Evening star., 1946-07-03
Bomb
Continued From First Page

W. H. p Blandys flagship. the
Mount Mckinley. Included in this
hot group were the Nevada
Arkansas, submarine Skate. trans
port Crittenden. yard oil tender
and a floating drydock. The Skate
was beached at Enyo Island, more
than 4 miles from Bikini. because
Navy officers feared its radioactivity
might contaminate Bikinis swim
ming beach.
All vessels are expected to be
ruled safe" by tomorrow. The
waters of the lagoon itself were
termed safe today, except in the
immediate vicinity of the radiating
ships.
independence to Be Beached
The carrier Independence. built
on a cruiser hull, was toWed several
miles from the test anchorage. pre-
sllmably to be beached for easier
observation on her heavy damage
The most that could be said for her
vas that she still f1oated There
were gaping holes in her sides. steel
plates and girders were buckled and
twisted. Her superstructure was
missing
Also heavily damaged were the
heavy cruisers Salt Lake City (newiy
added to the list and Pensacola
battleship Arkansas. japanese bat
tleship Nagato. submarine Skate
oestroyers Stack and Rhind and a
tank landing ship. Sunk were the
modern japanese cruiser SakaWa,
transports Gillian and Carlisle and
destroyers Anderson and Lamson.
The extent of heat damage to
some of the more distant parts of
the target fleet showed human sur
Fival would have been doubtful.
Ships mile from the center of the
blast were burned and blackened as
though by a tremendous blast fur
mace. Any one on their decks would
have burned TO death in an instant.
Oddly. aboard the much nearer
Nevada, only parts of the ship were
thus affected, and goats lived
through it.
Compton Sees Menace to Men.
Studies of animals injuries will
probably show whether enough crew.
men would have remained to oper-
ate the stricken ships, concluded
DR.. Carl Compton of the Massachu-
setts Institute of Technology. He
heads President Truman's evalua-
ton board and is a member of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.
Emphasizing that there is no
need to apologize for results of this
test, DR.. Compton observed that
the single bomb would certainly
have had serious effects upon per-
sonnel within half-mile of the
bullseye
He also pointed out that most of
the damaged ships would have been
quite blinded by destruction of
their radio and radar."
Supersiructures of ships of tomor-
row, he observed, probably will be
Sedesigned
All in all, the experiment was
thorough enough to bring out. when
studies are completed, all the data
We now think we need
More Damage Under Water.
DR.. Compton predicted the under
water test in three or four weeks
will do more damage.
Humans. had they been aboard
the Prinz Eugen at the time of the
atomic blast, would have been pelted
with small metal balls about The size
of birdshot. Thousands of these
pellets fell into the Eugen's aecks.
Still radioactive, they were Washe I
overheard today with hoses.
Scientists are puzzled about the
source of the pellets. an entirely
new hazard for personnel in atomic
bombs. Some suggested they are
pieces of the bomb itself. but if that
is true it is surprising because it is
believed that all bomb metal vapor-
ized.
The Eugen was nearly two miles
from the bomb blast. 1t was only
slightly damaged.
Russian Scientist Comments.
Among scientists commenting to-
day on Mondays test was Prof
Simyon Alexandrov of the Soviet
Union, who suggested another ex-
pertinent in the air be conducted
before the underwater test is held
The test was conducted brilliantly
and the explosion was obviously
terrific" he said, but the air blast
was rather weak. Observers have
little data upon which to draw
conclusions"
Prof. Alexandrov said engineer.
SHOULD be put to work to get q
higher degree of efficiency from the
bomb
Senators Discuss Damage.
Senator Gordon, Republican, Of
Oregon said he would have a fan
better idea of the test IF only ]
could talk to one of those goats
saw calmly munching hay on the
decks of the bombed ships. I was
impressed that much wood on the
target ships was scarcely charree