Operation Ivy
US Atomic Veterans
Donald Stout
Donald Stout sent email about his duty at Operation Ivy.
From: Lovebug3231@aol.com
Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2001
Subject: Re: Keith ...Operation Ivy
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
Keith,
I went aboard U.S.S. Estes AGC12 in July 1952. We left the states after Labor
Day and headed for Hawaii. What a mess. We stayed for two or three days, and I
went a shore for few hours and took in the sights.
We then headed west to the Marshall Islands. I recall that Eniwetok was a
small Island with an N.C.O. bar and an officers bar and not much else. We
went back to the test island a few days after the test and the island was no more.
The morning of the test I was topside on main deck on the starboard side
about midship. We wore no protection but was told to turn our backs and
cover our eyes. Before we heard the noise, I could feel the heat on my back
and I said to myself "how much hotter is this going to get"???. They
announced we could turn around and watch the mushroom make its way in the
sky, "what a sight".
The next morning at quarters they announced that if anyone had written home
and mentioned anything about what they witnessed, go to the ship post office and
get your letters back. You should have seen the long lines... However the
word did get back as the San Francisco paper had a big headline about it.
Their were quite a few court martials held out there because of the
information that leaked out. Gossup was that some Captain was court martialed
because they proved some information left his ship..
Several weeks later they dropped the biggest "A" bomb at the time and I had
duty during this test. I wanted to hear the explosion when it went off, so I
put my ear close to the bulkhead and that was a big mistake. The concussion
knocked me several feet away and knocked the coffee pot off the burner.
For recreation we went to a small island called Japtan where we went swimming
and played around. On the back side of the island their was an old merchant
ship named "the Nickajack Trail". It had a big hole in the bow, probably
from a jap torpedo.
When we returned to the states, we went to Mare Island ship yard. We were in
drydock for several months (scrapping of the contamination).
During July and August of 1953, the only two months of the year you can take
a ship to Point Barrow, Alaska, we took supplies. However the iceburgs we
passed going north and the wind shifted during the night, causeed the iceburgs
to block us in the harbor. Our Ice breaker "The Northwind" manged to fly a
line to us and pulled us out of the harbor. In doing so the screw got bent
and we sailed back at only 8 knots per hour. It was a very long trip back. On
the way back we received word the "Korean War" was over.
I was discharged September 23, 1953. I stayed in the reserves for several
years.
Donald Frank Stout
RM3 U.S.S. Estes AGC12
Operation IVY
Email: Lovebug3231@aol.com
Keith Whittle
November 1, 2001
[ Operation Ivy ]