Bombs at Bikini; the official report of Operation Crossroads PDF
Preview Bombs at Bikini; the official report of Operation Crossroads
Bombs AT Bikini caiy^ ^A^-^JL. I^Ol \J0 WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION LABORATORY BOOK COLLECTION f^urchase Order No .fe^tial.„.;;:si^t^ ^ I IT) CN 0) I- G a a> a> o Frontispiece BOMBS AT BIKINI The Official Report of Operation Crossroads Prepared under the Direction of the Commander of Joint Task Force One hy W. A. Shurcliff Historian ofJoint Task Force One 1947 Wm. H. Wise & Co., Inc. New York Woods HoIg Ocsanographic institution ARCHIVE COLLECTIOM ! Copyright, 1947 Wm. H. Wise & Co., Inc. WISEbooksaretrademarked LookfortheWISEoldbird Printed in the United States of America Preface Tests A and B of Operation Crossroads, perhaps the most elaborate scientific tests ever conducted, are described in this official report with no attempt to prove or disprove anything. Its sole purpose is to present facts on the origin, planning, and execution of the joint enterprise. The word joint needs emphasis. The Tests were neither Navy tests nor Army tests; this Report is neither a Navy report nor an Army report, and it has not been submitted to Army or Navy for approval. The Tests and the Report are the work of Joint Task Force One, an agency created by the Joint (Army and Navy) Chiefs of Staff and responsible only to them. The Report does not attemptto duplicate thecapable reporting of the many experienced reporters who wit- nessed the Tests. Through the press the general charac- ter of the Operation is known to hundreds of millions of persons here and abroad. The world knows that the first explosion was an atomic bomb detonation in the air on July 1, 1946, sinking 5 ships, and that the second explosion was an atomic bomb detonation underwater on July 25, 1946, sinking 9 ships. But there is a wealth of information, much of it technical, which has not reached the public. Time was required to ferret out the significant facts; patience was required to piece them together ingenuity was re- ; quired to present the material without jeopardizing se- nt curity. For reasons of security a few results have been omitted. These few are mainly technical correlations, as between exact distance and damage, or exact dis- tance and pressure. Good public relations and the duty of the Services to the public demand that the fullest account possible be made available. The facts included should help the public form sound conclusions and participate in the planning of national and international policies. Bulk release of energy from the nucleus is—new on th—e earth; its por- tent is unlimited. But if it and we are to survive, it must be controlled. And adequate control cannot be achieved unless the people know the facts. The present official account was written by the same group which prepared the over-all top-secret report recently transmitted byVice Admiral W. H. P. Blandy, Commander of Joint Task Force One, to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To the many persons who helped in the prepara- tion of this Report, I extend my thanks. I am partic- ularly indebted to Mr. David Z. Beckler, Deputy His- torian, and Mrs. Virginia Shapley, Editor. W. A. Shurcliff, Historian, Joint Task Force One February 1947 7, IV
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