Ron Kirkpatrick sent this email regarding his duty during Operation Dominic.
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998
From: Ron Kirkpatrick ron@cherryfarm.com
To: Web Editor pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Re: Atomic Veteran (Operation Dominic)
ETN2 USS Reclaimer ARS42
Operation Dominic was a series of 36 atmospheric nuclear tests
held in the Central Pacific Islands of Christmas Island and Johnston Island in 1962.
To me, it
was just another operation to test the U.S.S. Reclaimers aging electronic Navigation and
Communication equipment. As the only Electronics Technician on board, it had been a constant struggle to keep the Loran calibrated and radio transmitters working.
The cruise from Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii to Christmas Island had taken just a few days and hadn’t been particularly
eventful. The harbor, which would become very familiar in the next few weeks, was a beautiful
blue and so clear you could see the bottom 30 feet down. Fish were clearly visible. The native
Hawaii crew we had on board had already started throwing fishing lines over the fantail in an
attempt to land their afternoon snack. To the disgust of the Holly crew on board, the fish were
landed, filleted and eaten right there. It would be much later in life that this treat would become
a very trendy taste treat called Sushi.
The U.S.S. Reclaimer (ARS-42) was a rescue and
salvage ship. During war time it was kept busy rescuing disabled or sunken Navy vessels.
During peace, it had a little less glamorous job of checking navigation buoys, towing targets for destroyers and cruisers and recovering targets from the Cold War nuclear tests of the sixties and
seventies.
Most of the 90 or so crew members of the Reclaimer were looking forward to this
cruise. For most of us, it would be the first time we had actually witnessed a Nuclear blast.
Many of the younger crew, like myself, had grown up with black and white images of the Trinity
Atomic tests and had that gray image of an atomic blast entrenched in our minds. A crew of
scientists would soon board the Reclaimer. I learned later, the scientists would prepare the
instruments to be placed on the target barge and be with us when we recovered the barge after
the test(s).
The tests were conducted in the early morning hours, before sunrise. In the tropics, the
temperatures in the morning aren’t that much different that mid-afternoon, but for some reason
the absence of the sun bearing down make it seem more bearable. I was fortunate, that my job
aboard ship required that I be on the bridge during the test, in case there were communication
problems. This put me right in the middle of the action with communications between the
Reclaimer and the aircraft which would drop the nuclear device. I was looking forward to
witnessing the tests and had complete confidence the Navy would never put us in jeopardy by
allowing us to be 12 miles from ground zero. After all, we had all been issued x-ray film badges, just in case we were exposed to radiation.
The crew which would be viewing the detonation hadbeen issued High Density welding Goggles to protect our eyes from the blinding flash of the
device. The goggles were so dark, you couldn’t see normal lights, and viewing the sun was
safe. We had been given instructions on using the goggles and in addition to the goggles, we
had been ordered to have our backs to the blast, until it was announced we could turn around
and view the results of the test.
Countdown started at 0500, 1 hour before scheduled detonation of 0600 (D minus 60). During the hour the scientists on the ship and the pilot(s) were in constant contact, discussing prevailing winds, temperatures, etc. About 5 minutes before detonation, the high density goggles are put in place. D minus 15 seconds, turn back towards blast. D minus 10 seconds, the only noise being made is by the crackling of the radio counting down towards zero. One of my memories of this 10 seconds is how quiet the birds got. What had been a continuous symphony of tropical bird songs, was now absolutely quiet. D minus 5, D minus 4, 3, 2, 1, D minus zero. The count down continues in a positive direction D plus one, two..
The first sensation is the heat. It seemed almost unbearable as it continuously
increased. It felt like opening a hot oven on your back. Just when you thought something has
gone wrong, and the heat was not going to stop, it started subsiding, along with the shock wave from the blast. It was then we were allowed to turn around and view the blast.
The only way
can describe it is to compare it with pictures you have seen of molten steel out of the ovens or
molten lava from a volcano, suspended in air, churning and boiling in the air. This is truly the
most spectacular (in terms of power) thing I have ever seen. It subsided quickly and it was all
over.
When daylight broke, we weighed anchor and headed for the target barge we had so
carefully towed into place the day before. The scientists were on the fantail anxiously awaiting
recovery of their test instruments. Since we were only 12 miles away, it only took about an hour to get to the target location.When we arrived on site, there were hundreds of dead fish and birds, but no barge. After several hours of searching, we finally went back to port. The barge must have sunk with all the data on it. Out of the several test I observed and we attempted recovery of the target, we only found it once. Even then, the instruments had been destroyed and no scientific data was available. At the time, I thought that all this money had been spent and nothing had been gained. I know now, though that the main point of the tests was the show of power. I’m sure all the data the government needed, had been gathered years before the Dominic tests.
Ron Kirkpatrick
Email: ron@cherryfarm.com
Keith Whittle
September 28, 1998
[ Operation Dominic 1 ]