HMS Cumberland prewetting Med Sept 1955 IWM (A 33050)
British guinea pig ship’s atomic test. 28 September 1955, aerial photographs off Malta. The trials cruiser HMS Cumberland during atomic countermeasure tests in the Mediterranean. A small quantity of radioactive liquid representing atomic bomb fallout was sprayed onto the ship’s structure to test the efficiency of the washdown system. This system involves the continual washing of all weather surfaces of the ship during and after exposure. IWM (A 33050)