Bikini atomic experiments
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The Bikini Atomic Experiments were a series of nuclear and thermonuclear tests conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Bikini Islands. The experiments were part of the United States' research into the full effects of the atomic bomb, including post-detonation radioactive fallout. The first tests were conducted under the name Operation Crossroads.
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[edit] Preparation
During World War II, Bikini Atoll was home to a small Japanese radar installation . In 1945, the last year of fighting, the U.S. landed a small force to secure the site. The battle was brief and had no strategic significance. As the war ended, the United States decided that Bikini Atoll would be suitable for nuclear detonation tests, and shortly before Christmas 1945 it was selected to be the site of the world's fourth and fifth atomic bomb detonations. (Note that the first atomic bomb was detonated at the Trinity Site in New Mexico, and the second and third bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.) But before the bombs could be tested the government first had to find a home for the displaced natives on Bikini. The U.S. government promised the natives that they would have their island back in a couple of months.
To prepare the island and the atoll for testing the United States Naval Construction Battalion (better known as the Seabees) was flown in to help establish a credible base on the island. Several derelict tanks, bulldozers, and other military machinery were placed on the island to test the ability of such vehicles to withstand nuclear attack. The Air Force left 150 airplanes on the island's airstrip for testing purposes as well.
In addition to military equipment, the United States Navy moved 250 naval vessels to the atoll, including the Pennsylvania, New York, Arkansas, Nevada, Saratoga, Independence, Nagato (a Japanese battleship), and the Prinz Eugen (a German cruiser) to test the durability of ships to withstand a nuclear impact. Lab animals were also purchased and placed on several ships, and would later be tested for radiation poisoning.
Back in the United States, the general public grew worried over the planned testing. Some people worried that the bomb's power would be felt all the way back in the United States. Others believed the bomb would create a hole in the earth. To help ease these fears, the Navy created several information packets and began broadcasting over "Radio Bikini" in an effort to calm the public's fears and rally support for the tests.
During the final preparation, the displaced islanders began to protest their move; however, they were unsuccessful in preventing the "shot."
[edit] The Tests
The first atomic bomb to be detonated at Bikini was code-named "Able", a bomb similar in most respects to "Fat Man," which was dropped on Nagasaki. The B-29 designated to drop Able was named "Dave's Dream," and on July 1, 1946, at around 8:45 AM, the first peacetime detonation of a nuclear ordnance occurred. Of the animals left on board the ships at anchor in Bikini Lagoon, approximately 10% died instantly. The Naval vessels managed to withstand the blast for the most part, but many were mortally wounded during Test "Baker" on July 25. In the coming years, some twenty additional bomb tests (including the largest US test Castle Bravo) would be conducted before the United States government officially returned control of the islands over to their natives in 1969. The Castle Bravo test also proved to be a large radiation fallout disaster: ashes from the explosion flew miles into inhabited islands, putting nuclear fallout into the public minds of many.
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[edit] The Aftermath
Shortly after the announcement that the islands were safe, a group of the native people left their makeshift home to return to Bikini. Upon arriving at the island, the natives were all but in tears at the sight that greeted them—rusting equipment, concrete, unused naval machinery, the absence of the palm trees and coral reefs: essentially the island was nothing more than a ghost location. Nonetheless, a few determined men and women set about rebuilding the islands. They successfully cleared away tons of leftover eyesores and began life anew, but were evacuated ten years later after developing radiation poisoning from Caesium-137, (some sources also state Strontium-90), a remnant of the radioactive fallout. To date, the islands are still uninhabitable, and many of the displaced natives now reside in the Carolinas and Marshall Islands in the Western Pacific, in California, and in Nevada. It is unknown at this time when they will be able to return to Bikini.
