BIKINI AFTERMATH

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 July 1946, Page 7

BIKINI AFTERMATH

SHIPS’ RESISTANCE TO ATOM BOMB toughening necessary BIKINI, July 28. Warships might be powered with atomic energy within five years, and their hulls would be toughened to withstand atom bombs better, said Admiral Edward Cochrane, the Construction Chief of the United States Navy Bureau of Ships. He added, however, that it was improbable that extensive and expensive alterations would be tried until the Bikini results were thoroughly known. He added: “The Saratoga is at present upright on the bottom of the lagoon.' She is sitting on most of the evidence wanted from her. However, I am highly gratified at the resistance that the ships have shown. It is notable that the later ships have resisted the bomb better than the older ones.” Admiral Cochrane said the bomb was exploded at a depth based on the average depth of harbours throughout the world to determine what damage could be expected in most ports. Captain Hogan McKee, of the Bureau of Ships, said: “We have lots of ideas on atom-powered submarines.” . , The Associated Press says: A tour of the lagoon showed continuous dangerous radio activity aboard all but seven of the ships. Streams of water are being played on some of the hot ships, in an' attempt to wash away the radio active particles. But it may be several days before they .can be boarded safely, because the sun baked the particles into the decks and fittings two days before the washings began. Meanwhile, the first close-up photographs of the rising water column show a hole shaped like a-cave in the base of a cliff. It was about the position of the sunken Arkansas, which probably was entirely inside the atomic waterspout.