Operation Hardtack 1
1958
US Atomic Veterans
John Medynski
John Medynski sent email about his duty at Operation Hardtack.
From:jjmski23@earthlink.net
Subject: USS Munsee
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Hi Keith,
I enjoyed the stories in the Hardtack I section.
Here are some details
from aboard the USS Munsee (ATF107)
We were in the test area from April 1, 1958 to August 31,
1958. I vividly remember the brightness of the fireballs.
I did not experience the x-ray effect that some mentioned,
but that was maybe because every time I was able to observe
the shot, I wore dark glasses. What impressed me was the
colors and shapes of the fireballs.
The most impressive shot
was the underwater shot, when the water came back down and
what seemed slowly billowed outward and covered more and
more of the ships as it advanced outward until all the ships
were covered as in a very dense fog.
The other thing I
observed was after some of the shots there seemed to be a
definite line between the shot inner and outer perimeter.
Towards the shot the water was very calm and outward of this
line it appeared to by choppy. It's hard to explain, I was
told that was due to the contamination. This was noted when
a signal was given for the ship to go in to recover some of
the test arrays.
The USS Munsee towed three of the target ships to the U.S.
Two were dropped off at Pear Harbor and one we towed into
San Francisco. When arriving in SanFran after a month they
had us checked with Geiger Counters. What the results were I
don't know but you could hear the increase in the click
frequency as they scanned our shoes. These were the same
shoes we wore during the tests. Navy lockers did not
accommodate too many shoes.
I as a radioman my work was about the same as always. Amount
of messages may have increased just before a big shot. The
BM's and the seamen had it a lot harder, laying anchors,
test array and then recovering them after each shot that our
ship was involved in. The USS Arikara worked along with us
but not necessarily together.
I hope this may interest some one.
Sincerely
John Medynski
April 29, 1999
Email: jjmski23@earthlink.net
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