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Events on Friday 3 October 1952 1
1952Operation Hurricane nuclear testUnited Kingdom becomes the third nuclear powerBritain detonated its first atomic bomb aboard the frigate HMS Plym off the Monte Bello Islands, Australia, on 3 October 1952. The test made the UK the third country to possess nuclear weapons, after the United States and Soviet Union. It was conducted in secrecy under the Attlee-era weapons programme.