Unattentuated by air, the shock was "transmitted directly to underwater hulls", and Arkansas, only 250 yards from the epicenter, appeared to have been "crushed as if by a tremendous hammer blow from below". On 25 July 1946, the battleship was sunk by the underwater nuclear Test Baker at Bikini Atoll. USS Arkansas (BB-33) Wyoming-class dreadnought battleship - On 1 July 1946, the Arkansas was exposed to an air burst in the Test Able atomic test, but survived with extensive shock damage to her upperworks, while her hull and armored turrets were little damaged.Controversy has subsequently arisen about the sinking of the Independence, as it is claimed she was loaded with barrels of radioactive waste at the time of her sinking, and that the waste has subsequently contaminated the wildlife refuge and commercial fisheries associated with the Farallon Islands. The highly radioactive hulk was later taken to Pearl Harbor and San Francisco for further tests and was finally scuttled off the coast of San Francisco, California, on 29 January 1951. The veteran ship did not sink, however (though her funnels and island were crumpled by the blast), and after taking part in another explosion 25 July 1946 was taken to Kwajalein Atoll and decommissioned 28 August 1946. USS Independence (CVL-22) light aircraft carrier - Assigned as a target vessel for the Bikini atomic bomb tests, she was placed within one-half-mile of ground zero for the 1 July 1946 explosion.Salvage efforts were prevented by radioactivity, and seven-and-one-half hours after the blast, with her funnel collapsed across her deck, Saratoga slipped, stern first, beneath the surface of Bikini Lagoon. USS Saratoga (CV-32) Lexington-class aircraft carrier - She survived the Test Able blast, an air burst on 1 July 1946 at Bikini Atoll, with only minor damage, but was damaged beyond repair by the Test Baker blast on 25 July 1946, an underwater atom bomb blast which was detonated under LSM-60 500 metres (500 yards) from the carrier.
The vessels marked in bold are those known or believed to be underwater in Bikini Lagoon.
BIKINI ATOLL MAP PLUS
The follow listings provide details of most of the naval vessels in the Operation Crossroads nuclear test target arrays, plus what happened to them:
BIKINI ATOLL MAP SERIES
The final resting places of the vessels used as targets in Operation Crossroadsīy Peter Fear, The Scuba Doctor - November 2012Ī series of two atom bomb weapon tests were conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946.
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