BOMBS AT BIKINI 



During the first few seconds of the bomb's descent, 

 the bomb's course was almost parallel to that of the 

 plane itself, and its velocity too was essentially the 

 same (roughly 300 miles per hour). The downward 

 velocity of the bomb increased rapidly at this point. 



The target, enjoying its last few seconds of normal 

 existence, was the most gigantic test target ever as- 

 sembled. Enclosing it was the deserted circle of islands 

 and reefs; beached on Bikini were: one LST, two 

 LCI's, four LOT'S, five LCM's, and 6 LCYP's a total 

 of eighteen landing craft. Anchored on the surface of 

 the lagoon were two great PB2Y-5E Coronado sea- 

 planes. 



But the heart of the target area was the great fleet 

 of vessels clustering about the NEVADA.* Nearest 

 the NEVADA were the Japanese battleship NAGATO, 

 the Japanese cruiser SAKAWA, the carrier INDE- 

 PENDENCE, the cruiser PENSACOLA, the sub- 

 marine SKATE, the destroyer HUGHES, the con- 

 crete oil barge YO-160, and the small LCM-1. The full 

 list of target vessels is given in Appendix 9. 



Just outside the Lagoon, 42,000 men lined the rails 

 of their ships and waited. Nearest support ships, ten 



* Ships located very near the huU's-eye, and ships almost di- 

 rectly upwind from the hull's-eye, carried light loads of fuel (10 

 to 33 percent) to avoid fires which might spread and envelop the 

 very closely-spaced ships. The remainder of the ships carried large 

 fuel loads ranging from 50 to 95 percent of capacity. Ammunition 

 loads were arranged in general accord with this same scheme. The 

 loading as well as the spacing was approved hy the Joint Chiefs of 

 Staff. 



106 



