George Sheasby sent this email regarding his duty during Operation Dominic.
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998
From: sheasbyg@roses.bna.boeing.com (George Sheasby)
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: Operation Dominic
Spring and Summer of 1962. I joined the active duty Navy on my 18th birthday. After a week at Long Beach I was assigned to the USS Princeton LPH5. It was an aircraft carrier that had been built back in 1945. We set sail for Operation Dominic, I think in April.
I was one of the youngest sailors on the Princeton at the time. I was a radioman. My actual duty was as a telegrapher. We spent a couple of weeks getting to Honolulu and then set off for Johnston Island. Secrets are never kept very well. At mess one evening I overheard a conversation about nuclear weapons being aboard the ship. They were to be detonated at Johnston Island.
Sure enough each night like clockwork the PA system would start a canned message explaining the procedure for properly viewing a nuclear explosion. Protective goggles were to be worn. Eyes were to be cradled in your arm until the brilliant flash has ended. The next day all cameras were confiscated, tagged and locked up.The day after that we were issued dosimeters to wear around our neck and a film badge.The dosimeter was to be worn 24 hours a day.
Later that week we arrived at Johnston Island. A very unremarkable little bit of ground barely sitting above the ocean. The heat and humidity were intolerable. T shirts became the uniform of the day. Once there, we lay dead in the water (no engine, no anchor, just floating) for what seemed like an eternity. The boredom was almost unbearable. Highlight of the day was mail call where perhaps a letter from my girlfriend would make the day for me.
Once testing got underway we went to port and starboard watches. That is 12 hours on duty and 12 hours off. The whole ships company in two groups. Almost all tests were done at night so unless you were up at night standing your watch you almost never would stay up to watch a test. So my view of the tests would be different from one of my shipmates simply because we stood different watches.
The first atomic explosion I saw was a dud. A bottle rocket would have been better. One night sitting on the flight deck waiting for the launch of a rocket from Johnston Island. We could see the missile launch and were able to follow its path up into the sky. Then the PA system blurted out CLEAR THE FLIGHT DECK!, CLEAR THE FLIGHT DECK!. The rocket had veered off and had to be destroyed. Shreads of rocket and warhead rained down, some of it striking the flight deck as we ran for cover.
As the weeks wore on I watched a series of smaller nuclear explosions. They were impressive. Then they dropped Bighorn (almost 8 megatons). The night lit up. As I opened my eyes with my arm hard pressed over my eyes I could see the bones in my arm. Then a fire ball started growing . It seemed to consume the entire sky. The light started to dim and you could see the giant mushroom cloud growing to 15 miles high. I stood in utter fear. Then the shock wave blew over us. I didn't watch anymore tests after that. I stayed below decks.
Beer Run. After being given a short lesson on entering and exiting a helicopter (basically
bend down real far). We fly over to Johnston Island. Unload cases of beer and head for the rest
area. Someone brought snorkel gear. Two of us snorkeled around Johnston Island (what in the
hell was I thinking). Little by little Johnston Island and the ocean surrounding it was getting dirtier and dirtier. Someone catches a 200 pound tuna off the fantail. We go back to take a look at it. I don't know who ate it. Maybe they served it to the crew for dinner.
On any day before a nuclear missile test we would fly all of the engineers and technicians off of Johnston Island. They spent the night on the ship. These guys were loaded with money and nowhere to spend it. Some very heavy duty poker games ensued. Late summer a missile launch blows up on Johnston Island (that was the reason for taking all of the technicians off of the island) blowing the hell out of the launch pad and spewing plutonium all over the island.
We head home for Long Beach after that.
We turn in our dosimeters and film badges and the guy throws them in a box. Do I think anybody ever read my dosimeter ? On the Princeton alone there were 3 maybe 4 thousand. We left Johnston Island, the Pacific Ocean and the world a little dirtier then when we first came. Cameras are given back. They give us a certificate with a mushroom cloud in the background. Everyone gets a few days off when we reach Long Beach.
I have a ships roster for the USS Princeton LPH5 for the year 1963. Although there were some changes in personnel, I believe this roster reflects the crew that were involved in Operation Dominic fairly accurately. The roster reflects their name and home town and state. All fifty states plus Canada, the Philippines and Guam were represented on the ship. If anybody is interested they can contact me. I also have two certificates that were handed out after the testing. One has a mushroom cloud sketched in the background. The other is in color and has a drawing of King Neptune on it. Both are Joint Task Force 8.
George Sheasby
Email: sheasbyg@roses.bna.boeing.com
Keith Whittle
October 1, 1998
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