FLASH!
Wiener Kurier (July 1, 1946)
Atombombe verwandelt Bikini-Atoll in ein Meer von Feuer und Brand
Bikini-Atoll (UP-AND.) - âBombe gelöst und fĂ€llt!â â mit diesen vier Worten wurde die Welt in Kenntnis gesetzt, daĂ der gröĂte wissenschaftliche und militĂ€rische Versuch der Geschichte seinen Höhepunkt erreicht hatte. Genau zur festgesetzten Minute löste sich die Atombombe â nach Neu-Mexiko, Hiroshima und Nagasaki die vierte, die je zur Detonation gebracht werden sollte â von Bord der Superfestung âDaves Dream.â
Der Versuch verlief vom Start des Bombenflugzeuges bis zum Abwurf der tödlichen Bombe planmĂ€Ăig. Um 20,53 Uhr verlieĂ das Flugzeug die Startbahn und begann um 23,50 Uhr mit der ersten Anflugrunde ĂŒber dem Zielraum. Um Punkt 0,00 Uhr des 1. Juli wurde die Bombe abgeworfen. Zwei Minuten spĂ€ter fand die Explosion statt.
15 Kilometer hohe RauchsÀule
Nach der Explosion der Bombe verschwand die Lagune mit allen Zielschiffen in einem Meer von Feuer und dichtem Rauch. In kurzer Zeit erhob sich eine bis zu 15 Kilometer hohe RauchsÀule. Hohe WasserfontÀnen wurden durch den Druck der Explosion emporgeschleudert.
Nach fĂŒnf Minuten lichtete sich der Rauchvorhang. Die ersten Zielschiffe wurden beobachtet. Zur allgemeinen Ăberraschung waren die Palmen am Strande des Atolls erhalten geblieben. Das Zielschiff âNevadaâ befand sich unverĂ€ndert an der OberflĂ€che der Lagune.
Zweite Explosion stÀrker als die erste
Der ersten Explosion folgte unmittelbar darauf eine weitere, die dreimal so stark wie die erste war. Ungeheure FlammenwĂ€nde erzeugten einen bedrĂŒckenden rosaroten Rauchpolster, der sich allmĂ€hlich in eine dĂŒnne, grauweiĂe RauchsĂ€ule auflöste. Sechzehn Kilometer vom Zielraum entfernt konnte die radioaktive Wolke genau beobachtet werden. Der Explosionsknall war ĂŒberraschend schwach. Ein Beobachter bezeichnet seine StĂ€rke wie die des Abschusses einer mittleren Haubitze.
Nach wenigen Minuten wurden die ersten ferngelenkten Flugzeuge in die Rauchwand getrieben, wÀhrend ferngelenkte Torpedoboote in die radioaktiven GewÀsser der Lagune eindrangen.
35 Minuten nach der erfolgten Explosion beruhigte sich allmÀhlich der. Aufruhr der Elemente in der Lagune. Das Feuer lieà immer mehr und mehr nach und war offensichtlich weniger gefÀhrlich, als man zuerst erwartet hatte. Um 1,30 Uhr war die durch die Explosion der Atombombe entstandene Rauchwolke völlig verschwunden.
Admiral Blandy: Es war ein voller Erfolg
Unmittelbar nach dem Abwurf der Atombombe und dem Eintreffen der ersten Meldungen gab Admiral Blandy die erste offizielle Mitteilung ĂŒber die DurchfĂŒhrung des Atombombenversuches. Er bezeichnete den Versuch als einen vollen Erfolg. Durch den gewaltigen Feuersturm und die Gammastrahlen gerieten Zielschiffe sofort in Brand. Es handelt sich hiebei unter anderem um die FlugzeugtrĂ€ger âSaratogaâ, âIndependenceâ, den Kreuzer âPensacolaâ den japanischen Kreuzer âSakawaâ und ein Transportschiff.
Bisher keine Berichte ĂŒber TodesfĂ€lle oder Verwundungen
Admiral Blandy Ă€uĂerte sich anschlieĂend ĂŒber die unmittelbar nach dem Bombenabwurf gemachten Beobachtungen: âNach der Explosion der Bombe gab es keine Flutwelle oder ein sonstiges auĂergewöhnliches PhĂ€nomen. Der Weg der radioaktiven Wolke, der durch Abwerfen eines Probeballons genau verfolgt werden konnte, fĂŒhrte in die erwartete Richtung. Eine GefĂ€hrdung des Schiffspersonals und der umliegenden Inseln trat dadurch nicht ein.â Er betonte mit Nachdruck, daĂ er bisher keinerlei Berichte ĂŒber Todes fĂ€lle oder Verwundungen unter der 34.000 Mann starken Truppen, die an der ersten Phase der âOperation Kreuzwegâ teilnehmen, erhalten habe.
Die ferngelenkten Flugzeuge haben ihre AufgĂ€be, durch die Atomwolke zu fliegen, voll erfĂŒllt und kehrten mit wichtigen Feststellungen zurĂŒck.
Genaue Versuchsergebnisse erst in vier Woche
Zum SchlĂŒsse seiner AusfĂŒhrungen erklĂ€rte Admiral Blandy: âWir haben nichts beobachtet, das im Gegensatz zu unseren ursprĂŒnglichen PlĂ€nen und SchĂ€tzungen stĂŒnde. In zwölf Stunden wird ein weiterer Bericht folgen.
Es mag ein Monat vergehen, bevor wir die Genauigkeit und Wirkung dieser Bombe eindeutig bestimmen können. Wir können das Schadenausmaà nicht feststellen, bevor nicht die Untersuchungsgruppen die en Schiffe betreten haben.
Wir hoffen, daĂ die Ăffentlichkeit dieselbe Haltung wie wir einnehmen wird und nicht voreilig eine Beurteilung der Ergebnisse vornimmt. Es gibt noch vieles, was gelernt werden muĂ.â
Augenzeugenbericht von der âAppalachianâ
Von der âAppalachianâ kam kurz nach der Detonation der Atombombe der Bericht eines Augenzeugen, in dem es heiĂt:
âZuerst hatte ich den Eindruck von tausenden detonierenden Bomben in einem einzigen ungeheuren Meer von roten und weiĂen Farben. Dann erfolgte eine zweite, vielleicht dreimal so starke Explosion, die die Zielschiffe hinter einem einzigen zusammenhĂ€ngenden Flammen Vorhang verschwinden lieĂen. Jetzt begann eine gewaltige Rauchentwicklung. Der Rauch formte ein bizarres Gebilde, das sich innerhalb weniger Sekunden kilometerhoch erhob. Dann hob sich der Rauchschleier langsam vom Bikini-Atoll. Einige Schiffe zeichnen sich deutlich ab. Jetzt sehe ich die orangefarbene âNevadaâ â es scheint daĂ sie brennt, aber ich kann mich auch tĂ€uschen. Nicht weit von ihr ist der alte FlugzeugtrĂ€ger âIndependenceâ deutlich auszumachen. Das Deck scheint schwer beschĂ€digt zu sein⊠Dann senkten sich wieder Rauchschwaden ĂŒber die Schiffe und machten eine weitere Beobachtung zunĂ€chst unmöglich.â
Erster offizieller Bericht ĂŒber die Wirkung der Atombomben auf Japan
Zwei Drittel aller GebÀude in Hiroshima zerstört
Washington (AND.) - Die Untersuchungen ĂŒber die Wirkung der auf die japanischen StĂ€dte Hiroshima und Nagasaki abgeworfenen Atombomben wurden Samstag abend erstmalig in zwei umfassenden Berichten des WeiĂen Hauses und des amerikanischen Kriegsministeriums veröffentlicht. Nach einer ĂŒbersichtlichen Darstellung der furchtbaren Wirkungen der beiden Atombomben, die auf Japan abgeworfen wurden, betonen beide Berichte die Wichtigkeit der DurchfĂŒhrung von SicherheitsmaĂnahmen fĂŒr die nationale Verteidigung und erklĂ€ren zusammenfassend: Der sicherste Weg, Ă€hnliche Zerstörungen in Hinkunft zu vermeiden, ist die VerhĂŒtung eines neuen Krieges.
Die Atombomben in Hiroshima und Nagasaki
Die beiden Berichte, die von dem amerikanischen UntersuchungsausschuĂ fĂŒr strategischen Bombeneinsatz und dem sogenannten âManhattan Projectâ, jenem Unternehmen, das die Herstellung der Atombomben durchfĂŒhrte, zusammengesteilt wurden, geben ĂŒber den Umfang der verursachten SchĂ€den und Opfer der Atombomben folgende Angaben:
Die Stadt Hiroshima hatte durch den Angriff 135.000 Opfer oder mehr als die HĂ€lfte seiner Bevölkerung zu beklagen. Die Zahl von 66.000 Toten war die gröĂte Anzahl, die je unmittelbar nach einem Angriff eingetreten war.
Die Stadt Nagasaki hatte 64.000 Opfer, darunter 39.000 Tote zu beklagen. Verbrennungen verursachten ungefĂ€hr 60 Prozent der TodesfĂ€lle in Hiroshima und 70 Prozent in Nagasaki, umherfliegende Schutt- und GlasstĂŒcke 30 Prozent der TodesfĂ€lle in Hiroshima und 14 Prozent in Nagasaki.
