Bomb Claims Ten Vessels

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26215, 27 July 1946, Page 7

Bomb Claims Ten Vessels

LESSON FOR THE! TECHNICIANS

Possible Effect on Ship Design

(Rec. 11 p.m.) BIKINI, July 26. The Associated Press correspondent who witnessed the bomb from a superfortress said that those who watched the explosion from close range were tremendously impressed by its power.

! A high-ranking ntfval officer said: “If there had been men on the ships when tons of water hurled from the lagoon poured down and the mist stream rushed towards them I do not believe they wguld have been fit for further battle.” For about 30 minutes the lagoon waters seethed and boiled and deadly vapours and steam curled around the ships, hiding them from view as though to claim them as victims. Before the blast the lagoon was placid and deserted except for the ghost fleet. " ,

The Associated Press correspondent on board the Appalachian says extent of the atomic bomb’s effect on the 75 target ships has still not been determined but it is known that 10 ships were sunk and six others damaged. A preliminary inspection showed that the ships sunk or damaged were all close to the detonation centre.

Drone planes were guided by radio into the miasmic atomic mist to photograph and otherwise record the atomic cloud. All returned to their bases.

Scientists and technicians now have sufficient information to keep them busy for months plotting the atomic future. This much is certain—those who studied the results may have lost some of their fear of atomic power but they have not lost their respect for this cosmic weapon.

A Washington message states that Admiral Nimitz, expressing pleasure that the atomic tests were carried out exactly as planned, said it was not a contest between bombs and ships but an earnest effort to discover what alteration on ship design was required to withstand an atomic attack. Undoubtedly the test just completed would reveal what improvements were necessary.