The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-07-09
Nie1Ds Wreckage
Nevs Wreckage Respect for A-bomb GrolUs ir, Reporter; Flash Sears Decks

Editors Note: Frank H. Bar
 tholomew, United Press vice.
 president of the Pacific division,
 represented the combined press
 in the observer plane that cov-
 cred the dropping of the atomic
 bomb at Bikini. Subsequently,
 he made two closeup examin-
 ations of the damaged ships.
 Following is the second of two
 dispatches in which Bartholo-
 new expresses the opinion the
 test was success.
 By FRANK H. BARTHOLOMEW
 Bikini Atoll, July 9- (UP)-Long fingers of fire reached out from the center of the atomic bomb explo- sion to scar individual target ships sitting in Pikini lagoon.
 Damage to naval vessels appear ed to come primarily from this flash wave" and subsequent in- spection of top-secret Army Air Forces photographs virtually con- firmed that impression.
 Color pictures showed forked lightning reaching for each ship.
 Incineration General
 Another photo showed a shock wave from the central explosion clearly outlined in a perfect circle, { more than a mile in diameter, upon the surface of the lagoon and ap- parently spreading rapidly.
 My respect for the bomb con- tinued to grow when I was permit ted to board the heavy cruiser Pen sacola. There I found a general in- cineration of everything burnable above decks, plus wreckage caused by blast pressue.
 I also boarded the Prinz Eugen and the Nevada. Only minor dam age was discernable on the Prinz while the Nevada was badly hurt.
 Conclusion Drawn
 In conclusion, would sum up the test this way:
 Negative side: This was a lazy bomb, like a slow motion picture, lacking in advertised awesome Sav- agery. It was not as strong as its predecessors, If comparatively small flash and quick, dissipating cloud were fair units of measure ment. I doubt it's power equalled 10000 tons of TINT, If that means the approximate equivalent of g. 900 ordinary high explosive bombs. I saw what high explosives and in- cendiaries did to Japan and 1 be- lieve the statistics released so far tend to oyerrate the atomic bomb, comparatively. Also, unscientif1c- ally refuse to believe the surviving sheep and goats aboard the battle ship Nevada actually were exposed to a temperature of 100 100000 de- grees farenheit at the center of the bomb blast 1000 feet away.
 Positive side: No single bomb in history ever sank five ships nor dealt out such soaring damage to so many others. The next test of bomb detonated below the waters surface can be fairly depended up on to deal far greater lethal dam age to the watertight integrity of the target vessels. The fact that mice flown through the atomic cloud aboard drones and goats aboard drones and goats aboard target vessels are still living should not be taken to mean the bomb failed as an anti-personnel weapon since scientists generally agree those animals will all die subse- quently of radiation burns. Final ly, 1t might be remembered that against such an enemy fleet as imagination might cause this tar get to represent, it is hardly likely an aggressor would drop a single atomic bomb, in view of the 800- plane raid technique evolved against Japan before Hiroshima. It seems fair bet that three atom bombs properly aimed, would rem der every ship here in sinking