Nagasaki was the Japanese city struck by the second atomic bomb used in World War II.
On August 9, 1945, the B-29 bomber Bockscar dropped the plutonium weapon Fat Man over Nagasaki. The bomb exploded at approximately 11:02 a.m. local time, three days after Little Boy had been used against Hiroshima.
Nagasaki was not the mission’s primary target. The aircraft first approached Kokura, but clouds and smoke prevented the bombardier from making the required visual attack. Bockscar then diverted to its secondary target, Nagasaki, where a break in the clouds allowed the bomb to be released.
Nagasaki’s hills limited some of the blast’s reach, but the destruction and loss of life were immense. Japan announced its surrender less than a week later, on August 15. The formal surrender ceremony followed on September 2 aboard USS Missouri.