Von den 90.000 GebĂ€uden Hiroshimas wurden mehr als 60.000 zerstört und noch in einer Entfernung von 56 Kilometer von der Explosionsstelle der Atombombe wurden die Fensterscheiben eingedrĂŒckt. Infolge der unmittelbar nach der Explosion auftretenden Hochfrequenzstrahlen wurden 15 bis 20 Prozent der TodesfĂ€lle verursacht.
Vermutliche Wirkungen auf amerikanische StÀdte
Der Bericht des WeiĂen Hauses kommt sodann auf die voraussichtlichen Wirkungen einer ĂŒber den Vereinigten Staaten abgeworfenen Atombombe, deren rĂ€umlicher Wirkungsbereich ungefĂ€hr 15.000mal gröĂer ist als der einer 250- Kilogramm-Bombe, zu sprechen. Unter Zugrundelegung der Bauweise der bedeutendsten amerikanischen StĂ€dte, ihrer Bevölkerungsdichte und der Art der GebĂ€ude erklĂ€rt der Bericht, daĂ die ĂŒberwĂ€ltigende Mehrzahl der Bauten in den amerikanischen StĂ€dten die Wirkungen einer Atombombe innerhalb eines Wirkungsbereiches von 1Âœ bis 2 Kilometer von der Explosionsstelle nicht aushalten wĂŒrde.
âAtombombenkrankheitâ in Japan
Chikago (UP.) - Ein Arzt des amerikanischen Heeres, Oberst Keller, untersuchte die FĂ€lle von 21 Japanern, die an der, wie man in Japan sagt, âAtombombenkrankheitâ leiden. Es handelt sich durchwegs um Patienten aus Hiroshima und Nagasaki, die zur Zeit des Abwurfes der Atombomben dort anwesend waren. Keiner von ihnen trug eine Verletzung oder eine sonstwie Ă€uĂerlich erkennbare SchĂ€digung davon. Alle schienen vorerst gesund. Erst nach einigen Monaten machten sich schwere gesundheitliche Störungen mit allgemein gleichen Symptomen bemerkbar. Es begann mit allgemeinen ErmĂŒdungserscheinungen, SchwĂ€cheanfĂ€llen, Appetitlosigkeit und steigerte sich bis zu schweren Leber- und Bluterkrankungen.
Die Untersuchungen sind noch im Anfangsstadium. Oberst Keller teilte jedoch bereits mit, er habe bei fast allen Patienten weitgehende Gewebezerstörungen vorgefunden, Àhnlich jenen, wie sie bei fortgesetzter Einwirkung von Röntgenstrahlen entstehen.
The Pittsburgh Press (July 1, 1946)
A-BOMB BATTERS 36 SHIPS
No human life lost in test at Bikini Lagoon
Scientific crews studying damage
By Joseph L. Myler, United Press staff writer
OFF BIKINI ATOLL (UP) â Vice Adm. W. H. P. Blandy announced today that the atom bomb sank three ships, damaged a fourth so heavily it is expected to sink, and damaged at least 32 others of the 73-ship fleet in Bikini Lagoon.
There was no loss of human life in the gigantic test of the effects of an atomic bomb explosion on naval craft, Adm. Blandy announced.
One drone ship that flew through the huge radioactive cloud that arose from the lagoon went out of control and was lost.
The American Broadcasting Co. said today that military experts at âOperation Crossroadsâ told Norman Cousins, ABC correspondent, that the atomic bomb missed the target ship Nevada by as much as a half-mile, falling far astern.
Goats tethered aboard the lightly-damaged battleship Pennsylvania, approximately three-eighths of the distance from the center of the blast to the outside of the target perimeter, were found alive and apparently uninjured.
âSeemed perfectly happyâ
âThey (the goats) were standing on the forecastle deck, munching hay with a gleam in their eye. They seemed perfectly happy,â said Rear Adm. Thorvald A. Solberg, in charge of target ship salvage.
Adm. Stolberg believed, however, that no living thing would be found aboard the heavily-damaged ships, even though the vessels themselves â such as the Independence and Jap cruiser Sakawa â remained afloat.
SUNK: The unarmored transports Gilliam and Carlisle and the destroyer Lamson.
BADLY DAMAGED and expected to sink: The destroyer Allerton.
HEAVILY DAMAGED: Submarine Skate, Jap battleship Nagato and cruiser Sakawa, American battleship Arkansas, the light carrier Independence, the heavy cruiser Pensacola and one landing ship.
LIGHTLY DAMAGED: Battleships Pennsylvania, New York and Nevada; carrier Saratoga, cruiser Salt Lake City, landing craft medium No. 1, Yard Oiler No. 160, and 12 other unidentified ships.
âNumerous fires â most of them small â are all out with the exception of the one aboard the Independence,â Adm. Blandy said in his second report. âWe have been unable to get close enough to her to successfully fight it presently, she looks just like she has been hit by a Kamikaze.â
Adm. Blandy, commander of the task force, expressed enthusiasm over the âsuccessfulâ test of an atom bomb against naval power as a steady stream of reports reached his flagship.
As the lethal rays left by todayâs bomb dissipated, scientific crews entered the target area to report the actual damage. They sought to learn the effect of the above water bomb burst on the animals which took the place of men on the target ships.
Preparations already were underway for the second part of the 70-million-dollar test of atomic bombs vs. navy ships â an underwater burst to see if steel armor can withstand the terrific water pressure.
Double concussion
Manâs mightiest weapon exploded with a volcanic blast of smoke and flame.
Bombardier Maj. Harold Wood, 30,000 feet over the lagoon in the superfortress âDaveâs Dream,â let the bomb go at 8:59:45 a.m. (5:59:45 Sunday night ET), and short seconds later a double concussion jolted the area.
A peach-colored fiery cloud mushroomed 50,000 feet into the air. Even the waters of the lagoon seemed slammed down by the burst.
The pilot of a Navy Hellcat reported that he had observed a sheet of solid ice on top of the atomic cloud as the cloud reached 28,000 feet in its upward surge. The ice presumably was caused by steam from the lagoon, hurled up by the bomb blast, turning to ice at a temperature of 30 degrees below zero.
When the cloud cleared, the transports Gilliam and Carlisle had vanished, the destroyer Lamson was lying on her side. and thundering explosions were jolting the Independence.
Flames burst from a dozen other craft. Masts and superstructures were twisted and torn away.
Nevada still afloat
Ironically. the battleship Nevada, painted a garish red, and the heart of the target fleet bullseye, still rode at anchor after the smoke had cleared. The Independence, which caught most of the blast, was in what appeared to be her death throes.
As this flagship and the observer ships Appalachian, Panamint and Blue Ridge entered the lagoon, fires were raging from the Independenceâs hangar deck and fire boats were furiously pouring water into her.
As we steamed into the lagoon it became apparent that the bomb had done fearful damage not apparent at a distance.
It was obvious that the bomb had burst several hundred feet in the air astern of the Nevada and slightly to port. The heavy submarine Skate directly astern of the Nevada was a wreck, although still floating. Her conning tower was battered into an almost unrecognizable mass of metal and her decks were shattered.
Wrecked topside
The Jap cruiser Sakawa on the Nevadaâs port side was completely wrecked topside. It is hard to see what keeps her afloat.
From the forward mast, which seems shrunken by the shriveling atomic blast, all the way aft, the Sakawaâs superstructure and topsides are flattened lo the waterâs edge.
The Nevadaâs tripod mast is battered or melted off at the top and her after deck is a blackened wreck. Blue smoke poured from fires aft.
Between the Nevada and the Sakawa is a heat-blackened hull with no superstructure â all that is left of Yard Oiler 160.
Farther out, the mighty and sentiment-wrapped carrier Saratoga survived, as her admirers swore she would. Despite a small fire which apparently died of its own accord, the Sara showed no visible scars.
Masts twisted
The cruiser Salt Lake City near the Jap battleship Nagato presented a confusion of twisted and bent steel where the atomic blast hit her masts.
The battleship New York was smoking and to the left of the Nevada and forward of the Sakawa, the cruiser Pensacola showed nightmarish wounds in her superstructure.
Beyond the Pensacola, the old battleship Arkansas was burning.
The cleanest and most untouched looking ship in the pattern was the German cruiser Prinz Eugen.
The Nagato was a wreck before Able Day so it was hard to say whether she had suffered any more from the atomic bomb than she had from the âold fashionedâ blitz bombs dropped by American pilots.
The overall picture of the entire vast array was one of mountainous confusion, in heady contrast to the neat, Navy-like pattern it presented a few hours ago.
The bomb apparently dropped a little to the left of the Nevada, throwing most of the mighty blast at the Independence. The ship broke her moorings and began drifting down on the Nagato. The Nagato was down by the bow.
From a television transmitter on a 75-foot tower only three miles away from the bullseye, the scene was one of such power as man never before has witnessed.
Lagoon âsinksâ
The entire lagoon seemed to sink under the force of the blast. The water shuddered. The television screen went completely white for a moment, then cleared.
A wind of hurricane strength ripped across the lagoon, bending the slender palm trees almost double and sending a great wave up the beach.
Scientists were completely satisfied with the results of the test. They felt that some rejoicing among Navy men â who pointed to the ships still floating as proof that navies are far from obsolete â might be somewhat premature.
Scientists were sure that closer examination of the ships would show more damage than was apparent in first observations.
