Show NAVY PLANS ATOM BOMB TEST TESTON TESTON ON JAP WARSHIP PAPER SAYS NEW V YORK Sept 17 UP The P-The The New NewYork NewYork NewYork York Times says Monday in a dispatch from Tokyo that the damaged ton Japanese battleship N Nagato gato which was taken over by the U. U S. S navy at the Yoko- Yoko suka naval base will be towed miles to sea where an atomic bomb will be dropped on her in ln an experiment that may determine the future form of the worlds world's navies After relating that the Nagato had withstood an attack by United States naval planes the Times dispatch continues contin contin- ues with regard to the atomic experiment That is the present plan of the United States States' navy which wants to ascertain these details Whether the bomb will cause the destruction of a single ship what it will do to a task force what effe effect t it will have on the water The liThe navy hopes to obtain the answers in one of the greatest experiments of its type since Brig Gen William L L. Billy Mitchell sank four warships from the ail in the early Continuing the Times dispatch says Reports ts from Hiroshi Hiroshima a and Nagaaki Nagasaki Naga Naga- saki aki indicate that the force of the explosion explosion sion is up p and out not down From the thc navy navy's navys s viewpoint int the most dangerous dangerous' e ef effect ef- ef feet of the atomic bomb could be underwater underwater under underwater water where the pressure of water greatly greatly great great- ly Iy magnifies the eIf effect et of a torpedo or mine ine t u. u It I 4 jf It k rl The navy will invite the press to attend at tend this experiment as it it did Gen Mitchells Mitchell's effort The IThe Nagato suffered three direct hits bits July 18 but the inch 14 steel armor plate of her turrets withstood the blasts of Adm dm William F. F Halsey concentrated air attack Her damage was extensive but superficiaL su su- su- su Now she will win stand her greatest test The experiment will exceed in potentialities potentialities potentialities poten poten- the attack by British carrying pound bombs that sank Germanys Germany's pocket t battleship Scharnhorst t tin in Altern fjord off Norway in Dec 1943 While our navy always has contested contest contest- ed the assertion of air p power exponents that the plane has rendered the battleship battleship battleship battle battle- ship obsolete and while it has used these giants with effect in this war Gen Mitchells Mitchell's experiments did lead to a modification modification modification modi modi- of naval concepts and of battleship battle ship design Battleships have since undergone im- im structural changes designed to protect them from air attacks It is not known whether the atomic bomb at sea will h have ve the same ef effect ct because of the wide area are for expansion as it does on land targets where hills bills or mountains concentrate concentrate its ith ifs p power r There e ea is a tentative the theory ry that the te e of f the atomic bomb Jm on J. water Y t r- r l T be mitigated 4 e |