BOMBS AT BIKINI 



men began asking: ''What would such a bomb do to 

 a battleship ? Or an entire fleet ? ' ' 



Senator Brien McMahon (D., Conn.), soon to be- 

 come chairman of the Senate's Special Committee on 

 Atomic Energy, was quick to ask that the new bomb 

 be tested against naval vessels. In a speech of August 

 25, 1945, he said, ' ' In order to test the destructive pow- 

 ers of the atomic bomb against naval vessels, I would 

 like to see these Japanese naval ships taken to sea 

 and an atomic bomb dropped on them. The resulting 

 explosion should prove to us just how effective the 

 atomic bomb is when used against the giant naval ships. 

 I can think of no better use for these Jap ships. ' ' 



Lieutenant General B. M. Giles, in Tokyo head- 

 quarters, led off for the Army. On September 14, 

 1945, he proposed that at least two atomic bombs be 

 used in the destruction of the Japanese Fleet. The 

 proposal was radioed that same day by Major General 

 C. E. LeMay to Washington, D. C, w^here it was 

 weighed by Lieutenant General C. A. Spaatz and also 

 by General H. H. Arnold, Commanding General of the 

 Army Air Forces. 



Only four days later. General Arnold put the mat- 

 ter up to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the country's top 

 military group.* He asked that the routine destruction 

 of surviving Japanese vessels — recommended on Aug- 



* The Joint Chiefs of Staff then consisted of: General H. H. 

 Arnold, General G. C. Marshall, Admiral E. J. King, and Admiral 

 W. D. Leahy. 