United Press writer William Tyree aboard the Appalachian reported that naval officers felt that a maneuvering fleet might have escaped carnage entirely.
Freak results noted
Some freak results of the brilliant explosion â termed by Dr. J. O. Hirectfelder of the Los Alamos atomic bomb laboratory â10 times brighter than the sunâ â were noted.
One of these was that while the Nevada escaped with light damage, the transport Cortland, almost on the very outside of the target, burst into fierce flame amidships and burned merrily while other craft around her rode quietly.
Adm. Blandy said it was his tentative impression that the bombâs explosive power was âsomewhat lighterâ than its prototype, which destroyed 10 square miles of Nagasaki.
Heat tremendous
What the personnel losses aboard the ships would have been could not be estimated. But the general belief aboard this flagship is that deaths would have been high. The high incidence of fires throughout the scattered target indicated tremendous heat must have been generated.
Despite the tremendous power of the bomb, it was generally felt here that, speaking as a spectacle, it did not come up to expectations. Pre-blast theories â never encouraged by the scientists â that the entire flotilla might disappear beneath the waves â had led laymen to expect too much.
It was re-emphasized that never before in history had any one bomb or explosive of any kind even approached the damage inflicted in todayâs experiment.
Unlike Nagasaki and Hiroshima, where the buildings were anchored firmly to the ground, the naval craft ârolled with the punch,â minimizing the blast effect.
Adm. Blandy had predicted something of the sort in advance of todayâs test. He felt, and still feels, he said, that explosion of an A-bomb 24 feet beneath the surface three weeks from now will cause infinitely more damage than did the dropping of âGilda,â todayâs package of lethal power.
Instead of dissipating itself in the air as the ships roll away, Navy men feel, the underwater blast will crack their hulls, since they canât roll out of the water.
Deck buckles
Close inspection of the Independence showed that the might of the blow struck against her.
Her deck was buckled in the middle, she had a heavy starboard list, and planes and army equipment were blown from her deck with one clean puff. The same puff took her entire superstructure.
A giant army tank disappeared over the side and a fire truck went with it.
United Press writer Edward Thomas reported that the battleship Pennsylvania was on fire and a seaplane had been blown partly off her catapult.
All except one of the drone planes, four Navy Hellcat fighters without pilots and four Army Flying Fortresses also radio-controlled, flew through the glowering atomic cloud within 10 minutes after the blast and returned safely. Their instruments were being checked for radioactivity. The target ships themselves were too radioactive to approach. Their instruments will be checked later.
Fog bubble rises
Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal said the experiment was âtremendous.â
Todayâs blast developed a new phenomenon in the new science of nuclear fission. A great fog bubble rose from the lagoon after the initial burst. Scientists blamed it on the rapid expansion and cooling of air having high humidity.
The first flash was followed by a great glowing fireball a third of a mile in diameter. Then came the fog bubble, and the mushrooming stem of smoke, which leaped upward and finally split in two.
Later the two clouds broke into three and hung like the three balls of a pawnbroker over the historic lagoon.
At one stage of its growth, United Press writer Robert Bennyhoff reported from his observerâs spot the cloud looked like an ostrich looking over its left shoulder.
Starts at dawn
The successful climax of months of preparation got underway shortly after dawn when the Superfortress âDaveâs Dream,â piloted by Maj. Woodrow Swancutt of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, took off from Kwajalein.
Radio listeners around the world listened to a metronome down in the Nevada, ticking with the rhythm of a heartbeat. They heard Bombardier Wood of Bordentown, New Jersey, shout âbombs away and falling.â The ticking metronome lasted briefly, then all communication with the ship was broken.
Others in Maj. Swancuttâs crew were: Co-Pilot Capt. William C. Harrison, 26, of Odessa, Texas; Lt. Robert M. Glenn, 24, flight engineer, of Hartwell, Georgia; Maj. William B. Adams, 31, navigator, of San Bernardino, California; Capt. Paul Chanchar Jr., 27, radar operator, of Rock Springs, Wyoming.
Takeoff delayed
At 5:53:30 a.m. Kwajalein time (2:55:30 p.m. Sunday ET), after a run the entire length of the runway, Maj. Swancutt took the plane into the air and turned it toward a rainbow in the golden sky. The takeoff had been delayed 23 minutes to allow skies to clear over the target.
Radio announcers on Kwajalein, 210 miles away from the target area, claimed they saw a thick cloud float lazily upward through a blanket of clouds hanging motionless on the horizon.
Scientists said the atomic cloud would have to rise 12 miles in the air to be seen above the curve of the earth at Kwajalein.
Editorial: âOperation Crossroadsâ
On the scanty information available from the atomic bomb test in Bikini lagoon, it would appear that atomic bombs, when exploded in the air, do not immediately disintegrate surface craft. What happened to the animals on the vessels had not been determined at the time we write this.
The test was designed to measure the effect of atomic explosion on metal, flesh, air and water. Days, if not weeks, will be required to assemble and evaluate the evidence bearing on these points, it may be assumed.
As a test, âOperations Crossroadsâ may be regarded as successful in that it was conducted according to plan and without casualties. To eyewitnesses the experiment appears to have been colorful and terrifying. But to those of us listening on the radio, the tardy word that the battleship Nevada remained afloat was anti-climactic. The banshee wails of the eerie static preceding the âbombs awayâ had conditioned us to expect nothing less than the clap of doom.
A piercing flash and then â
Boiling, surging atom cloud rises before eyewitnesses
Great ball of fire, luminous smoke pillar seen from deck of USS Appalachian
By David Dietz, Scripps-Howard science editor
ABOARD THE USS APPALACHIAN, OFF BIKINI â A gigantic tower of boiling, seething, creamy-white luminous cloud rose five miles into the stratosphere.
It boiled and surged as though alive. It was streaked with pastel colors â pink and saffron and salmon.
At a height of two miles the pillar swelled into a great knot. At three miles, there was another knob, and at the top of the cloud a growing mushroom.
This was the appearance of the atomic bomb cloud five minutes after the explosion as seen from our ship, the Appalachian, about 18 miles from the target.
Piercing flash
A piercing flash of light flooded the heavens five minutes before the moment I have just described. The light heralded the explosion of the atomic bomb. It came precisely at 9 a.m. (6 p.m. ET) and signified that Maj. Harold H. Wood, bombardier of the B-9, âDaveâs Dream,â had dropped the bomb on schedule.
Standing on the starboard deck of the Appalachian, I had donned my polaroid welderâs glasses just a minute earlier. They reduced the tropic sunlight to a dim twilight and made the sky and seas almost black. The flash of light came through the glasses like a flare of lightning.
Quickly pulling off the glasses, I saw a great expanding ball of white-hot fire on the distant horizon, beyond which lies Bikini Atoll. The ball grew rapidly in size and rose in the air. It must have been at least three miles in diameter.
Felt heat wave
As I watched, I felt a wave of heat. About two minutes after the first flash of light, a sound like that of distant thunder came rolling to our ship.
The ball of fire quickly gave way to the atomic bomb cloud which began to rise.
A great cumulus cloud, perhaps a mile or more in height hung between our ship and the atomic cloud.
The luminous pillar of cloud rose until it was obscured by the cumulus cloud. Then it appeared above the cloud, rising ever higher.
Smoke on horizon
At the end of two and a half minutes the cloud was more than half a mile in diameter and had risen to a height which I judged to be five miles.
Ten minutes after the bomb explosion I could see black smoke low on the horizon. Some ship in the lagoon was burning.
Now the top of the atomic cloud began to fan out into a great mushroom.
It was perhaps 12,000 feet in diameter, and it continued to shine with a glowing light, creamy white but streaked with changing flashes of pink and salmon.
Gradually this great mushroom changed to a sort of luminous crown and began to drift off to the southwest.
Planes circle cloud
By this time, I saw a few airplanes circling the atomic bomb cloud. These were part of the elaborate flights which had been planned to photograph and otherwise record by scientific measurement the atomic bomb blast.
At the same time a radio announcement came from Adm. Blandyâs flagship, the Mt. McKinley, saying that there had been no accidents in the test.
Pieces of X-ray film exposed on the deck of the Appalachian indicated that only a negligible minimum of gamma radiation had reached the ship. It was less than the dose received by a patient who has his chest X-rayed.
Atom blast disappointing, foreign observers declare
âNot so much,â Russian says; others agree explosion was âheck of a big thingâ
By Murray Moler, United Press staff writer
ABOARD THE USS PANAMINT, off Bikini (UP) â Nearly all the United Nations observers, scientists and congressmen aboard this vessel were disappointed today because the atom bomb blast was not more spectacular.
They were unanimously agreed, however, that historyâs fourth atom bomb detonation was âa heck of a big thing,â as Congressman Dean Gillespie (R-Colorado) put it.
One man was outspoken in awe of manâs mightiest weapon. He was Rep. Jack Anderson (R-California), one of four observers who climbed up the Panamintâs treacherous mainmast ladder to a precarious lookout post 100 feet above the water.
Says cost justified
âI was flabbergasted,â Mr. Anderson said. âI believe this is the most magnificent spectacle man ever has created.â
One of 13 members of Congress viewing âOperation Crossroads,â Mr. Anderson said later he thought the results of todayâs test will be âtremendously valuable to the House Naval Affairs Committee,â of which he is a member.
