A tropical paradise proved to be the perfect place for the United States to test their destructive power.

During World War II, the U.S. military fought the Japanese through the strategy of island hopping, which consisted of systematically conquering small islands dotted throughout the Pacific. 

When the war was won, America held onto these territories, and their remoteness made them seem like the ideal place to test missiles and nuclear bombs. 

Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, the Marshall Islands and various small atolls were the victims of insanely powerful, incredibly destructive bomb tests. The environmental devastation eventually led to intense backlash, but some of these islands are still used today for trying out the deadliest weapons in the military’s arsenal.

Here are the explosions on the ocean that demonstrated America’s military might.