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Show SECRECY PREVAILS Ships Regrouped for Second Atomic Test By WALTER A. SIIEAD WNU Correspondent. HONOLULU, OPERATIONS CROSSROADS With much attendant secrecy the target fleet in Bikini lagoon has been regrouped for the second atom bomb test scheduled for July 25. Although most of the correspondents have returned to the States, several made application to remain in Bikini during the interim so they could cover the arrangements being made for the second test. This request was refused by the navy, however, and all newspaper men were ordered to proceed to Kwajalein, where they were either transported immediately by air to the States or to Honolulu, or were housed aboard the press ship Appalachian. In the meantime the Appalachian made a leisurely trip to Pearl Harbor Har-bor where she underwent some minor mi-nor repairs, and now is proceeding back to Bikini, where she is scheduled sched-uled to arrive on B-Day minus 1, or July 21. Nearest Center. It has been announced that ships nearest the bulls-eye of the second test will include the battleship Arkansas, Ar-kansas, the heavy cruiser Pensa-cola, Pensa-cola, the Jap battleship Nagato, the aircraft carrier Saratoga, the destroyer Mayrant, the submarine Pilotflsh, the transport Fallow and a tank landing ship. It may be that the Pilotfish will be nearest the bomb burst, which, as has been announced, will be an underwater detonation. detona-tion. Other ships of the target fleet have been placed In various positions ranging up to 1,800 yards away from the blast. The Arkansas, the Pensacola and the Nagato all were severely damaged dam-aged as to superstructure In the first blast. The Pensacola particularly suffered heavy damage to her fire control; her stacks were blown off and her deck plates buckled. This correspondent went aboard the Pensacola Pen-sacola after the first test and noted that her decks amidship were driven driv-en downward about 12 inches and with such force that steel supports beneath were driven through the steel deck plating like toothpicks through paper. Await Report. There Is considerable speculation as to the coming report of the Military Mili-tary Evaluation board as to the efficacy ef-ficacy of the atom bomb as an offensive of-fensive weapon in naval warfare. If the board decides that future naval na-val construction must meet the dangers dan-gers of atomic blasts, then we may expect an entirely different warship of the future. The experience of the first blast indicates that firepower exposed upon high superstructure is particularly partic-ularly susceptible to the heat and blast of atomic power. The speculation specu-lation is that to meet this threat, future construction will see stream-' stream-' lined warships with low superstruc tures, enclosed as much as possible, ! looking something like a modern j deisel locomotive with curved sur faces to deflect blast. Installation of ventilation systems also will be given close scrutiny since it was learned that the blast In some cases, particularly aboard the Pensacola, entered the ventila- TERRIFIC BRILLIANCE . . . i Camera catches terrific brilliance of atomic blast in this photo taken Just at time of detonation' of the atomic bomb. tion openings and followed the ducts below decks, breaking out at the weakest points, shoving through a bulkhead and smashing other obstacles ob-stacles in its way deep in the ship. This was particularly noticeable notice-able in a comparison with the German ship Prinz Engen, which has no ventilation system and depends upon row upon row of portholes for ventilation for its crew. Not a porthole was smashed and no damage done below deck, but she was admittedly admit-tedly much farther from the center of the blast than the Pensacola. In reflecting upon the damage done to the ships in the first blast, the remarkable thing to this writer Is that not a single live mine, bomb, shell, bag of powder or any other ammunition aboard any ship was exploded ex-ploded either by the heat or blast force of the bomb Torpedoes on the Independence exploded due to a fire which finally exploded her powder magazine and her aviation - ' jl ' ' I i. I v i MUSHROOM CLOUD . . . The huge mushroom cloud rises over Bikini shortly after the atom bomb was dropped. This picture was made by a photographer flying in a B-29. gasoline. But on most all the ships were placed live mines, bombs, shells were in guns or on loading apparatus, and each ship had a full load of ammunition. None of it was exploded and the safety crews which boarded the ships following the blast were careful in their examination. ex-amination. Then the speculation goes to the use of lead lining against X-rays, rock wool or some other protection against heat, and concrete or some substitute against neutrons and other oth-er radioactivity. Opinions Vary. There are two schools of thought as to the damage likely to occur to ship hulls from the underwater blast. Having in mind the fact that depth charges of presently used explosives ex-plosives have sunk or damaged submarines sub-marines and heavily damaged destroyers de-stroyers and other lighter craft, one school declares that the atomic bomb will play havoc with the target tar-get fleet and predicts that even capital cap-ital ships closest to the blast will be capsized and sunk. Others, however, predict that much of the force of the blast will be absorbed by the water and that, although there is danger of light ships capsizing, the larger ships will merely roll with the water and their heavier underwater armor will not be damaged. They predict the heavily armored ships will not suffer suf-fer as much underwater damage as could be inflicted with a torpedo. This is all in the realm of speculation, specula-tion, however, and the navy remains mum about its own expectations. In discussions aboard the Appalachian Ap-palachian among scientists and off-the-record comment by naval na-val officers, there is some reason rea-son to presume that the atomic bomb as an offensive weapon against ships at sea is not as effective ef-fective as other weapons. However, How-ever, its effectiveness against naval bases would be devastating devastat-ing and a fleet without naval bases would be rendered impotent. im-potent. Atoll to Remain. This writer believes that Bikini atoll and its cocoanut groves will be there after the second test is over and even after the third bomb scheduled sched-uled for November or later is detonated in hundreds of fathoms of water in the ocean outside Bikini lagoon. la-goon. We do not expect any 100-foot 100-foot waves nor 1,000-mile-an-hour wind although some wave may wash over the island. A 15-foot wave could do that. But the test which has changed from a joint army-navy operation, about which so much stress was put, into strictly a navy show and which is probably costing about a half million dollars a day, likely will give our military men all the knowledge they will need to prepare for or against the atomic bomb in the future fu-ture ... if indeed there is any way of preparing against it. |