Ralph sent this email contacting us about his duty at Operation Wigwam.
From: "Ralph Guy Castillo" RALPHGUY@email.msn.com
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Operation Wigwam
Date: Sun, 20 Jun 1999
Sir :
I Was Assigned To USS McKean DDR-784 During Operation Wigwam. WeWere The Closest Tincan To " Point Zero ".
I Joined The Navy In 1954 As A Kiddy Cruiser ( Join At 17 Years Old & Get Discharged Before My 21st Birthday). I Was Assigned To A Heavy Cruiser U.S.S. St Paul Waiting For The U.S.S. McKean To Return From Six Months of Overseas Duty. When I Transferred To The McKean And Was Sent To The After Fireroom For My Shipboard Duty Station. My First Sight Was A Fireroom That Had Not Been Cleaned in Some Time. There Was Oil Smeared All Over The Deck & Bulkheads.
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Ralph Castillo
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The Duty Officer Asked For A Volunteer For Three Months of Mess Deck Duty. I Raised My Hand, I Thought That Within Three Months Time I Could Get Re-Assigned To A Cleaner Duty Station.
The Reason I Began My Story Here Is To Explain How I Became Assigned To The 5" Gun-mount During The Operation Wigwam,Yet I Am Rated As A BT-2. I Did Not Get Transferred And Resolved To Change The Appearance of The Fireroom. As A Result When I Was Discharged In 1957 I Had Made BT-2 ( Second Class Boiler Tender ).
My General Quarters Duty Station Was Mount 2 ( The Second 5" Gun Mount From The Ships Bow) This Is Where I Observed Operation Wigwam.
Operation Wigwam Began With A Complete Background Check of Everyone Taking Part in This Operation I Think we Were All Rated " Top Secret". We Were Tnstructed To Protect Ourselves From A Major Blast Shock By Laying Flat on Our Stomach, Interlock Our Fingers Behind Our Heads. We Were Each Given A Radiation Badge To Wear.
The Shipboard Scuttle Butt Was That Our Skipper Had Volunteered us To Be The Closest Ship To Ground ZERO.
May 14, 1955. During The Day Prior To The Blast Started At Our General Quarters Stations, Lunch Consisted of Sandwiches Served In The Gun-mount. When The Countdown Got Close To ZERO we Were Instructed To Close All Mount Hatches in Preparation For This Underwater Atom Bomb Blast. I Was 18 Years Old And I Wanted To See What we Were Doing Out There So I And Two Other Sailers Took Turns Squeezing Our Heads Into The Mount Captains Hatch Opening. The Mount Captains Hatch Has A Shield Over It so No-One on The Bridge Could See us.
About 1 PM. When They Counted Down To ZERO The Whole Ocean Began To Lift up In Front of us. We Slammed The Hatch Closed, Hit The Deck And Assumed The Shock Position. When The Blast Shock Wave Hit us It Was Like Riding A Roller Coaster That Didn't Have Rails Attached To Anything. The Sailors Call Destroyers " TIN-CANS " That Was The Day 1 Found Out Why, we Bounced Around Like A Tin-can Shooting The Rapids. I Didn't See Any Ships in Front of us so I Have To Believe we Lead The Pack. I Have Recently Read That All Ships Were 5 To 6 Miles From Ground Zero.
My Eyesight Was Pretty Good In Those Days And What I Saw Was A Lot Closer Than 5 or 6 Miles. When The Ocean Began To Rise up The Only Thing I Was Really Thinking About Was "Lord Are we Going To Survive This ". When we Finally Settled Down And Inventoried The Blast Shock Damages, Several 4" Firewater Headers Had Snapped As If They Were Twigs. These Were Firewater Spray Header To Protect us From Any Radiation Contamination of The Atom Bomb Blast.
They Would Spray A Fog of Seawater To Keep Our Ship From Becoming Contaminated From The Bomb Spray, However The Blast Had Already Contaminated The Ocean Water Being Sprayed Over Our Ship.
We Chris-Crossed For Several Days Looking For A Lost Buoy That Had Lost It's Homing Device Signal. When it Was Found, we Went Directly Into The San Francisco Shipyard Dry Docks For Repairs. Come To Find Out we Had Several Cracked OuterSeams That Needed Repairing.
When we Returned To Our Home Port Long Beach Calif. Everyone There Knew What we Had Been Doing, I Heard That The Newspaper Ran A Front Page Article, Even Before we Fired off The Bomb With A Map Location of Ground ZERO. I Was Told That If I Said Anything About OPERATION WIGWAM I Would Be Sent To The Brig and Face Discharge. It Was Years Before I Felt Comfortable Even Saying " Operation Wigwam " In Public.
In Searching The Web Sites For Operation Wigwam I Have Found A Book Full of Information That Until Recently I Was Ignorant To. I Have Ordered Several Videos About Operation Wigwam And After Years of Questioning Why & What Took Place In 1955 I Feel That My Questions Are Being Answered.
Email: RALPHGUY@email.msn.com
Keith Whittle
June 26, 1999
[ Operation Wigwam ]