RETURN TO BIKINI ATOLL: Revealing the History of Atomic Testing

摘要

In July 1946, two first-generation atomic bombs rocked the remote North Pacific island of Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Part of Operation Crossroads, a massive-scale endeavor to study the effects of the new atomic weapon on a naval fleet, the two test detonations-an aerial drop from a B-29 and one suspended in the water column-codenamed Able and Baker, targeted an array of more than 90 legacy ships from World War II. In total, 12 of the target ships sank to the lagoon bottom, including the renowned aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. While there was opposition to the tests before they were conducted and the fallout from them afterward would prove substantial, including the cancellation of a third planned test in 1947 after an inability to decontaminate the target ships following the Baker test, from a research perspective the operation led to greater understanding of nuclear power and its effects both at the time and in subsequent follow-on studies. In June 2019, a team of archaeologists from SEARCH Inc. and oceanographers from the University of Delaware made the journey back to Bikini Atoll to revisit the sunken fleet once again. Utilizing new sonar and mapping technologies, they created the first detailed, scientific map of the submerged physical record of Operation Crossroads and its simulated naval atomic battlefield.