On 1 November 1952 , the United States tested their first " hydrogen bomb " , codenamed '' Ivy Mike '' . The design was based on the Teller – Ulam layout . Ivy Mike was not a usable weapon . It was massive in size , weighing 82 tons . On 12 August 1953 , the Soviets had tested their own " hydrogen bomb " in a test code named " Joe 4 " , which was based on the layer-cake design . By this time no one had created a " true " hydrogen bomb . All other tests had a kiloton yield
Ivy Mike
Ivy Mike
RDS-37