WHY OPERATION CROSSROADS? 



many square miles in extent. In any smaller theatre, 

 the atom's power cannot be displayed. 



But this can be said : Once the full scale tests have 

 been held, then the model makers and model testers 

 come into their own; only then can they prove which 

 types of models correspond to the real thing and which 

 do not; they can tell with assurance how their model 

 water waves are to be corrected to represent waves pro- 

 duced by the atomic bomb. 



Am^one could have thought up the idea of testing 

 the atomic bomb against naval vessels. It is indeed 

 routine to test each new weapon in all major applica- 

 tions. The novelty of the proposed test of the atomic 

 bomb against naval vessels would lie in the unprece- 

 dented scale and world-wide importance of the tests. 

 These were the unique elements which challenged the 

 imagination of scientist, officer, and layman alike. 



The Los Alamos Laboratory, the group which has 

 made all our atomic bombs, was probably the first 

 to give serious consideration to "testing" the bomb 

 against naval vessels. Even in 1944 Los Alamos scien- 

 tists were looking into the possibilities of eventually 

 atomic-bombing Japanese fleet concentrations. But 

 Japan's navy was already doomed, and her ships were 

 destined to avoid atomic destruction until July 1, 1946, 

 at Bikini. 



Immediately following President Truman's epoch- 

 introducing statement of August 6, 1945, announcing 

 the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, naval men and lay- 