âIn my humble judgment, the cost of this project is entirely justified, particularly when we take into account that it costs no more than one Iowa-class battleship,â he said.
Urges peace move
âFrom what I saw this morning,â Mr. Anderson said, âI would say it is about time for the nations to get together and find a way to end all wars. Civilization cannot stand the impact of the blast that shook Bikini on July 1, 1946.â
Lt. Col. Juan Loyo Gonzalez, Mexicoâs top army ordnance expert, said the bomb flash appeared to be as bright as the burning tropical sun. He said the explosion âwas just about as I figured it would be.â
Simon Alexandrov, Russian scientist, was more reserved. Shrugging his shoulders, he pointed to the mushrooming cloud and said, ânot so much.â
Maj. Orlando Rangel of Brazil said he was ânot terribly disappointed but Iâm not too much impressed by what I saw.â He termed his attitude as âso-so.â
âHeck of a big thingâ
Prof. W. M. Wilson, structural engineering professor at the University of Illinois, said he would reserve judgment because âspectacular effects get well belittled by the time they travel 18 miles.â
Rep. Gillespie said that he spoke for his colleagues when he expected to see something âreally spectacular.â
âThis wasnât as big as I thought it was going to me, judging from the pictures of explosions in Japan and New Mexico,â he said. âJust the same, it was a heck of a big thing.â
Only a few observers aboard the Panamint saw the actual bomb bursty or flash. They felt no concussion and heard only a noise resembling distant rumble of gunfire.
A-bomb test tame show despite dread prophecies
Blast only minor spark in exploding cosmos, according to theory of universeâs origin
By Dr. Frank Thone, Science Service writer
ABOARD USS APPALACHIAN, Bikini (SS) â A glow almost as bright as the face of the sun and very much larger. Then a yellowish-pink cloud rising fast from the sea. Then around it a wall of what appeared to be spray thrown very high. That was the beginning of the explosion of the first test atomic bomb over Bikini Atoll, the moment for which the world has been waiting all summer.
Awesome prophecies all failed of fulfillment. There was no tidal wave, no earthquake shock, no âsetting the sea afire.â The sound, when it reached us at our distance of 18 miles, was no louder than a battleshipâs broadside at that range.
For scarehead folks, a very âtameâ show.
Beginning of universe
The explosion of an atomic bomb has been likened to what goes on in the interior of the sun. It has also been suggested that the end of the world or at least of the solar system might have been like such an explosion.
Many scientists, especially astronomers, take seriously the theory of the expanding universe, because all the great star masses or galaxies appear to be rushing away from each other.
Especially significant contributions to this view have been made by Dr. Harlow Shapley, director of the Harvard College Observatory and president of Science Service. An American-educated, Belgian scientist, Canon Georges Leaitre, not long ago completed the picture by running the figures back to a time before the universe started to expand. He calculated that time was not much more than two billion years ago.
From super-atom
The matter and energy now distributed throughout the universe were all jammed into one super-atom.
That atom exploded, and the universe began to be. The explosion is still going on, flinging enormous star masses out to frontiers hundreds of millions of light-years from that primordial center of creation.
The tremendous explosions of matter that cause the sun and all the stars to give forth light and heat are mere secondary cracklings of this unimaginably immense cosmic detonation. Once in a while a star will burst forth with many times its normal explosive power, and we have a nova.
The bomb test?
It was just a minor spark, unnoticeable on a cosmic scale, in the long story of an exploding universe.
Blast fails to show on seismograph
PASADENA, California (UP) â The Bikini atomic bomb explosion failed to register on the California Institute of Technology seismograph.
âThe 5000-mile distance was too great for our instruments to pick up any reaction although we made efforts to get a recording,â college scientists said.
The local seismograph recorded the New Mexico bomb explosion, about 800 miles away.
No fishing today in Bikini Lagoon
ABOARD MT. MCKINLEY, in Bikini Lagoon (UP) â The shipâs âsquawk boxâ late today broadcast the following warning: âNow hear this. Now hear this. There will be no fishing in Bikini lagoon until further notice.â
Shipâs officers said they didnât want men to get poisoned from eating radioactive fish.
Wiener Kurier (July 2, 1946)
âIch war dabei, als sie fiel!â
Augenzeugenbericht vom Bikini-Atoll
Von Robert Considine
An Bord der âAppalachianâ (INS.) - Jetzt noch 10 Minuten und jetzt, nach einer kleinen Ewigkeit, noch 9 Minuten. Die Zeiger unserer Armbanduhren schienen still zu stehen. Immer wieder legte man, von nervösem MiĂtrauen geradezu zitternd, sein heiĂes Ohr an das kleine, wohltuend kĂŒhle Uhrenglas. Endlich war es so weit: Ruckartig wie bei einem Tennisturnier in Wimbledon flogen unsere Köpfe plötzlich alle nach derselben Richtung, aus der, langsam anschwellend, das tiefe, sonore Gebrumm einer Superfestung ertönte. Gleich darauf sahen wir sie, wie sie ruhig und majestĂ€tisch ihren Kurs ĂŒber unsere Köpfe hinweg nach dem 15 Kilometer entfernten Abwurfört nahm. Drei Minuten, zwei Minuten, eine Minute, Wir alle wuĂten, daĂ Major Wood in seiner Superfestung nunmehr auf jenen Knopf drĂŒcken wird, der die Atombombe aus ihrer eisernen Umklammerung löst und sie auf die Versuchsflotte fallenlĂ€Ăt.
Explosionsflamme heller als tausend Sonnen
Wir alle erwarteten einen Knall, wie ihn die Welt bisher noch niemals gehört hat und darum waren wir alle auch ziemlich erstaunt, aus weiter Ferne nur ein GerĂ€usch zu hören, das ungefĂ€hr dem einer abgeschossenen Haubitze glich. Das sollten die akustischen Begleiterscheinungen jener Atombombe sein, vor deren Existenz die ganze Welt zittert? Aber unsere gerade wieder aufkeimende ĂŒberlegene Selbstsicherheit geriet sofort wieder ins Wanken, als plötzlich eine Explosionsflamme in die Luft stieg, die so hell war wie tausend Sonnen. Obwohl wir alle speziell fĂŒr diesen Zweck gefertigte Schutzbrillen trugen, war es uns unmöglich, lĂ€nger als einige Sekunden in diese ĂŒbergrelle Helligkeit zu schauen. Ărzte sagten uns nachher, daĂ wir alle auch vorĂŒbergehend hĂ€tten erblinden können, wenn wir keine Schutzbrillen getragen hĂ€tten.
Alles war halb so schlimm
Die Flutwelle, die wir alle erwartet hatten, trat nicht in Erscheinung. Auch die WellentĂ€tigkeit auĂerhalb der Lagune wurde durch die Explosion nicht verĂ€ndert. Ăberhaupt traten alle jene immer wieder von phantasiereichen GerĂŒchtemachernâ prophezeiten PhĂ€nomene nicht ein, die manche von uns, ganz insgeheim natĂŒrlich, doch befĂŒrchtet hatten. Nicht einmal die das Zielgebiet umgebenden Inseln wurden ĂŒberschwemmt. Auch besonders starke Luftströmungen traten, auĂer im Zielgebiet, nicht in Erscheinung. Unsere Gesichter wurden lediglich kurz nach der Explosion von einer samumartigen, aus dem Abwurfort kommenden Hitzewelle bestrichen, was kein Wunder ist, wenn man bedenkt, daĂ die Explosion eine Hitze von rund 28.000 Grad Celsius entwickelte.
Die allerneuesten Feststellungen haben ergeben, daĂ von der Versuchsflotte insgesamt 36 Schiffe gesunken oder beschĂ€digt sind. Hut ab vor der alten âBullseyeâ und vor dem Schlachtschiff âNevadaâ, die beide die fĂŒrchterliche Explosion ĂŒberstanden und schwimmfĂ€hig blieben. Hut ab auch vor den braven Palmen am Rande des Atolls, die nach der Explosion in der flirrend heiĂen Luft genau so schlank und ungebeugt standen wie vorher.
Vögel halten mehr aus als Fische
Unsere ersten Fragen galten natĂŒrlich sofort den Tieren, die als Versuchsobjekte auf verschiedenen Schiffen untergebracht waren. Keiner von uns, die diese gewaltige und einmalige Explosion miterlebt hatten, glaubte natĂŒrlich, daĂ sie noch am Leben seien. Um so gröĂer war unser Erstaunen, als uns Vizeadmiral Sollberg, der Leiter der SchiffsausrĂŒstungsstelle fĂŒr âOperation Kreuzwegâ mitteilte, daĂ beispielsweise die Ziegen auf der âPennsylvaniaâ kurz nach der Explosion schon in aller Seelenruhe wieder ihr Heu fraĂen. Nerven haben diese Ziegen!
Schlimmer sieht es allerdings mit sĂ€mtlichen Fischen in der Lagune aus. Sie sind, soweit bisher festgesteilt werden konnte, alle tot. Da auĂerdem damit gerechnet werden muĂ, daĂ die etwa noch lebenden Fische TrĂ€ger radioaktiver Elemente sind, wird vorlĂ€ufig nicht in der Lagune gefischt werden können.
