page_title: Operation Sailor Hat
section_title: Effects
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Sailor Hat / Tests / Effects
caption_attribution_description: English: USS England and USS Atlanta during the second shot Charlie of Operation Sailor Hat.
context_page_description: Operation Sailor Hat was a series of explosives effects tests, conducted by the United States Navy Bureau of Ships under the sponsorship of the Defense Atomic Support Agency. The tests consisted of two underwater explosions at San Clemente Island, California in 1964 and three surface explosions at Kahoʻolawe, Hawaii in 1965. They were non-nuclear tests employing large quantities of conventional explosives to determine the effects of a nuclear weapon blast on naval vessels, and the first major test of this kind since Operation Crossroads in July 1946.
  Each "Sailor Hat" test at Kahoʻolawe consisted of a dome-stacked 500-short-ton charge of TNT high explosive detonated on the shore close to the ships under test. However, since a TNT detonation releases energy more slowly than a nuclear explosion, the blast effect was equivalent to a 1 kiloton of TNT nuclear weapon. The main ship used for testing was the former Cleveland-class light cruiser USS Atlanta.
context_section_description: On USS Atlanta, over 500 high-speed cameras on the ship recorded the effects of the blast. During the tests, the ship was manned by a 169-man navy crew and 60 scientific personnel who remained below deck. In spite of the topside damage, the crew below deck experienced only a shock equivalent to that experienced aboard an Iowa-class battleship firing a nine gun 16-inch salvo. Had there been personnel in the superstructures, they would have been violently thrown about. Topside, the SPS-37 and SPS-10 antennas as well as the URD-4 radio direction finder were torn off by the blast, while other structures were severely deformed. The AN/SPG-51 Tartar guided missile radar was put out of operation for one hour. While the anti-submarine ASROC launcher and Mark 32 torpedo tubes were damaged, the rockets and Mark 44 and Mark 46 torpedoes inside were intact. The Mark 25 torpedo tube was severely damaged, aluminum casting cracked, hold down bolts elongated, the insulating blanket destroyed and the muzzle door sprung, but surprisingly, the tube remained operational. The tripod mast carrying electronics gear was destroyed and fell to the deck. On the blast side, components of the hardened deck house sustained a permanent 2 inch deflection. The entire DLG 16 deck-house between two levels was blown in after welds were ruptured.
  USS England was placed farthest from the blast center and thus experienced the least damage, the most serious of which was only a dent where a boulder had hit the ship. The shock wave reportedly caused the ship to move side to side by as much as 1.2 meter (4 feet).
  On USS Cochrane, power was lost for 5 minutes after the ship was hit by the blast overpressure. She was able to restore power and return to Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for a hull and systems inspection and to assess the effects of the blast. The yard was impressed with how well the blast was resisted. After some minor repairs (Both the 3-Dimensional AN/SPS-39 & 2-Dimensional AN/SPS-40 Air Search Radar Antennas had to be replaced) Cochrane was cleared for her first deployment.
caption: USS England and USS Atlanta during the second shot Charlie of Operation Sailor Hat.
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