Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1946-07-19
BY WALTER A. SHEAD

ABOARD USS APPALACHIAN,
OPP ERATIONS CROSSROADS
From military standpoint the ex-
plosion Of the fourth atomic bomb
was huge success but as a spec
tacle worth travelling 5000 miles to
see 1t did not live up to its advance
billing. From the standpoint of eff
ficlency and precision the plutonium
bomb was dropped squarely in the
target area. The advance weather
predictions held truc. 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 orr
entated and lectured day after day
for the past two weeks, who had
interviewed scientists and scien-
tific writers, the bomb burst and
the atomic cloud were a 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 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 bat
tleship Nevada, the oiler No. 16O
and Lem No. /. Small fires we're
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 indie
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 con-
cerned.
Because the atomic cloud did not
reach the heights achieved in previ-
GUS drops was not considered as
reflection upon the efficiency of the
bomb. Reasons for the relatively
low cloud given were that water abb
sorbed much of the heat energy and
the difference in atmospheric struc-
ture caused slower rise.
1t may be that those of us who
stood along the starboard rail of
the Appalachian were expecting too
much. We had been led to be-
ieve from many sources to expect
drama and adventure and excite
ment. Let me assure you there
was no drama and certainly no ex-
c1tement. l confess that as 1 pulled
the polarized plastic goggles over
my eyes as we heard the signal
bomb away" I did feel excited
and tense as l awaited the blast.
It came as I saw it, well above
the horizon, a huge orange ball,
1t might have been a fireworks
display on the Fourth of July, al
tilouSH NOT near so dazzling. I
watched the cloud appearing like
nothing more than a huge cherry
ice cream soda. Cream white on
the surface but deep inside the
hues were pink and rose, and it
boiled and seethed up through
cumulous natural cloud which hid
it from our view. I felt slight "pft"
in my ears but felt no heat blast.
Seconds later the sound of detona-
ton came like distant peal or
roll Of thunder that's all, but then
we were ID miles away.
Ten minutes after the blast the
cloud had mushroomed up to a
height of $4,000 feet and was ap-
proximately $4,000 feet across the