Continued from page 1 of Joe Jordan's story.
Guess what ? A week later we were told that there would be a beer party on the Beach and anyone wishing to attend would muster on the quarterdeck with dungaree pants and tee shirts being the uniform of the day. We had experienced prior beer parties on Bikini before Test Able and wondered how the Atoll would look after the test so after mustering and passing inspection and the Chief Machinist Warrant Officer asking me the pipe color code for steam, and l knew it at the time, he let me get in the Beach party line. The guys that couldn't answer the questions had to go back and study and if they could answer his next question correctly he would let them take a later boat.
They gave each of us four tickets. Two tickets were for coca cola and two were for beer. l traded my beer tickets for four coke tickets as the beer and cokes were island temperature and the hot sand would burn your feet. Cokes were hard enough to drink let alone hot beer. Well you could either wait your turn playing ball or lay in the hot sand and get sunburned, or you could stay in the hot humid shade and watch them play ball, so Griff and l and many other sailors tried cooling our cokes in the ocean water, which was also hot and after that, since the tide was out several of us walked through the shallow water to an adjacent small lsland and when we started back across the tide had started coming in and we had to wade through hip deep water to get back. This was my birthday, 9 July 1945, and l turned 19 on Bikini Atoll. Still can't figure why the Natives want Bikini back because all we found there was a cemetary on the back side and palm trees and other vegetation and a shack and the Navy had about a ten foot high wooden lifeguard type tower there to mount cameras on and most of the palms were bent over and some broken from the atomic blast and water surge. The bent over palms made it easy to get and eat coconuts but l had caught diarhea, learned my lesson last trip and just tasted the coconut meat this time.
On a later beer party believe it or not the Test Baker Atomic Bomb was about 10 feet from the high water line sitting on an ordinance cart mired up in the sand. Guys were sitting on top of it trying to play cowboy but due to the way it was configured and the beer they would fall off. Was it really "FAT BOY"? Well it was about 3 or 4 feet in diameter shaped like a coned ball at the front and tapering down to about a foot in the back with almost square fins about a foot high and 2 feet long. Also it had flanges bolted on the rounded side about a foot in diameter. and a screwed on plug on the tip of the nose cone. It was about seven or eight feet long.
The next days went by fast working on ships that came alongside and one day Chief Drew got me and another guy and an LCVP boat and took us over to the LSM 60 ( A Landing Ship Material ship) and after introducing us to about 8 or 10 other sailors in dungarees and khaki shorts, he told them we were the working party they had requested and to keep us as long as needed.
The LSM 60 was a very priviledged ship as it had been chosen to lower "Test Baker" Atomic Bomb ninety feet under the water to be detonated. Our job was mainly to keep the ships generator and air compressor fueled, oiled, checked and running and to help them step and fetch it. They had a cook for lunch and a place to sleep but at nite we could catch a boat back to the Cebu and back to the LSM 60 the next morning. At least one man had to stay aboard the LSM each nite with the crew. Me and the other Cebu guy found it much easier to volunteer to stay aboard and eat plentiful meals or cook ham and eggs etc.
Well they cut a hole about nine feet in diameter in the middle of the deck and cut the stiffeners out between the deck and bottom of the ship which was about sixteen inches down and welded a circular steel plate from the deck to the bottom of the ship all the way around the opening to make the rest of the "false bottom" watertight. Then they started the hard job which was to cut the bottom out, As soon as the divers cut the hole through the bottom water spewed up through it and l thought we were going to sink in that radioactive, " decontaminated " water but after it got a few inches deep it leveled off because the circular plate they had welded in preserved the ships buoyancy.
Well after trying several burning procedures to get the bottom of the cutout out, they brought a construction type air compressor to the LSM 60 and somehow used the high volume air to help burn the bottom out and after much sailors language and sweat and tears the bottom fell out and we had a "glass Bottom" LSM 60. Next job was to cover the hole with 2x12 Hatch Cover hardwood boards and install a prefabbed antenna and build an "A Frame" over the hole in the deck and install an air powered winch on the deck and hang a double reeve cable pulley at the top of the A Frame and thread a steel cable from the winch through. It and a double reeve cable pulley with a hook on it at the bottom to hook the Atomic Bomb to.
An LCM brought the atomic bomb out to the LSM 60 and a watertight container and after getting it aboard and over the hole, with the cable hooked up, the scientists came aboard with their instruments and we were put on a boat and sent back to the Cebu.
