Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-08-29
Third Atomic Bomb
Test Held Unlikely
Practical Value of Deep Sea
Defamation Now Doubted
By David Laurence

nuS :" I~Sp- oSS
Defamation Now Doubted
By David Laurence
The third test on the atomic bomb.
which was scheduled for some time
next year, may have been proved s,i-
perfiuous by what the frst two tests
have taught.
The practical value of decorating .
bomb 5000 feet under the sea is be-
ginning to be doubted. In the frst
place, it is questionable whether any
sure way can be devised for suspendins
bomb that can be set OF at such
great depth. But. more than this, it is
beginning to be recognized that even
If bomb were touched OF at 5000
feet below the surface, it would hardly
prove that targets in the future would
be exactly in similar spots.
Ships are too mobile to remain in
any area very long, and 1t would hardly
seem possible that If bomb were deto-
mated at 5000 feet undersea it would
prove that such weapon could be put
to use against moving fleets.
The stationary targets used In the
tests received all the damage that the
atomic bomb can inflict from . COM
paratively low depth, and this is SUM-
cient to indicate what the bomb can do
from an underwater explosion. With
the data gathered on the dropping Of
an atomic bomb from the air and deto-
nation in relatively shallow water, all
the information needed to redesign ships
and figure out what defense, II any, Is
available is now at hand.
Immediate Value Doubted.
The atomic bomb tests, moreover,
take lot Of personnel and ships and
consume the time of top-ranking ON
GERS. Unless test has an assured value.
it does not warrant all the expense and
time given to it.
There is q feeling here that the atomic
bomb tests should not be continued
unless they are going to be Of some
Immediate value. Unless some purpose
can be served, there is q disposition not
to haunt the bomb before other nations
The trend, therefore, now is toward
the elimination OF the third test for al
the reasons mentioned above, but, If
in the examination Of data by the re-
search men any practical value can be
seen for third test, there would not
be the slightest hesitation to order such
4 test.
To explode the atomic bomb ut 5000
feet underwater requires an apparatus
which can contain the bomb and yet
afford some method OF decorating 1t
that Is sure. Once such 4 bomb is
exploded, it would be dificult to make
sure that ships on the surface would be
in the exact spot needed for the expert
ment.
Altogether there has been much
learned already from the second test
about the way an atomic bomb behaves
under water. 1t was conducted under
ideal conditions which showed the dam
age to hulls as well as the extent OF
radioactivity. Certainly . bomb ut a
greater depth than that used In the
second test could not tell any more
than the second test did, and the
naval officers of the world would be
inclined to say that no means OF deto-
nation in actual warfare has been or
could be devised which would not also
injure the ship that dropped its cable
overheard or tried to carry the bomL
to some depth below ships.
1t is quite conceivable that, instead O
underwater explosions, some means of
using the atomic bomb in guided mis-
siles either above the water or on its
surface may be used. But the first
and second tests already tell what dam
age could be done by detona ton OF the
bomb close to targets.
Question Of Defense.
Whether defense against the atomic
bomb will ever be devised remains in
the realm of the speculative, but 1t is
noticeable here that since the first and
in the ultimate development of de-
Tense than there was after the two
bombs were dropped on Japan.
It has been apparent. too, that those
who design ships believe that they viii
be able to overcome in future construc-
ton some of the Ill effects of the atomic
bomb 1t would seem that the danger
Of radioactivity to human life is of far
more concern now than the ability Of
the designers to use materials or so
arrange for their coverage as to miti-
gate the effects of the atomic bomb. In
the field of science, however, the study
OF radioactivity may lead to some corn-
tervailing substance that might neutral
lie the radioactivity. In short, the In
formation derived from the first and
second tests is adequate for all practical
purposes, and that is why third test
for next year seems improbable.
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