WHY OPERATION CROSSROADS? 



easily separated and cataloged. Years may be required 

 to answer them, but answers must be found. 



Naval architects, for example, were asking: When 

 naval ships are caught by atomic bombs bursting in air 

 what are the ships' "weakest links ?" What parts fail ? 

 Where should added strength be provided? Do we 

 need heavier side plating, or merely stronger joints'? 

 Which stands up best to the terrific stresses imposed 

 by atomic bombs: riveted seams or welded seams? 

 Does the ship's framework stand up? How about the 

 decks, superstructures, and masts ? What happens in- 

 side the ship, as to boilers and turbines? How about 

 radio and radar? Are the guns damaged? Do fuel 

 supplies escape and burst into flame? Is ammunition 

 setoff? 



Important questions were asked about the ship's 

 crew. Ship designers wondered how the crew would 

 make out, whether men working below decks would 

 escape unharmed, whether the blast wave or thermal 

 radiation ("flash") or radioactivity would be most in- 

 jurious. Most of all, they needed to know how to pro- 

 tect the men. Medical men wanted information as to 

 how injuries can be diagnosed fastest and what medical 

 treatments are best. 



Naval tacticians were asking even more basic ques- 

 tions. How far must a ship be from an atomic bomb 

 to survive? To prevent more than one ship in a fleet 

 from being sunk by one bomb, how far apart must the 

 ships be spaced? And if a bomb is about to explode. 



