When the Limited Test Ban Treaty came into effect in 1963 , it prohibited nuclear testing in the atmosphere . The Defence Atomic Support Agency turned to alternative methods of generating airblast effects with high explosives . The previous year in 1964 , Operation Snowball was a 500-ton HE test on the Experimental Proving Ground in Alberta , Canada that provided technical information related to nuclear weapon detonation . In 1963 , DASA called on the Bureau of Ships to conduct a full scale explosives test with conventional chemical explosives and a test site had to be chosen
Operation Snowball
Operation Snowball (test)
Operation Sailor Hat