All radiios and cameras were taken and locked up and all ships in the area were ordered to turn their radios and all other electronic equipment off so that a stray radio signal would not accidentally cause a premature explosion. The next day, 24 July 1946, all ships except target ships got underway and proceeded out to sea. The morning of 25 July at 0835 Test Baker was exploded by radio control from the USS Mt Mckinley AG 7 (Admiral Blandys "Task Force One" Flagship). The Cebu CO announced that we were at a safe distance 21 miles from "Ground Zero". This was deceiving because we were about 500 yards from the Mt Mckinley AG 7 which historically stated was 8 miles from "Ground Zero". From where l stood about twenty foot above sea level on the main deck of the Cebu l could see all of the target ships and Bikini Atoll and the sea behind Bikini plainly, which would indicate that by the rule of thumb, a person can see twenty miles to the horizon at my elevation in clear weather which we had, except a few broken cumulus and nimbus clouds in the sky and right before the detonation a light mist of rain, we were indeed approx eight miles from the target ship USS NEVADA BB 36. The USS LCM 60 with the atomic bomb suspended 90 feet below it in a watertight box was about 200 yards from the Nevada. The SARATOGA and a lot of other target ships had been reconfigured so that about 40 were within a mile of LSM 60.
Of course we were watching through smoked glass which was not needed and we were allowed to take them off after the detonation.
First the water turned a light blue and then a round shaped eerie phosphorescent bulge came up out of the water and a large column of water about one third mile wide came up almost a mile high straight up. Just as if you turned a giant high pressure water hose straight up and the water went up and then mushroomed out and cascaded to the ocean. It appeared that all the water in the lagoon was going up and the Cebu started backing up as we imagined the inrush of water was pulling the ships in towards the target.
The column of water appeared to have a hole in it and holes in the side of it that you could see subdued red flashes on the way up and once in a while it appeared that you could see a large ship go up a quarter of a mile and appear to be falling back down and then dissapear. Then the water column fell rapidly back into the ocean and a giant steam cloud from the boilng water inside the column rose up high into the sky and was carried away by the wind. l don't remember a lot of noise, just a steady roar and a few muffled explosions. Then it started to rain and small pebbles and some grains of sand from the ocean bottom fell on the Cebu and
us. Pop Drew told me that we had better get below deck because some of the ship parts may start raining on us. Well it was over in just a few minutes except that it kept on raining and the Cebu was rocked slightly by a wave surge as the water column returned to the sea.
Cebu got underway at once and arrived at RONGERLAP, Marshall Islands at 1600 and anchored.
We were told that a Leper Colony was on the opposite side of the lsland and not to go over there because if we did there was no treatment for leprosy and we would have to stay at least seven years to see if we had contracted it.
Me and Grif went to one beer party there just to get our feet on dry land and we saw that there was Shore Patrol there to contain the sailors on this side. lt was rumored that at least one sailor had too many beers and sneaked over to the Leper Colony and the SPs caught him coming back and they left the poor stupid guy on the lsland. Well after five days Cebu hoisted anchor and headed back to Bikini and arrived back in our old parking place and Dropped anchor on 30 JULY 1946.
Upon arrival at Bikini we were warned that Baker had contaminated the target ships and Bikini Atoll so much that until the ships were washed down and swabbed they could not be boarded and that they were almost done with that (how about us ?) and that Bikini Atoll needed a good rain to decontaminate it because the ships and Atoll were harmful to human life. (Washdown Sailors are not Human ?)
You are not going to believe this. A Coxwain and a Seaman (Brad and Blank) had buried some beer in the sand on the Bikini Beach that they were supposed to return to Cebu after a beer party before Baker. They were fools enough to sneak onto a LCVP boat and start it up and take off. The OOD heard the unauthorized start up and take off just after Taps and immediately called All Hands to Quarters for Muster. It was discovered that Brad and Blank were missing and assumed they took the boat.
Well every ship in the bay turned their searchlights on and lit the lagoon up like a bright sunny day but to no avail. There was no moving boat in sight. After about an hour of searching, things went back to as was. l can't say normal because nothing happening was normal.
Next morning the LCVP was brought back with an additional boat full of Marines and Brad and Blank and they were turned over to the OOD and placed in the Master at Arms custody and locked up in the Cebu's Brig. On the Cebu since there seemed to always be an ongoing feud between the Firemen "Snipes or Black Gang" and the Seamen "Deck Apes" several Firemen were picked as Brig Guards. Grif was one of them and he said Brad and Blank were bragging on how they had fooled the OOD. Seems that they had took off in the LCVP and before leaving had dropped a line over on the opposite side of the ship from the OOD and circled around slowly and tied up with the line and even heard their name called at muster. Then when the lights on the ships went out they had pushed away from the ship and let the tide carry them out a ways before starting the engine and slowly heading for Bikini to get their beer. When they got to Bikini and started digging up their beer a group of Marines surrounded them and took them to their ship to be interviewed and returned them to Cebu. Brad and Blank were busted to Seaman second class and fined for the boat use and fuel and given time in the brig on bread and water with a full ration every third day and let out of the brig in a PRISONER at Large status and given extra duty and worst of all as l will describe later, restricted to the ship for 20 liberties.
