TEST A: EXPLOSION IN AIR 



had performed well. The simplest ones operated es- 

 pecially well during the entire performance of the in- 

 visible shock wave. 



Hundreds of gages were recovered within 48 hours. 

 Recovering the gages from the GILLIAM was par- 

 ticularly dramatic. GILLIAM was the ship nearest 

 the Zeropoint; in fact she was the only ship within 

 1000 ft. of the projected Zeropoint. She took a terrific 

 beating, and sank almost immediately. Pressure ex- 

 perts were most anxious to find what the pressure had 

 been at this key location; they wanted to know just 

 what constituted a fatal blow. Divers were put to work 

 quickly. They were briefed carefully as to just what to 

 look for, or rather grope for. They went down, moving 

 about with great difficulty through the almost formless 

 wreckage. Twice they came up to the surface to report 

 failure, and twice they were briefed further and sent 

 down to try again. The third attempt succeeded. They 

 located the gages and brought them to the surface. 

 Beaming scientists carried the gages back to the labora- 

 tory ship KENNETH WHITING, cleansed them, and 

 then strove to interpret their messages. No one had 

 expected the bomb to explode close to GILLIAM; ac- 

 cordingly the gages placed aboard her were not of a 

 type intended for measuring very high pressures. Many 

 of them had gone far offscale. Careful study was 

 needed before the readings could be interpreted re- 

 liably. 



Ill 



