BOMBS AT BIKINI 



wardrooms were air conditioned. Air conditioning 

 equipment was installed in certain parts of the PANA- 

 MINT and BLUE RIDCIE also. 



ALBEMARLE and CUMBERLAND SOUND, 

 to be used principally by the Los Alamos group, were 

 converted into great floating laboratories equipped 

 with nearly every kind of machine tool and electrical 

 instrument. Special laboratories were installed in the 

 KENNETH WHITING, WHARTON, HAVEN and 

 AVERY ISLAND. BURLESON, the animal ship, 

 was remodeled into a great dirtless farm, a palatial 

 hotel for animals ; biophysics, radiobiology, pathology, 

 and hematology laboratories were installed also. 

 LSM-60, the central or Zeropoint ship for the sec- 

 ond test, was remodeled to permit lowering the bomb, 

 in its watertight caisson, through a central bottomless 

 well. Special photographic laboratories were built in 

 SAID OR and other ships participating in the enor- 

 mous photographic program. 



These remodelings were completed rapidly. The ma- 

 jority of the work on support ships and target ships 

 was done in the Naval Shipyards at Philadelphia, 

 Bremerton, Mare Island, Hunters Point, Terminal Is- 

 land, and Pearl Harbor. The work was based on de- 

 tailed plans prepared by the Bureau of Ships. 



Many kinds of policy problems had to be solved 

 before the shipyards could begin preparing the target 

 ships — listed in Appendix 9. One fundamental ques- 

 tion was : Should the ships be stripped of all equipment 



50 