This feud was damn serious at times. A big gunners mate named Mac came back to Cebu from a beer party and had to go to the head. The urinal was a big trough, enameled and about 10 feet long and the Captain of the head had placed a sign over the Urinal, "DONT PUT BUTTS IN THE URINAL."
Unfortunately a Fireman named Butts weighing about 125 pounds was taking a leak. Mac took one look at the sign and one look at Butts name on his shirt and presto, Butts was picked up and body slammed into the urinal. Fortunately for Mac there were no witnesses and Butts was afraid of reprisal if he reported Mac.
So Mac was in the head one morning washing his face with his soap bar and when he looked in the mirror there was blood all over his face and all over his hands. In his soap bar was a there was a piece of broken razor blade imbedded just at the surface.. Was it Butts revenge or had Mac laid his soap down on the piece of blade? Nobody came forward as a witness but Mac never threw him in the urinal again. Just maybe he learned a valuable lesson.
Getting back to the target ship damage during Baker test. There was not one identifiable piece of the LSM 60 ever located. The USS ARKANSAS had been sunk. A Concrete OIL BARGE had sunk. An LST was sunk. Three submerged submarines had sunk. The USS Saratoga was low in the water and after trying to tow it in to shallow water but finding it was too radioactive to risk the sailors lives it was allowed to sink. The USS INDEPENDENCE did not sink and was so contaminated that no effort was made to decontaminate it. Believe it or not there is no way in the world that l will ever forget how the USS INDEPENDENCE looked with its bowed up flight deck after both atomic bombs were exploded near it but it was at Hunters Point CA when we returned from the tests, tied up to the dock.
Well we spent 28 days at Bikini this time with business as usual patching up ships so they could make the voyage back to wherever they were going. We still had our beer parties on Bikini laying in the hot sand and skylarking.
Almost forgot this sea story.. While on Bikini at a beer Party there were a lot of scroungy sailors from the landing ships etc. Some sailors having long hair and beards. Some of them were the ones decontaminating the ships and had little radioactive rocks they had picked up on the target ships and kept for souvenirs, but one bearded guy had a monkey on a leash that was wild acting because of the beer he had given him. We were not too far away and was watching and laughing at the monkey. The guy either passed out or went to sleep and when he did the monkey grabbed the guy by his hair and beard and screwed him in the ear. Then the monkey flopped over and went to sleep. The guy woke up, stuck his finger in his ear and said- "What the hell is this and went back to sleep". That monkey and his master should have been shot.
Well l have one more monkey story. One boatswains Mate had a pet monkey that had been named the "Ships Mascot". This monkey was trained to hate Snipes. Any time an Engineering Dept (Snipe) guy got close to the monkey he would bare his teeth and lunge at him. No matter how many complaints were made to the Exec, we were told that it would be easier to get rid of us than the monkey. However the monkey made one too many enemies, he bit the Pharmacists Mate slightly on the hand. (Never make an enemy of the Corpsman or the Cook, your welfare may be in their hands). Somebody got some cascara sagrada (Laxative) and stole the monkey (had to be a seaman) and fed it to the "Mascot". Someone else unlocked the Execs office door and locked the monkey up in the office. The Exec kept his dress blue uniform with decorations and hat hanging on a coat rack so that when anyone entered his office it would make an impression on them and we would know he was a LT. CMDR.
Needless to say, when the Exec opened his office door the next morning he was met by a screaming monkey that had runny #2 on the walls on the overhead, on the desk, on the uniform and hat which was on the deck now and anywhere else he could do it. The Exec shut his door, ran and got his colt 45 and opened the door and shot the whole clip at the monkey and ain't hit him yet. Its a wonder that the way the bullets ricocheted around from wall to wall that he hadn't shot himself. He sent for the owner and after chloroforming the monkey had him threw over the side.
All of us were marched down the passageway and had to look at the mess the monkey had made but no one knew anything. The monkeys owner and his pals had to clean up and paint the Execs office before he would move back in.
Well so much for "OPERATION CROSSROADS"
Back to the first part of Joe Jordan's story.
--Keith Whittle
March 4, 2001
Operation Crossroads