Und die tropische Vogelwelt? Ist sie wie von einem Hammerschlag getroffen tot auf den Boden gefallen? Unsere Augen und Ohren belehren uns eines Besseren. Zirpend und flĂŒgelschlagend durchschneiden sie pfeilschnell die nun wieder ruhig gewordene Luft um die âPanamintâ, die sich inzwischen mit uns an Bord bis auf drei Kilometer an das Zielschiff âNevadaâ heranmanövriert hat.
Keine vorschnelle Beurteilung der Situation
Noch sind die Untersuchungen ĂŒber die Wirkungen, die eine Atombombe anzurichten vermag, noch im Anfangsstadium. Nach Monaten wird sich erst heraussteilen, welche Zerstörungen möglich sind und welche nicht. Seien wir also nicht vorschnell in der Beurteilung der gesamten Situation. GewiĂ, die Ziegen auf der âPennsylvaniaâ fressen zwar mit sichtbarem Appetit ihr Heu und auch die Vogelwelt tut im Augenblicke so, als ob nichts Besonderes vorgefallen wĂ€re. Aber erst in den nĂ€chsten Tagen, Wochen oder Monaten werden wir NĂ€heres wissen!
LâAube (July 2, 1946)
Quand les observateurs de Bikini quittĂšrent leur masqueâŠ
Deux navires sur soixante-treize manquaient Ă lâappel
âŠET LES CHĂVRES SACRIFIĂES broutaient en toute tranquillitĂ©
Mais le but de lâexpĂ©rience nâĂ©tait pas de bouleverser le monde
La bombe vient dâĂ©clater
Un panache de fumĂ©e sâĂ©lĂšve jusquâĂ 18.000 mĂštres portant la tempĂ©rature Ă un million de degrĂ©s
Quelques heures avant le lancement de la bombe atomique sur Bikini, le monde entier Ă©tait aux Ă©coutes. Dans le bruit invraisemblable des parasites, les auditeurs cherchaient Ă discerner les phases du drame qui allait peut-ĂȘtre bouleverser la terre ; et les plus imaginatifs croyaient reconnaitre le gĂ©missement des animaux, le ronflement des moteurs et jusquâĂ lâexplosion elle-mĂȘme. Mais, Ă partir de 23 heures, le silence remplaça brusquement le tumulte lointain ; et cette accalmie Ă lâheur mĂȘme ou devait ĂȘtre dĂ©clenchĂ©e la foudre nâĂ©tait guĂšre rassurante.
DĂ©ception
Or rien dâanormal ne sâĂ©tait passe : il nây avait eu ni cyclone, ni tempĂȘte, ni filure du globe terrestre, ni explosion de la mer. Et tout le monde en fut un peu déçu.
Déçus, les gens qui tremblaient et sâindignaient la veille et que la campagne dâaffolement et lâafflux de commentaires pessimistes avaient si bien prĂ©parĂ©s Ă la plus belle catastrophe des temps modernes.
Déçus les observateurs qui avaient parcouru des milliers de kilomĂštres pour voir un immense Ă©clair une gerbe de nuage au-dessus dâune mer calme et une petite ile qui non seulement nâavait pas eu le tact de sâenforcer dans lâocĂ©an, mais les narguait avec ses « touffes de palmiers qui ondulaient encore au vent ».
Déçus les spécialistes qui croyaient détenir une arme à laquelle ne pouvaient résister ni le ciel, ni la terre, ni les flots et dont la puissance se trouve, en quelques sortes, diminuée.
« Câest tout ? » disent les Anglais qui, en spĂ©cialistes de la marine, se rĂ©jouissaient peut-ĂȘtre dâassister Ă un beau Trafalgar artificiel. Et le Daily Mail traite avec un certain mĂ©pris la bombe amĂ©ricaine de « bulle de savon Ă©clatant Ă grand bruit au-dessus dâun pauvre vieux navire ».
â Pas formidable, a dĂ©clarĂ© lâobservateur russe dont les rĂ©flexes devaient ĂȘtre soigneusement observĂ©s par les journalistes amĂ©ricainsâŠ
PremiĂšres constatations
Lorsque les passagers des bateaux observateurs quittĂšrent, ruisselants de sueurs, leurs masques de caoutchouc, lorsquâils abandonnĂšrent des boucliers de plomb sous lesquels ils Ă©taient couchĂ©s, les pieds dans la direction de Bikini, que virent-ils ? Nous lâavons su dĂšs les premiers instants : Ă leur grande surprise, la flotte quâils sâattendaient Ă ne plus jamais revoir Ă©tait encore ancrĂ©e dans une mer calme que soulevaient seulement de toutes petites vagues : sur les soixante-treize navires sacrifiĂ©s par les AmĂ©ricains, deux bĂątiments seulement, manquaient Ă lâappel, un autre avait chavirĂ©, cinq se trouvaient sĂ©rieusement endommagĂ©s et treize lĂ©gĂšrement atteints, Des fumĂ©es montaient de partout ; mais lâĂźle Ă©tait presque intacte et lâon voyait distinctement les constructions de ciment servant Ă prĂ©server les appareils de contrĂŽle et les camĂ©ras.
Un nuage mortel se déplace vers le Sud-Ouest
AprĂšs le passage de la trombe qui, pendant quelques minutes, mĂȘla lâeau au feu, le calme est actuellement revenu. Mais un calme auquel on ne peut encore, semble-t-il, se fier.
Un nuage Ă©norme et mortel se dĂ©place lentement vers le sud-ouest surveillĂ© par les destroyers qui lancent sans cesse des ballonnet tĂ©moins, et par des avions-robots porteurs dâappareils de cinĂ©ma et de tĂ©lĂ©vision. Des vedettes sillonnent la mer et dĂ©jĂ pĂ©nĂštrent dans la lagune. Le gĂ©nĂ©ral Sollberg, est allĂ©, sur lâune dâelle, inspecter les dĂ©gĂąts causĂ©s par la dĂ©flagration : ceux-ci sont loin dâĂȘtre aussi important quâon pouvait se lâimaginer. Le « NĂ©vada » qui devait sâengloutir, en fusion, dans les flots est toujours lĂ . Et les chĂšvres qui se trouvaient Ă bord des navires sacrifiĂ©s, broutaient du foin, en toute tranquillitĂ©.
ConformĂ©ment aux prĂ©visions, des navires laboratoires doivent se rendre dans les eaux de Bikini dĂšs que la mer aura perdu toute action radio active autour des bateaux-cobayes, et les animaux, morts ou vivants, seront recueillis aux fins dâauscultation.
LâexpĂ©rience constitue-t-elle un Ă©chec ?
Rappelons quâelle est lâorigine de lâexpĂ©rience : celle-ci fut dĂ©cidĂ©e le 11 dĂ©cembre 1945 Ă la suite dâun conflit qui sâĂ©taient Ă©levĂ© entre les techniciens de la flotte et de lâaviation amĂ©ricaine. Les marins soutenaient que leurs bateaux seraient Ă peine touchĂ©s par la dĂ©flagration atomique ; et, Ă la veille de lâexplosion, ils dĂ©claraient encore : « ce qui nous intĂ©resse, câest de constater, dans le plus grand dĂ©tail, lâeffet de lâĂ©clatement sur les plaques de blindage, sur les munitions, sur les armements, sur les appareils, sur les ĂȘtres vivants placĂ©s en divers points dâun bateau ». Ils attendaient les rĂ©sultats de lâexpĂ©rience avant que pĂ»t ĂȘtre poursuivi le programme amĂ©ricain de constructions navales.
Le but Ă©tait donc exclusivement militaire ; nul ne sâen cachait ; et le gĂ©nĂ©ral Eisenhower a dĂ©clarĂ© sans hĂ©sitation :
â Les Etats-Unis ont le dĂ©sir de rester forts pour contrecarrer efficacement les dessins dâĂ©ventuels criminels de guerre et, pour, si le pire se produisait, Ă©pargner la vie de leurs concitoyens.
Lâamiral Blandy examine les premiers rĂ©sultats de lâexpĂ©rience
Faisant un rapide tour dâhorizon et examinant les premiers rĂ©sultats de lâexplosion de la bombe atomique, lâamiral Blandy, qui a dirigĂ© les opĂ©rations, a dĂ©clarĂ© quâil considĂ©rait que cette expĂ©rience Ă©tait jusquâà « un rĂ©el succĂšs ».
Il a tenu Ă fĂ©liciter le colonel Holzman, chef des services mĂ©tĂ©orologiques qui, notamment, avait fixĂ© lâheure exacte pour le lancement de la bombe.
Lâamiral a ensuite rĂ©vĂ©lĂ© quâun seul appareil, guidĂ© par radio, nâĂ©tait pas rentrĂ© Ă sa base et sâĂ©tait Ă©crasĂ© non loin des navires. Il a indiquĂ© quâil existait encore un danger, par suite de la radioactivitĂ©, dans les eaux qui avoisinent les navires touchĂ©s.
Il a signalĂ© que tous les incendies Ă©taient actuellement surveillĂ©s, sauf en ce qui concerne le porte-avions « IndĂ©pendance », oĂč cependant les flammes diminuent actuellement dâintensitĂ©.
Il a enfin indiquĂ© que lâancien croiseur japonais « Sakawa » avait de grandes chances de couler.
