volume=24 | issue=3 | pages=331–351 | jstor=20097530 | doi=10.1017/S0260210598003313 | s2cid=146376661}}</ref> When the [[nuclear fission product]]s from the test were detected by the U.S. Air Force, the United States began to follow the trail of the [[nuclear fallout]] debris.<ref name="burr20090922">[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nukevault/ebb286/ ''U.S. Intelligence and the Detection of the First Soviet Nuclear Test, September 1949''], William Burr, Washington, D.C., 22 September 2009</ref> President [[Harry S. Truman]] notified the world of the situation on 23 September 1949: "We have evidence that within recent weeks an atomic explosion occurred in the U.S.S.R."<ref name="Truman">{{cite web |url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/chron/49chron2.htm |title=The Truman Administration During 1949: A Chronology |editor-first=Raymond H. |editor-last=Geselbracht |location=Harry S. Truman Library |access-date=13 August 2016 |archive-date=26 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626220210/http://www.trumanlibrary.org/chron/49chron2.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Truman's statement likely in turn surprised the Soviets, who had hoped to keep the test a secret to avoid encouraging the Americans to increase their atomic programs, and did not know that the United States had built a test-detection system using the [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress variants#WB-29|WB-29 Superfortress]].{{r|burr20090922}} The announcement was a turning point in the [[Cold War]], that had just begun. Once the Soviet Union was confirmed to be in possession of the atomic bomb, pressure mounted to develop the first [[Thermonuclear weapon|hydrogen bomb]].<ref name="Truman" />

== Response in the Soviet Union ==
Following Truman's announcement, Soviet state newspaper [[TASS]] released a report. It suggested the West had detected signatures from excavation works in the Soviet Union. Nonetheless it stated the Soviet Union possessed nuclear weapons, and noted the November 1947 claim by Minister of Foreign Affairs [[Vyacheslav Molotov]], that the Soviet Union understood the "secret" of nuclear weapons design. [[Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union|Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers]] Kliment Voroshilov internationally reiterated nuclear capability five months later in March 1950.<ref name="s693">{{cite web |last=Емельяненков |first=Александр |date=2020-03-08 |title=70 лет назад Москва объявила о наличии собственного ядерного оружия |url=https://rg.ru/2020/03/08/70-let-nazad-moskva-obiavila-o-nalichii-sobstvennogo-iadernogo-oruzhiia.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830045313/https://rg.ru/2020/03/08/70-let-nazad-moskva-obiavila-o-nalichii-sobstvennogo-iadernogo-oruzhiia.html |archive-date=2021-08-30 |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Российская газета |language=ru}}</ref>

The RDS-1 device was put into weapons production from 1949 to 1951, stockpiling 29 bombs, compared to the US'  1947 to 1949 production of 120 first-generation [[Fat Man]] bombs.<ref>{{Cite web|accessdate=2015-11-28|title=Создание ядерного щита Отечества|url=http://www.proatom.ru/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2352|publisher=proatom.ru|archive-date=2013-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620053419/http://www.proatom.ru/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2352|url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[RDS-2]]
* [[RDS-3]]
* [[RDS-4]]
* [[Joe 4|RDS-6s]]
* [[RDS-37]]
* [[Tsar Bomba|AN602]] (Tsar Bomba)
* [[Plan Totality]]
* [[Julius and Ethel Rosenberg]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|RDS-1}}

{{Soviet nuclear weapons}}

[[Category:Joseph Stalin]]
[[Category:1949 in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1949 in military history]]
[[Category:Explosions in 1949]]
[[Category:August 1949]]
[[Category:Nuclear proliferation]]
[[Category:Soviet nuclear weapons testing]]
[[Category:1949 in international relations]]
[[Category:Nuclear weapons policy]]
[[Category:Nuclear bombs of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Cold War military history of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:August 1949 in Asia]]