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Show ENDLESS ARGUMENTS RAGE World Awaits Second Test of Atomic Bomb 1 "' FIRST BLAST, Jun. aoth. f.v hipi tunic, fin thipt wracked, forty-flv thipt reported damaged. PsECOND BLAST, in. 3 week. - j - ?CfwK expect a crushing effect on shipt' hullt. Great radioactivity in water. Giant waves to tweep over thipt THIRD TEST, to be staged next -e- " -w "wn--J year. Predictions of tome who wit- -MZ isBBBBjpjajBBBBBjpjJ nested lit test are that all ships fcT lit bomb dropped by plane. -.will be sunk within 50 miles 2nd bomb to be planted just blast area. -J rfoe of the water. 1 3rd "bathysphere" bomb to 1 explode at depth of 12 5 ft. By WALTER A. SHEAD WNU Correspondent. about nine months to put her In shape. Also all ships damaged, with the single exception of the Independence, Independ-ence, towed away and anchored far out in the lagoon, likely could have pulled away under their own steam, had they been manned with crews. Study Effects. In the meantime, Bikini lagoon has been turned into a vast laboratory labora-tory of science, chief interest being be-ing the effect of the bomb and its subsequent radiological rays upon the live animals placed aboard the ships at various locations likely to be occupied by the men aboard. Amazingly, only about 10 per cent of the animals were killed by the force of the blast. Some are burned and sick and others may become ill from effects of radioactivity. As a matter of fact, a few already have been destroyed by medical doctors, who are studying this phase of atomic energy in an effort to determine deter-mine how this radioactivity can be used in medicine in treatment of disease. ABOARD USS APPALACHIAN OPERATIONS CROSSROADS. Second or Baker test of the atomic bomb in Bikini lagoon, now tentatively tenta-tively set for July 25, will be like dynan.iting fish in a pond. Lacking will be the glamour of the army air force and precision bombing as the whole thing will be a navy show. The bomb will be submerged some 75 feet beneath the surface in about 30 fathoms of water, 180 feet, and detonated in the midst of the target fleet, which is being regrouped to meet new conditions con-ditions of the test. This second test also will lack the drama of the bomb burst and the atomic cloud, which is characteristic characteris-tic of atomic bombs exploded in air. What is likely to happen is that the intense heat will generate steam in the water and the terrific force will expend a part of its energy in a waterspout with a. cloud of steam and vapor shooting into the air. Intent In-tent of this test is to measure force of atomic energy upon the hull structure of naval ships spaced at various distances from the center I Persons or animals which receive these powerful rays into their systems sys-tems are variously affected and the boarding teams upon these ships are preceded by a traind man carrying carry-ing a "Geiger counter," a small box-like apparatus which registers radioactivity by a ticking noise. Estimate Losses. A fleet such as those which composed com-posed the target fleet would normally normal-ly carry approximately 30,000 men. It is reasonable to assume then that approximately 10 per cent, or 3,000 men, would have been killed by the atomic bomb blast and that more would have been injured by radioactivity. radio-activity. Whether much of the damage dam-age to. ships caused by subsequent fires aboard could have been averted avert-ed had crews been aboard is a moot question. Some ships captains declare de-clare that damage would have been much less had the ship fire-fighting equipment been brought into play, and this seems reasonable in that most of the loss on the Independence Independ-ence was due to fire and explosion and not the bomb blast. There is no attempt however on the part of naval authorities to minimize the terrible power of this atomic bomb. No other single bomb ever did the damage dam-age to a fleet that this one did . . . five ships sunk, one completely com-pletely out of commission and approximately 10 others out of action for two months or longer, long-er, and small to negligible damage dam-age done to 10 others. However, another atomic bomb likely would not find 73 ships to make up a helpless ghost fleet grouped conveniently like sitting ducks and whether use of the atomic atom-ic bomb as an offensive weapon of naval warfare upon ships at sea is militarily sound still is a debated debat-ed question and one which the naval evaluation board will study during the next few weeks or months. It must be remembered that whatever what-ever is said about this second bomb test before the actual test is in the realm of conjecture, and much of the conjecture made prior to the first test did not materialize. of the explosion. Subs to Submerge. There will not be the visible damage dam-age which was inflicted wholly upon ' the topsides or superstructures as in the first blast. Since there is to be no ship placed directly above the point of blast, the prediction is being be-ing made freely that no capital ships will be sunk, although lighter craft may be capsized. Another feature of the second blast is the placing of submerged submarines in the target fleet, and it will be interesting to note the effect of the bomb force upon the steel hulls of these vessels ves-sels beneath the water. Naval scientists predict that force of the underwater blast ' will create waves of sufficient height, possibly 10 or more feet which will sweep over low-lying Bikini island, although this was also forecast in the first blast and did not materialize. Meantime, endless arguments proceed pro-ceed as to the degree of damage to the ships, the location of the bomb burst, whether the drop from the plane was a "near miss," probable loss of life had the ships been manned with full complement, and comparative efficiency of this first Bikini bomb as compared to the bombs at Alamogordo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Precision Bombing. When it is considered that this bomb was dropped from a height of something like six miles and hit within a 1,000-yard circle, this reporter re-porter would consider that pretty pret-ty good precision bombing. Adm. T. A. Solberg of the bureau bu-reau of ships, however, declared that insofar as he could judge, every ship damaged by the bomb, with the exception of the Independence, could be put into fighting shape within two or three months. For the Independence, battered and ripped apart by explosions of her own torpedoes, her ammunition and aviation gasoline and burning for almost two days, it would take |