U.S. HYDROGEN BOMB

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26886, 12 November 1952, Page 9

U.S. HYDROGEN BOMB

Second Report Of Test

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) NEW YORK, Nov. 10. An island a mile wide disappeared m the recent atomic or hydrogen bomb explosion at Liwetok, in the Pacific, according to a report published in the Lima (Ohio) “News” today.

. The newspaper said that an unidentified witness who saw the explosion from a ship did not say he watched the first explosion of a hvdrogen bomb, but it added: “It is apparent that the explosion he felt and saw was America’s first experiment with a hydrogen bomb.”

The account published in Lima gave similar details to the purported eyewitness account published by the “Los Angeles Examiner” last Saturday. The letter to Lima began: “Well, ‘Doomday’ is all over, and believe me I wouldn’t have missed it for a million dollars. It was really a very wonderful thing and I will try to put it in words.”

The writer then told how on October 1 all the men of the ship were mustered on deck and told to turn away from the point of the explosion and cover their eyes with their arms until 10 seconds after the explosion when they would be able to look without damage to their eyes. The explosion was timed for 7.15 a.m.

“We didn’t know the explosion had taken place,” the writer said. “But within five seconds we felt heat waves on our back. It was hot, about 180 degrees, when it hit us and we were 30 miles away from the dead centre. Thirteen seconds after shot time, I looked up. I could hardly believe my eyes. A flame about two miles wide was shooting five miles into the air. 4 Fifteen Miles Up This lasted for about seven to 10 seconds. Then we saw thousands •of tons of earth being drawn straight into the sky. Then a cloud began to form about 20 seconds after the shot. Then we heard the sound of the explosion and even at 30 miles it made my ears ring. . “ B y now the mushroom cloud had taken shape. It was about a mile wide at the bottom and at least 20 miles wide at the top. The captain told us it was at least 15 miles straight up into the sky. “Tlie actual shape of it Was like a mushroom or funnel, or even better It looked like the head of a cauliflower —lots of white smoke with three rings of smoke. Each ring was bigger It was even close to being beautiful.' About 15 minutes after shot time, the island on which the bomb had been set off started to burn and it h“™ ed tK a t >r 1 1111 5 nt reti - Within six hours the island that once had palm trees and coconuts was nothing. The mile-wide island had actually disappeared.”