1946 Nuclear Bomb Testing at Bikini Atoll Document Archive (Map, Photos, Newspapers)

This is a 1946 document archive relating to Operation Crossroads, the first post-war nuclear test conducted by the United States. Compiled by W. Ward Fowler (one of the scientists who participated in the tests), these documents provide insight into a critical moment in the immediate aftermath of World War II (1939 - 1945) that helped usher in the Cold War.

The Archive

W. Ward Fowler, one of approximately 42,000 who participated in Operation Crossroads, complied with this archive. The archive, ordered in a loose chronology, contains:

1. U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office map of Bikini Atoll provides the geographic context. Depth soundings fill the map with green overprinting highlights where the atoll had been swept for mines.
2. Orders from Air Transport Squadron Twelve dated June 21, 1946.
3. An undated newspaper clipping contains a photo of Fowler and a group of scientists about to board a Pacific Airlines plane.
4. Radiological Safety Section Briefing Sheets for the Radiological Safety Section (to Fowler was likely assigned) date from June 26, 27, 28, and 29, 1946, and illuminate the day-to-day activities undertaken by this little-studied group. Each briefing sheet includes the Section's schedule, security information, and those scheduled for blood tests.
5. Ship Published Newspapers for the U.S.S. Haven, covering June 26, 27, and 29. The scarce ship-published papers provide historical context on the public perception of Operation Crossroads.
6. The archive is silent regarding the July 1 denotation of the plutonium bomb Able, generally considered a bungled test. The narrrative picks up on July 3 with a handwritten letter from Fowler to his wife in which he describes how the hooking of a 10-foot shark caused more of a commotion than the nuclear tests. The letter is written on U.S.S. Laffey stationary.
7. A ship published newspaper form the U.S.S. Laffey.
8. July 5, 1946. Radiological Safety Section memorandum with information on transportation back to the U.S.

Other Documents

Several more dated and undated documents are included, including an order allowing Fowler to purchase clothing from the Army or Navy, a briefing entitled 'Geiger Counters, Construction Features and Functioning,' ditching instructions for passengers in an airplane, a Pacific Airlines luggage tag, and blank Operation Crossroads stationery.

Photographs

27 5x7 photographs likely taken by Fower on Kwajalein after the July 1 Able Test. The presence of the newspaper from Kwajalein led us to this conclusion, along with the presence of Naval Transport aircraft and local children, none of whom would have been on Bikini Atol. Three of the photographs are of famed Naval artist Arthur Edwaine Beaumont (1890 - 1978). Two others likely depict Fowler himself.

Operation Crossroads

Operation Crossroads was two United States nuclear weapons tests conducted at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. These tests were the first tests since the Trinity test in New Mexico. The detonations took place on July 1, 1946 (Able) and July 25, 1946 (Baker). Able was an aerial detonation of a nuclear bomb dropped by a U.S. Army Air Force B-29. Baker was an underwater test that caused extensive radioactive sea spray contamination. Many have called the Baker test the world's first nuclear disaster. The Baker test was also the world's first case of immediate atomic fallout.

The U.S.S. Haven

The U.S.S. Haven (AH-12) was a U.S. Navy hospital ship launched on June 24, 1944, and decommissioned on June 30, 1957. A converted merchant ship, she was commissioned on May 5, 1945, and immediately left for the Pacific. She arrived in Hawaii in July and immediately loaded patients bound for San Francisco. After returning to Hawaii just before the Japanese surrender, the Haven left for Okinawa and Nagasaki. She arrived off Nagasaki on September 11, 1945, and took charge of a group of Allied ex-POWs, some of whom were suffering from the effects of the atomic blast. She spent the remainder of 1945 transporting patients from Saipan, Guam, and Pearl Harbor to San Francisco. After arriving in San Francisco in January 1946 (after two long Pacific voyages), the Haven welcomed aboard researchers and radiological equipment meant for Operation Crossroads. Haven reached at Bikini Atoll on June 12, 1946 and was in the Marshall Islands until October 10, assisting with aspects of Crossroads. Haven was relegated to the reserve fleet in 1947 and was recommissioned in September 1950 to participate in the Korean War. After being decommissioned in 1957, she was moored at Long Beach and acted as a floating hospital. She was sold by the Maritime Administration to Union Carbide in 1968, converted into a chemical carrier, and christened Alaskan. In 1987, she was scrapped.

Publication History and Census

The U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office map of Bikini Atoll was first published in 1944 and bears a stamp stating that it has been updated to February 9, 1946. We have been unable to locate any other examples of the briefings created for the Radiological Safety Section, or examples of the Haven's Raven.