The Evening Star (July 2, 1946)
Forrestal risks atomic rays in tour of Bikini
Secretary and Blandy inspect damages from A-bomb
ABOARD USS MOUNT MCKINLEY (AP) â Secretary of the Navy Forrestal and Vice Adm. W. H. P. Blandy today risked exposure to radioactivity to inspect atomic devastation in Bikini Lagoon on A-Day-Plus-One and witness the final agony of the Japanese light cruiser Sakawa, the fifth test ship to sink.
Meanwhile, firefighting crews worked on into the second day in atom-blasted Bikini Lagoon today, dousing lingering pockets of flame through the target fleet.
Greater toll seen
That the second test, tentatively scheduled within three or four weeks, may take a far greater toll was indicated in an interview with Mr. Forrestal radioed from the flagship Mount McKinley. He expressed surprise at the ârelatively unimportantâ damage inflicted upon the heavier ships by yesterdayâs air drop, but noted that such ships are âdifficult to sink unless they sustain underwater damage.â
The second atomic mast is to be set off under water, with the sea transmitting a terrific blow to the hulls of the test fleet.
The lagoon at midafternoon today still was âreactingâ from blast and lethal radiation of yesterday morningâs aerial burst, Brig. Gen. Roger M. Ramey, air force commander, reported from Kwajalein. He termed the operation âa complete and unqualified success.â
Still need navies
Mr. Forrestal warned against premature conclusions, but voiced one generally as a result of his own observations: âThere still will be navies in the future.â
Whether crewmen could have lived through the blast remained an unanswered question, but scientists expect to learn much by observing the effects of the rays upon surviving test animals, tethered at battle stations aboard the target fleet.
First listed as âmissing,â the destroyer Anderson later was announced definitely sunk.
Nevertheless, it was âby no means a test of airpower against the Navy,â Gen. Ramey announced. The primary task of the air forces was âto demonstrate the flexibility of airpower and atomic power,â he explained â and âthe feasibility of such intricate timing has been demonstrated, even to those of us who planned it while doubting its possibilities.â
âShould we have to fight again, I believe that Bikini demonstrated our capability to enter the fight with a precision team of air and atomic power.â
Starts slipping under
The Sakawa, her superstructure flattened and her stern open to the sea, started slipping under while Mr. Forrestal and the commander of Joint Task Force No. 1 were looking over the blasted light carrier Independence from the deck of a picket boat.
Disregarding the radioactivity still lingering aboard ships in the target arrayâs bullseye circle, Adm. Blandy order the picket boat âfull speed aheadâ as soon as he heard the information shouted from a salvage tub that the Sakawa was going down.
For a dozen minutes, Mr. Forrestal, Adm. Blandy and others of their party watched fascinatingly from 50 yards away while the Japanese 6,000-tonner gradually gave up the ghost.
Her stern resting on the bottom and listing to the left, the Sakawa finally disappeared in greenish foam at 10:40 a.m.
Earlier, Mr. Forrestal and Adm. Blandy had braved gamma radiation for a closeup view of the heavy-hulled submarine Skate â hardest hit of the 73 craft subjected to atomic violence in yesterdayâs test burst.
Skate closest to bomb
Adm. Blandyâs deputy for technical direction, Rear Adm. W. S. Parsons, expressed the belief that the Skate was the closest of all targets to the bomb burst. He said she was subjected to more than 500 poundsâ pressure per square inch.
The Skate was about 50 yards astern of the Nevada, aiming point of the array, when the bomb burst. Because of her wrecked condition, she was towed out of the array today and may be beached if inspection shows she is taking water.
James Nolan of St. Louis, radiologist of the Los Alamos, New Mexico, atomic bomb laboratory, carried a Geiger counter, which registered radioactivity on its dial and via earphones.
After the picket boat circled the Skate and was lying off alongside, Mr. Nolan reported radiation so intense that the counter was âoff the scaleâ â beaning more radioactivity than the sensitive instrument could register.
Adm. Blandy laughed and said, âLetâs get out of here!â He explained to Mr. Forrestal, however, that Mr. Nolanâs counter was so delicate that âmy luminous watch dial will make it go off the scale.â
Nevertheless, the picket boat got out of there â but not before those aboard got a good look at the Skateâs ruined weather deck and tower.
The tower had been blasted overboard on the starboard side and the entire steel deck structure had been ripped open and mangled from bow to stern.
Heavy steel beams had been twisted like taffy, exposing the pressure on the hull.
The hull seemed outwardly to be intact, but was dished in several places aft.
Adm. Blandy explained that modern submarines are capable of withstanding terrific pressures because their hulls are thicker than any surface craftâs.
Stale smoke lingers
Throughout the area where atomic damage was greatest, and in remoter parts of the array where fires started, the smell of stale smoke filled the air â an odor like that which hangs over a building where firemen have put out a blaze. This odor and Mr. Nolanâs periodic announcements of how his Geiger counter was reacting would have told even a blind man that something tremendous had just happened.
Adm. Blandy and Mr. Forrestal boarded just one ship, the 32-year-old battleship New York. Unlike those nearer the target center, it bore an âaffirmativeâ flag, a blue and white barred banner indicating radiological safety monitors had found it free of harmful radio activity.
The bombâs blast effects were visible everywhere starboard aft, where the New York was hit hardest. They included twisted mast structures, shattered plexiglass and ripped fuselages of exposed planes and scattered debris.
Adm. Blandy and Mr. Forrestal were amused and pleased by a cocky sentiment sprawled in blue chalk oil the deckhouse aft by some sailor before leaving the ship on the eve of the test.
It read, âOld sailors never die.â
Adm. Blandy said it was true â that the New York could sail back under her own power.
Associated Press correspondent Paul Lee reported June 30 that before leaving the New York Capt. Lowe H. Bibby carefully lettered the four words on a gun turret with a piece of blue chalk while his eyes glistened.
Faces another test
But it still has test B, the shallow underwater atomic burst three to four weeks hence, to go through.
One phenomenon was observed aboard the New York which proved the atomic bomb a terrific anti-personnel weapon even if it did not damage the old battleship fundamentally:
The shadow of a folding metal chair leaning against the after gun turret had been photographed on the turret by the bombâs supersolar flash.
Adm. Parsons said âanybody sitting there would have been burned and would have received gamma radiation.â
Adm. Blandy admitted casualties would have been high had any personnel been aboard the New York.
The New York was severely burned around the stack by fires set off by the bomb, the glass in its searchlights was shattered, large cans of rations crushed, and instrument mirrors splintered.
But Adm. Blandy called attention to the fact that while Army materiel exposed on her decks was damaged, âthe heavy parts of the ship itself were undamaged.â
Adm. Blandy reminded Mr. Forrestal that the Navy promised Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of New York that his state would receive the old ship as a shrine if it survived the tests. Adm. Blandy said he had promised Gov. Dewey the New York would not be exposed as much as some other target ships.
Mr. Forrestal and Adm. Blandy also inspected, without boarding, these ships:
The heavy carrier Saratoga, which suffered only slight damage amid ships due to a fire started in Army ammunition exposed on deck. Shattered plexiglass and mirrors proved, however, that the Sara felt considerable of the bombâs blast. Mr. Nolanâs Geiger counter indicated more than normal but still harmless radioactivity around the Sara.
Planes wrecked
The Pennsylvania, whose catapult plants were put out of commission and where fires amidships left blistered skin, showed wrecked life rafts and charred equipment. The bomb flash did not even scorch a bale of hay on the after deck. A pair of goats on the Pennsylvaniaâs forecastle deck seemed lonesome, but otherwise unharmed by slow-acting radiation.
The Independence, whose stern was all but blown off by ammunition explosions set off by the bombâs heat. Her flight deck was buckled and hangar deck gutted and twisted. The hull at the stern was pushed out of shape and the ship as a whole was an unsalvageable wreck. She will be beached if she begins to take water too rapidly.
The heavy cruiser Salt Lake City, whose two stacks were destroyed and whose radio mast was wilted. Her paint was scorched aft and her superstructure bulkheads were dished in.
The Nevada, whose entire aft topside structure was changed by heat from a gaudy red-orange with areas of white to a dirty, sooty color. Equipment exposed on the Nevadaâs after deck was chewed up and scorched. The ship seemed, however, to have suffered no fundamental damage.
Stacks knocked over
The heavy cruiser Pensacola, whose stacks were knocked over and whose masts were mangled at the top. An airplane was demolished and blown over the Pensacolaâs side and exposed equipment had been burned and scattered.
The 34-year-old Arkansas, oldest battleship in the United States fleet, whose superstructure showed the hammer-like flattening effect of the bomb. Amidships the Arkansas was shambles. Wisps of smoke still floated from smoldering fires.
The Japanese battleship Nagato, whose new scars were lost among the heavy bomb damage suffered at the hands of naval fliers during the war.
The German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, whose bow, forward structures and entire starboard side was scorched, although she was nearly 3,000 yards from the target center. The wooden forward mast was splintered and the top of the steel mast aft had broken off. Coils of rope on the Eugenâs rail were scorched and glass windows on the bridge were shattered.
The destroyer Rhind, whose funnel was gone and whose masts were bent.
Mr. Forrestal and Adm. Blandy passed many other targets which exhibited blast and heat effects in varying degrees. Their picket boat also passed over an area 1,000 yards astern and to port of the Nevada, where the destroyer Anderson and the transports Gilliam and Carlisle were sunk.
