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Show DIRECTFROM BIKINI: U- An Eye Witness Ac Of Atomic Bomb BL ?eT ",, itk , , n uC . , JllSi ', '' ivera x 15 i ' ,hirts - 4 - itf , r" vJW'v, ffh' ' ' , ' y foil"! " ' ' j, using ', ' H . . - - , ? , f!ak! - . , ' - , Damage from the atomic bomb test blast is sW ''in light carrier USS Independence Is pictured burning .1 t bomb explosion. ?' By WALTER A. SHEAD WNU Washington Correspondent. Wl ABOARD USS APPALACHIAN, OPERATIONS CROSSROADS. From a military standpoint the explosion ex-plosion of the fourth atomic bomb was a huge success but as a spectacle spec-tacle worth traveling 8,000 miles to see it did not live up to its advance billing. From the standpoint of efficiency ef-ficiency and precision the plutonium bomb was dropped squarely in the target area. The advance weather predictions held true. It was dropped on time to the second. The air drones were sent through the cloud area and shepherded back by their mother ships. The boat drones were sent into the area of radio activity and brought back via radio control. The cameras clicked and the instruments built especially to measure the results of the blast worked. But to those of us here aboard the Appalachian, who had been orientated ori-entated and lectured day after day for the past two weeks, who had interviewed scientists and scientific scien-tific writers, the bomb burst and the atomic cloud were a disappointment. disappoint-ment. The recapitulation of the damage showed the troop transports Giliom and Carlisle sunk; the destroyer Lampson capsized; heavy damage was done to the submarine Skate, the light cruiser Pensacola, the carrier car-rier Independence, the Jap cruiser Sakawa, and the German pocket battleship Prinz Eugen. Light to negligible damage was caused on the Jap battleship Nagata, the battleship bat-tleship Nevada, the oiler No. 160 and LCM No. 1. Small fires were started and later extinguished on the destroyer Wilson, the Pensacola, the transport Briscoe, the Nevada, the carrier Saratoga and transports Niagara, Bladen, Banta, Butte, Cortland, Bracken and Faun and the battleship New York. Heaviest damage was caused on the Independence Inde-pendence and the fire which burst into flames on her stern was more dramatic to watch than the bomb burst insofar as this writer was concerned. Because the atomic cloud did not reach the heights achieved in previous previ-ous drops was not considered as reflection upon the efficiency of the bomb. Reasons for the relatively low cloud given were that water absorbed ab-sorbed much of the heat energy and the difference in atmospheric structure struc-ture caused a slower rise. It may be that those of us who stood along the starboard rail of Oie Appalachian were expecting too much. We had been led to believe be-lieve from many sources to expect drama and adventure and excite ment. Let me assure you tnere was no drama and certainly no ex-cement. ex-cement. I confess that a,-I pulled mv PevpanZed Plastic aggies over "bomb 88 hMrd th signal bomb away" I did feel excited and tenSe as , awaited the blast, t came as I saw it, well above the honzon, a huge orange ball K might have been a fireworks display on the Fourth of jZ al! though not near so dLnng i watched the cloud appearing like tile rm SOda' Cream white on h-srepinnr tt boiled and ZtlT ZoTh J cumulus natural clou'd wS'hid t trom our view I felt a slight "r,ff my ear, but felt no hea t b "t Seconds later the sound of dctona-"on dctona-"on came like a distw Z "11 of thunder that : all but .1 were 18 miles away ' cloud" TlCS Hflor th0 b,st the floud had mushroomed un to I he-Sht of 26,000 feet and wa, ' Proximatcly 12000 fcct acw BP- I If". top. The trade wind, it up and it was pus L f where it gradually l. Ior dispersed as our ship 2 Fo ly along the seaward V. ,,rJ island. "' tan I We could, see the f- td' the lagoon through K Fire amidship showd t, lxA toga. The Salt Lake"-" ablaze. There appear ea' small fire aboard the Nr J fires made a smoke h-lagoon, h-lagoon, but it soon clea. J as I look toward the ' ,u there is little indicjth bl0U anywhere. ' 'or ' We are changing cop, 'f'.1 lowing the Mt. McKi Blandy's flagship, tt' the intention of enteric Television receiving a" Pl ward room of the Apt-v m istered the blast from p- wr5 stalled on the island, fx : We' out of commission. The carrier Indepe:fe , suffered more damage tz i er capital ship to its r. "J rure and all planes wtid i- ,' its flight deck were car.:. There was superficial or f: ture damage to otter si: 73 in the target Seetta: I pathos of the thing uasr when I saw the sturdy c ., old Nevada brilliant in :; paint, standing there si and true despite the a'on There was no wind, ra r no thunderstorm. Xo tr damaged on the island. ": ; no tidal wave and no t In fairness there was n: r I" from the navy or armyt: any of these things rr.S- Yo The navy frankly said r m ' know what would happe Peri wild predictions were ec 5 entists or scientific uris mcl in all fairness to the of.E task force No. 1, the b:: !or' looked to small to their j1 may actually have bee: - "rl Scientifically of course v m,( be no adequate judgrrer: : suits until the instrr;: been read, the damage t: rious ships actually deter rj(j measured. In the light c' jke jectives, the navy and tie jejl in mind the actual 6: ai bomb on naval constre: lfa and army material, arte ,ra nance and other ep"- Admiral Blandy, cck et, the task force, issued a : s in which he said he r- ver pleased with the : stei with the bomb drop and the ficiency of the bomb. It dec eral aboard the ship r Nagasaki bomb drop s;:. at Los Alamos, N. M. clared this bomb arr' smaller, judging from tithe ti-the atomic cloud whici-of whici-of Nagasaki soared to J about 55,000 feet There is no doubt & this terrible energy is ever known on the distances out here that the energy was oi;; dissipated over a vast i instance, at Nagasaki total bomb damage square miles, or an ares - mile and a half : i distance of the Ne"cir old shore of Bikini lag , dac three miles. And the k 10 miles across and - bar It must also be reme', as this story is ,rl11 col, mission In time to t ; to there has been no actus - (fl of the real damage. -j more as we enter p its can visually asayJW |