Operation Crossroads: Able & Baker Day Tests Part 2 of 2

Operation Crossroads: Able & Baker Day Tests Part 2 of 2 Inspection parties view damage at Bikini Atoll - carrier USS Independence burning; CUs wreckage. Aircraft carrier Saratoga almost undamaged. Battleship Nevada w/ buckled deck & scorched paint. Officials discuss preparations for underwater test BAKER. 11:13:34 Vice-Admiral Blandy arrives on Rongerik to see King Juda, ruler of Bikini - presents King w/ gifts. Navy photographic officer briefs pilots on board carrier Sador. Photographic planes & drones take off from carrier. Drone boats set up in Bikini lagoon. 11:15:02 Firing ship USS Cumberland Sound - Los Alamos Group of Manhattan Engineering District enter timing laboratory where detonator located. INT control room - master transmitter switch thrown. Personnel prepare radio transmitters & other apparatus. Dr Ernest Titterton, assistant to Dr Holloway, at central control panel - throws 30-second switch - counts down final 15 seconds w/ cutaways to observers wearing goggles. 11:17:04 25Jul46 BAKER explosion in lagoon - mushroom cloud w/ descending water spray & fog - aerial views of same directly over blast. Drone seen flying over blast site. Photographic planes land on carrier - cameras removed. Safety patrol arrives after contaminated ships sprayed w/ chemicals - inspection party on board. Destroyer Hughes beached. 11:21:37 Admiral Blandy, General Keppner & Admiral Parsons survey damage. Captured Japanese battleship Nagato seen before it flooded & capsized. Aerials USS Saratoga sinking several hours after blast due to hull damage. VO “...the primary purpose of the Bikini test is to secure precise technical information which will be used to determine necessary changes to the design and construction of all military equipment and especially navy vessels required to maintain your navy...we must defend ourselves against this new & elemental force or be destroyed by it”. Blast shots. Nuclear / Atomic Weapons; Bomb Testing - Pacific; Post-WWII; Science; Research; 1946;