And on the wav to the Prinz Eugen, they rode over the grave of the destroyer Lamson, which capsized and later sank. The grave was marked by a heavy film of fuel oil, which left a dirty trail in the boatâs wake.
Animals in flimsy cages live as steel buckles 400 feet away
Survival in atom blast called difficult to comprehend
By Jack Kofoed, Chicago Daily News Foreign Service
ABOARD THE USS APPALACHIAN, Bikini Atoll â Today our landing party boarded the Nevada, principal target of A-bomb No. 4.
I felt an almost proprietary interest in the fate of the pigs, goats and mice left there, crowded together in wooden pens on the forward deck, because I had looked at them alive and well on Saturday before the observation ships of Operation Crossroads left the lagoon to take up their stations for yesterdayâs test.
The stern of the Nevada had been blistered by millions of degrees of heat from the bomb. The steel plates had buckled. Yet 400 feet forward these animals in their flimsy cages of boards were alive and apparently uninjured.
This we also found to be true as we visited other ships.
This survival of living things is one of the most difficult points to comprehend about the results of the atom bomb test. In Hiroshima 80,000 persons were killed by a single blast.
Yet these little animals, some not more than 1,000 yards or at most a mile away from that tremendous blast, survive. Whether or not they are suffering from radioactivity is another matter. They will be studied on that point by scientists and physicians.
It may be that the second test, a month from now, when another bomb will be exploded on a barge at sea level, will tell a different story. It is likely that more ships will be sunk, because their hulls will be smashed, as superstructures were smashed by the attack from the air. But I just canât get over how many goats and pigs and mice lived through the blast.
Animal survivors to be brought here for further study
By W. H. Shippen Jr., Star staff correspondent
ABOARD USS APPALACHIAN, Bikini Atoll â Surviving pigs and goats we saw aboard ships while cruising through the heat-blackened inner target circle yesterday will be brought to Washington for a continuing study of their reaction from exposure to radiation heat and blast of the atomic bomb.
A surprising number of animals came through even on the scorched target battleship Nevada, alongside which we pulled yesterday while the first boarding party was making a safety survey.
Although all goats and pigs forward were alive and kicking, rats caged under the No. 4 turret were liquidated.
Senators retain faith in A-bombâs power despite Bikini results
By the Associated Press
Capitol Hill refused to sell the atomic bomb short today on the basis of less-than-spectacular results in the Bikini test.
Several lawmakers conceded Sundayâs historic experiment had a âsomewhat disappointingâ outcome in their opinion, but it failed to shake their belief in the formidable power of the bomb.
Chairman McMahon of the Senateâs Special Atomic Committee told a reporter the world canât breathe much easier even if the bomb did not sink the battleship Nevada and other major units in the target fleet.
âWe must remember,â he said, âthat we have 40,000,000 people living in cities not much more strongly built than Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even if battleships survive all of the tests, I donât believe that 140,000,000 people can live on battleships.â
Johnson delays judgment
Sen. Johnson (D-Colorado), a committee member, felt it too early yet to appraise the effect of the bomb on naval operations.
âNo one expected the bomb to blow those ships out of the water,â he said, âbut we wonât know the full results until the effect of the deadly gamma rays it released is determined. If personnel would be killed or disabled, no fleet would be effective.â
Sen. Johnson predicted that many of the animals which remained alive on the target ships would die within a short time from the effects of radio activity.
Sen. George (D-Georgia) was one who thought results thus far reported âsomewhat disappointing,â but he observed that the buildup given the experiment may have led many persons to expect too much.
Huffman critical
Sen. Huffman (D-Ohio), who had urged that the test be called off, considered the results in line with what most scientists had expected, adding:
âWe had better judge the power of the atomic bomb by what it did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, rather than by what happened in this Roman holiday in the Pacific.â
Obviously pleased that major naval vessels had stood up so unexpectedly under the effects of the blast, Sen. Hart (R-Connecticut) said no one ought to pass on the results until all of the reports and scientific data are in. Sen. Hart, who commanded the Asiatic fleet at the start of the war with Japan, is a member of the McMahon committee.
Few legislators lent any credence to speculation that the Bikini bomb may not have been as powerful as those exploded over land areas in Japan.
Different results possible
Sen. Revercomb (R-West Virginia) noted that scientists had said it was difficult to control the force of the explosion. Hence two bombs of apparently identical construction might prove to have widely different destructive effects, on use.
In any event, Sen. McMahon said that the Bikini bomb, like those used against the Japanese, was merely the âModel Tâ or the forerunner of immensely more destructive instruments to come.
Editorial: As deadly as ever
Publication of the Strategic Bombing Surveyâs report on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been well timed to sober anybody who may tend to think that the first round of the Bikini test has left the atom looking a bit like Billy Conn after his recent set-to with Joe Louis. The fact is that it is still the most appallingly destructive and most revolutionary explosive force ever harnessed by man, irrespective of its bearing on the future of sea power.
The Surveyâs report leaves no room for doubt on that score. One atomic bomb carried by one plane virtually wiped out Hiroshima and caused approximately 160,000 casualties, half of them deaths. To have wrought as much destruction with ordinary explosives and incendiaries would have required a flight of 210 Super Fortresses loaded with a total of 2,100 tons of bombs, and a similar multiplication of weight and effort would have been needed in the case of Nagasaki.
But comparative figures of this sort are of merely incidental importance in the Surveyâs report. The studyâs main significance rests in its comprehensive and objective evaluation of what happened in the two devastated cities and the interpretation of this in terms of the future security of America. The popular impression is that urban Japan is peculiarly flimsy and vulnerable, but the survey shows that the overwhelming bulk of the buildings in our own cities would fare no better against Nagasaki-type bombs. Only reinforced concrete structures, built with earthquakes in mind, would survive, and the interiors of these would be burned out unless specially protected. As for casualties, assuming a surprise atomic attack, the losses in our cities might easily be greater.
Our vulnerability, however, can be reduced. Earthen and concrete shelters are effective against atomic radiation. The decentralization of industrial and medical facilities, the long-range planning of relief and life-saving programs, the elimination of combustible interiors from otherwise strong buildings â these and similar measures can do much to keep down losses, but they âmust be taken now if their cost is not to be prohibitive.â The Surveyâs report puts special stress on the word ânow.â In short, the most important single recommendation made by the experts after studying Hiroshima and Nagasaki is that we start acting at once along this line even as we strive with other nations to establish a system of world control.
Decentralize, disperse, make structural changes, draw up plans for organized relief, give thought to shelters, and begin acting on all this now. The recommendation is a somber and startling one, but it has been made by highly competent and level-headed men fully aware of the nature of A-weapons. Those weapons are still in their crude form. Only the careless and wishful will imagine that the atom has somehow lost face at Bikini.
The Pittsburgh Press (July 2, 1946)
Bikini blast less powerful than expected
Toll rises to five ships sunk in lagoon
OFF BIKINI ATOLL (UP) â Operation Crossroads scientists have determined that the atomic bomb exploded in Bikini Lagoon was âsomewhat less powerfulâ than the bomb exploded over Nagasaki last year, Vice Adm. W. H. P. Blandy announced today.
The bomb used at Bikini to determine the effect of an atomic weapon against Navy ships â an effect thus far gauged in terms of five ships sunk, six wrecked and half the entire fleet of 73 ships damaged â was of the same type as the Nagasaki missile. That bomb devastated 10 square miles of the Jap city.
Called normal bomb
Although less powerful than its prototype, the Bikini bomb, according to Adm. Blandy, was said by task force scientists to be a âperfectly normal Nagasaki type bomb.â
âIt was more powerful than the bomb exploded over New Mexico and more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb which killed 80,000 persons,â Adm. Blandy said.
Adm. Blandy said that the effects of the Bikini bomb on steel ships âwas considerably less awesome and decisive, apparently, than those of the Nagasaki bomb on Japanese buildings.â
Crews move cautiously*
Evidence of the fury of the atom bomb swelled as boarding parties for the first time got close enough to the target ships in Bikini Lagoon to see the damage wrought in Mondayâs cosmic blast.
Crews with scientific equipment moved cautiously among the stricken ships today to measure the damage.
Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, in a radio broadcast from shipboard, said it was âtoo early to draw specific conclusions,â but that he held a âbroad and general opinion that there will still be navies in the world.â
Cruiser sinks
Every passing hour brought new evidence of the magnitude of the destruction.
Bul a goat remained alive on the quarter deck of the battleship USS Nevada â at the heart of the target area.
Shortly before noon today, the Jap cruiser Sakawa, shredded until it looked like a floating pagoda, upended and sank with a bubbling gurgle.
A few hours earlier Adm. Blandy announced that the destroyer Anderson had joined the transports Gilliam and Carlisle and the destroyer Lamson on the bottom.
Tabulated on the basis of latest checks, here is the box score:
SUNK: The cruiser Sakawa, destroyers Lamson and Anderson, and transports Gillham and Carlisle.
HEAVILY DAMAGED: Submarine Skate, battleship Nagato, battleship Arkansas, light cruiser Independence, heavy cruiser Pensacola, and one landing ship.
LIGHTLY DAMAGED: Battleships Pennsylvania, New York, and Nevada; carrier Saratoga, cruiser Salt Lake City, landing craft medium No. 1, yard oiler No. 160, and at least 24 other ships, many of which were damaged by fires.
