Foreword 



Operation Crossroads was directed by the United 

 States for purposes of national defense ; but its lesson 

 has world-wide significance. The atomic bomb is defi- 

 nitely not ^'just another weapon"; its destructive 

 power dwarfs all previous weapons. Observers at 

 Bikini saw the bomb sink great steel warships and, 

 with its penetrating nuclear radiations, reach into 

 ships' interiors to kill test animals. The explosions in 

 air and underwater were very different spectacles, but 

 their end results mean the same : death and destruction 

 on an enormous scale. 



Only after the military implications of atomic en- 

 ergy have been grasped by the people of the world will 

 the way be clear for working out effective international 

 control. Throughout its ten-month tenure. Joint Task 

 Force One attempted to give the world an intimate 

 knowledge of the purposes, execution, and consequences 

 of the Tests. The present volume not only summarizes 

 much of the information already given out, but pre- 

 sents much material not previously disclosed. This 

 volume, together with the recently published Pictorial 

 Record, forms the final, and perhaps the most informa- 

 tive release on the Operation. 



Vice Admiral W. H. P. Blandy, U.S.N. , 

 Commander, Joint Task Force Ofie 



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