The Paul McIlvaine Collection - Non-Currency Short Snorters |
OPERATION CROSSROADS ATOMIC SHORT SNORTER |
Operation Crossroads conducted the world’s fourth and fifth nuclear detonations in the summer of 1946. The series consisted of two 23 kiloton detonations: ABLE was an atmospheric detonation on 1 July 1946 BAKER was an underwater detonation 25 July 1946 |
ABLE operations resulted in the sinking of five ships with transient radioactivity. |
BAKER, the second and final shot of Operation Crossroads, sank eight ships. The detonation caused most of the surviving target fleet to be bathed in radioactive water spray and debris from the lagoon bottom. Many vessels remained too radiologically contaminated for several weeks for more than brief on-board activities. Support ships (more than 150) were decontaminated as necessary and received a radiological clearance before returning to the fleet. Vessel decontamination and clearance was a learning process for US shipyards and required much experimentation. A formal resurvey of Bikini Atoll was conducted in the summer of 1947. It studied the long-term effects of the OPERATION CROSSROADS tests. |