The submarine Skate was ripped open like a carcass of beef, the light carrier Independence was twisted, and blackened. The Jap battleship Nagato, heavy cruiser Pensacola, and one landing ship were twisted and torn.
In addition, much more damage than was apparent to the naked eye was believed locked in sturdy plates of the big ships by the tremendous stress put upon them in the blast.
Besides sheared masts and buckled superstructures, fires were started on many of the ships more distant from the center of the concussion.
Like a hurricane, the tremendous power of the bomb is believed to become effective as it spreads away from the center. The battleship Nevada, bullseye for the mission, suffered less damage than others farther away. But first reports that she was virtually unharmed are now shown to be overly optimistic.
A great slash marred her stern, where the blast, gathering force, had ripped by. Her bridge was battered and twisted, and nearly everything above decks toward the stern was jammed out of shape.
Goats still alive
Discovery of live goats munching their hay aboard the battleship Pennsylvania created a brief bit of optimism about the possibility of humans surviving the atomic blast. Radiologists said they probably will die later of blood disorders induced by the radioactivity.
Naval opinion was almost unanimous that a maneuvering fleet â the ships, at least â could escape serious damage from an atomic bomb. Most admitted, however, that casualties among crew members would be high.
Radioactivity aboard nearly all ships in the heart of the target area was still too high for humans to approach. Geiger counters, which record the output of the deadly rays, buzzed like hornets as observers approached the ships.
Can block salvage
Navy men said the radioactivity would prevent salvage of vessels in actual combat, and many ships not irreparably damaged might be lost because no one dared touch them until too late.
The submarine Skate, which was blasted as if from an internal explosion, had been in imminent danger of sinking. But salvage crews threw a line to her and beached her on the gently sloping sands of Bikini for later study.
All fires in craft moored here were now out, except for a minor blaze still licking from the hangar decks of the burned-out Independence. She was listing to starboard. Holes and bulges in her side showed the terrible beating she had taken.
Adm. Blandy and Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal toured the lagoon with a party of radiologists today and appeared impressed.
Get set for second test
Rear Adm. Thorwald A. Solberg, in command of the target ship salvage operation, said he was doing his utmost to get the ships ready for the second half of the epic test of the mast destructive force ever created by man.
It is scheduled for July 22, tentatively. Adm. Solberg said he thought he could have the ships ready within at least three or four weeks.
At that time, an atomic bomb will be exploded for the first time under water â 24 feet beneath the surface.
The Indian Express (July 3, 1946)
Atom bomb way not the way to peace
Dark shadow of coming war No. 3
Nehru speaks out
LUCKNOW, July 2 (API) â Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in a signed article this morning in the âNational Heraldâ about the atom bomb test said, âIt seemed very odd to me that this experiment should take place in the way it did, with all the fanfare of publicity for which America is famous. Normally, War Offices do not shout about their latest weapons and indeed try their utmost to keep them secret. It is true that probably such an experiment could not have been kept wholly secret. But, still there was no obvious necessity for deliberate publicity unless some definite objective was being aimed at.
âWhat could this be? Surely to announce to the world and to all to whom it may concern of this might of the United States of America and their readiness to blow up any people or country who came in the way of their policy. It was a challenge and a threat. It was a reminder of the stark, reality behind all the talk of the Foreign Ministers and the UNO. It was the dark shadow of approaching war â World War III.
âThis is not the way to lay the foundations of peace or to remove the fear in peopleâs minds which leads so often to war. Inevitably that fear would grow and grip nations and peoples and each would try frantically to get this new weapon or some adequate protection from fit.
âPeace seems far distant now. Dream that has faded; and mankind apparently marches ahead to its doom. For, though the atom bomb has come to blast the world, no bomb has yet touched the minds of our statesmen and men of authority who cannot get out of their old ruts and still want to preserve their old world. We have heard much of the Four Freedoms and of the brave new world to come, and yet the only freedom that the mass of humanity is likely to possess, is the freedom to die and to be blown to bits â of course to preserve democracy and liberty and the Four Freedoms.
âHave words lost all their meaning and have menâs minds lost all anchorage? For theirs surely is the way to madness and the great men who control our destinies are dangerous self-centred lunatics. Who are so full of their conceit and pride of power that they will rather rain death and destruction all over the world than give up their pretty opinions and think and act aright.
âIt is an astonishing and shameful thing that people should put up with this madness. Especially when the world seemed so near to achieving what it had desired and dreamt of for ages past. Peace and co-operation and well-being for all the peoples of the world were well within graps. But, the Gods perhaps envied the lot of man and drove him mad.
âWhether madness and death are the fate of man in the near future or something better no one can say. But, it is certain that the way of the atom bomb is not the way of peace and freedom. The only useful purpose it can serve is to put an end to the power-mad people, in authority, to those who wish to dominate over others, to the race-proud who deny equality to others, to the men of privilege who rest on others labour and suffering, to those who prosper when others starve and die.â
Fresh puzzles added to freak explosion
NEW YORK, July 1 (Reuter) â Zig-sagging small fry â unconcerned survivors of what should have blasted them into disintegration â swam about Bikini lagoon tonight among the flaming and smouldering target ships on which fire parties worked with hoses and sprays to produce âlaboratory specimenâ for naval and radiological survey experts.
Patch by patch the waters were pronounced safe for entry of humans.
Search planes assigned to follow the atomic cloud wherever it led until it was absorbed into the stratosphere are reported to have lost it. This added a fresh puzzle to the freak â already officially announced by Admiral Blandy â that the cloud of death rose only 35,000 feet or half the altitude reached by the lethal smoke of Nagasakiâs annihilation explosion.
The first impression of scores of correspondents, whose imagination had in advance built up a story of terrifying proportions, is that the havoc created is far less than expected.
Whether this is attributable to the fact that the bomb dropped off its precise bullâs-eye is a matter for conjecture at the moment.
Mystery of a second explosion
Another mystery absorbed the observers as the Pacific night closed on a scene of flame-ridden desolation: Why âa second explosionâ?
All who heard the detonation over the radio through arranged circles of observing ships heard the second powerful rumbling blast, and observers swore they saw a second cloud.
Scientific observers are speculating on some such theory that fissionable material within the bomb split into two parts, with the resultant extraordinary phenomenon of two explosions.
But there is a less spectacular theory â that microphones differently placed in the listening area would create an effect of two detonations.
Eye-witness account
Observer Bill Downs broadcast this vivid description of the atom bomb explosion from an observerâs plane: âFirst there is a tiny pin-point of light that pierces the eye-balls, most like a white-hot pin, even through the glasses. Then there is a flash you feel more then you see. After that it is safe to remove the goggles. It is in this moment that you see the power of the atomic bomb. A great white cloud, streaked with a brilliant flame, whirls and rolls over the target in a great grinding motion. It must have been half a mile across, may be more.
âSome scientists estimated that the heat generated in this mass at 100,000,000 degrees â the greatest heat ever generated on earth.
âIt literally shot up into the sky, forming a mushroom effect that you have often seen in pictures,â Downs added.
âOne peculiar thing about this mushroom was that at one period â in the case of this particular mushroom, when it was at about 40,000 feet high â a brilliant white sheet seemed to cover the top of the column.â This description was given today by the navy pilot operating off the carrier Shangrila. It is a story of a sheet of ice suddenly appearing in the middle of the plume of the billowing atom cloud â a real sheet of ice that this pilot insists he saw being carried aloft at an altitude of about 28,000 feet.
âI scoffed at this story too until I checked it with scientific observers aboard the Shangrila. This is the way they explained it â the scientists said it is possible that when the bomb went off, great quantities of water from Bikini lagoon vaporised into steam and were carried along by the force of the explosion.
âThe higher the cloud rose into the sky, the cooler the atomic gases became and the force of the explosion carried these cooling gasses and steam higher and higher. At 28,000 feet, the scientists said, temperatures go as low as 30 degrees below zero. This would be where ice would form when the steam condensed into water and then frozen into a great sheet supported by the rising cloud. After seeing that explosion some 15 hours ago, I will believe anything.â
An âabysmal failureâ
WASHINGTON, July 2 â George Morad, Columbia Broadcasting System correspondent covering the atomic bomb test, said in a despatch from Kwajalein atoll this afternoon that some correspondents considered the test an âabysmal failure.â
Morad, who earlier complained that his messages were being censored, said he was now able to say that he flew over Bikini lagoon for more than an hour and looked carefully at the damage.
Morad said that one of the ships sunk â the Japanese light cruiser Sakawa â âwas previously damaged and finally sabotaged by American repair crew.â
More damaged ships sunk
ABOARD THE APPALACHIAN, OFF BIKINI, July 2 (APA) â The atomic bomb sank five of Bikiniâs target array of 73 ships, wrecked six, damaged 25 and possibly damaged every other of the remaining vessels, official and non-official surveys indicated last night.
An official tally indicated that the destroyer Lamson and the transports Carlisle and Gilliam were sunk, the destroyer Anderson was missing and presumed sunk.
The latest vessel to succumb is the Jap cruiser Sakawa, which sank Tuesday morning.
Admiral Blandy, assessing the violence of the bomb, told a news conference that despite the damage there was no reason to conclude that the day of the carrier and the destroyers was over.