Ghost Fleet: The Sunken Ships of Bikini Atoll
Brand: Brand: University of Hawaii Press
Categories: Books, History, Military

In July 1946 a fleet of 242 ships, among them some of the most famous of World War II, assembled within the lagoon of Bikini Atoll, 4,500 miles from San Francisco. There, in a massive military effort dubbed Operation Crossroads, thousands of scientists and U.S. military personnel gathered to assess the atomic bomb's effect on warships in the world's first nuclear weapons tests. Four decades later, in 1989, a highly trained team of underwater archaeologists returned to Bikini to evalu-ate the ships as historic and archaeological sites and as potential diving attractions. In Ghost Fleet, author James Delgado, a member of that team, offers a fascinating account of Operation Crossroads and the forgotten remains that have turned Bikini's lagoon into a vast underwater ghost town.

Used Book in Good Condition

Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.75 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-13: 978-0824818647
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0824818644
Publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr
Print length: 204 pages
Publication date: January 1, 1996
subtitle: Hardcover – January 1, 1996
author: Visit Amazon's James P. Delgado Page search results James P. Delgado
review: Editorial Reviews From Library Journal In 1946, the United States began a series of nuclear tests on Bikini Atoll to determine the impact of atomic bombs on armored naval ships. Amid much fanfare, the military assembled a fleet of surplus ships from World War II, carefully mooring them in the lagoon, and exploded nuclear bombs both in the air and under the water. Delgado, a noted marine archaeologist with the National Park Service, visited Bikini in the late 1980s to explore and document the condition of the sunken ships. His work is more than an archaeological study; it is the history of the nuclear age. Meticulously researched, it chronicles the development of the bomb, its deployment in Japan, the preparations for the tests, the attempted clean-up afterward, and the beginning of the Cold War. Many of the photographs and diagrams were first published by the National Park Service in a study entitled The Archaeology of the Atomic Bomb (1991). A good purchase for public and academic libraries. John Kenny, San Francisco P.L. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.