Reef/Cave video- Bikini Atoll

[B]

Originally Posted by Loneshark

Only that I now glow in the dark!

Yes they did tests there from 1946 to 1954. The wrecks are from Operation Crossroads in 1946, the 4th and 5th atomic explosions. Other than lots of small assualt craft, 8 ships and 2 subs still remain on the sea bed. Several others were salvaged and taken away for testing, before being sunk by gunfire in deep water off California, due to the USN being unable to decontaminate them, as they had hoped.
Radiation has diminished on the island, in that it is safe to walk on it, but not drink the ground water, or eat the cocnuts, of which there are many.
Most of the radioactivity was actually deposited as fall out from the Bravo bomb of 1954.

I was there for a season as dive guide and videographer. There isn't a lot to do when your not diving....!

so whats the life really like there compared to else where, and the coral, obviously with the atomic bombs etc, just wondered...

B

[Loneshark]

Originally Posted by Diving Dude

In your vids, where are the planes with the bomb doors open and the bombs still in there racks?

Hi,
The planes are all from the flight deck of the Saratoga (at Bikini Atoll). They were blown off during the tets, and are scattered about the ship. There are 2 upside down, one the right way up and around 3 which are just a pile of metal.
The planes are loaded with 500lb bombs or torpedoes.
The wrecks all have live ordnance on them, including racks of torpedoes in the gallery of the Saratoga's flight deck.

[Loneshark]

Originally Posted by EdHornby

there's talk of a gang of our lot going to bikini and Truk in 2008, your clips really aren't helping..!!!

bugger I really want to go but it's gonna hurt my bank balance...

Having done both, I would have to say that Truk offers a far cheaper and better £/wreck than Bikini. Ofcourse Bikini is fantastic, but I think it is very hard to justify spending that amount of money unless you are loaded.

That is only my opinion, based on 10 months in Bikini and 10 days at Truk....

[paramedic paul]

Some atmospheric stuff there, i particularly liked the distance shots of divers ascending the shot with their exhaust gasses catching the surface light.

Thanks for sharing

[G man]

Awsome vids, thats lots of effort with the sound tracks and I really like the shots of the ships interlaced before they were sunk.

Have some green!

[Diving Dude]

Originally Posted by Loneshark

The planes are all from the flight deck of the Saratoga

l thought they must be, but l was suprised that they carried bombs.

[Loneshark]

Originally Posted by B

so whats the life really like there compared to else where, and the coral, obviously with the atomic bombs etc, just wondered...

B

Well......There are only ever around 20 people on the island at any one time, all there to support a max of 12 divers. Half the crew are a council "works dept" and maintain the water, electricity vehicles etc. The rest are directly involved in the tourist side.

The coral reefs throughout the atoll are pristine. They are all hard corals. Some are huge, so obviously weren't adversely effected by the underwater explosion. To be fair this was towards the centre of the lagoon, mid water, so away from the reef fringe etc. If you arrived there knowing nothing of the history of the place, you would be hard pushed to see any evidence, except for a few concrete bunkers overgrown by jungle.
The is plenty of life, turtles (who come ashore to lay eggs), game fish, manta, and lots of sharks. Whilst I was there, a fisherman caught a record breaking galapogos shark (and returned it) which was as long as the fishing boat! You can also see the occassional tiger and hammerhead, but mainly reef sharks silvertips, black tips, grey and nurse sharks.
The operation doesn't dive the reefs, so they remain undived on the whole. On the outer islands the reef drops off into 7000ft of water...

Without the wrecks, it would be a paradise- no one around, palm trees, white sand etc etc

Wrecks are cool, however, possibly an environmental disaster waiting to happen (perhaps why the USA "gifted" the wrecks to the Bikinian people?)
All were armed and fuelled. Many of the wrecks have a permanent oil slick over them.

[MattS]

Originally Posted by Diving Dude

l thought they must be, but l was suprised that they carried bombs.

Hi Dude
At the end of WW2 the US Army Air Force and the US Navy top brass engaged in an argument over how the newly developed A Bomb would change the order of play. The Air Force took the position that the surface fleet was outmoded. The Navy were keen to defend their corner claiming that an A Bomb would only cause superficial damage. It seems obvious today but no-one really knew at the time. The Bikini tests were held to settle the argument.

There were lots of outdated and interned ships floating around and lots of excess ordinance. The Negato and Prinze Eugene were selected more for political impact than scientific discovery. The targets were loaded out the as close to operational status as possible so the results would be as accurate as possible. Livestock was used to simulate the crew. As naive as it sounds they expected most of the ships to be repairable after the tests were completed.

The first air burst test appeared to do little damage. The Navy were feeling confident. The second bomb was exploded below the water line. The explosion was dramatic to say the least. The black and white film of the event is the one most people assosciate with the atomic explosion mushroom cloud. You can just about make out one of the battleships (IIRC Akansas) being lifted out of the water. The mushroom was not from the explosion itself. It was caused by the water column rebounding off the lagoon bottom and rising into the air along with several 1000 tons of highly radioactive coral.

What caught everyone out was the fallout. Most of the ships were not sunk but they were too radioactive for the repair crews to board for any length of time. Some were towed to San Francisco where the USN spent several decades learning the art of decontamination trying to scrub them clean. The Eugene was left rotting on a mooring at Kwajaliene too 'hot' to board. As far as I know none of the test subjects were ever made safe.

Arguably the most useful product of that first round of testing were the lessons learnt about fallout and decontamination. It had not really occurred to anyone before that the new bomb which so swiftly denied a point on the battlefield from the enemy, also denied it from the friendly forces.

[B]

Thank you for sharing it with us and all the information afterwards.. really interesting and I am actually quite envious you got to go there..

Green Incoming..

B x

[Loneshark]

[quote=MattS]Hi Dude



You can just about make out one of the battleships (IIRC Akansas) being lifted out of the water.

Actually a popular misconception. The "shadow" seen in the column of water is the hole left in the column as the USS Arkansas capsizes. It does not flip end over end, as is commonly stated.

There is a report from one captain that his ship, a supply vessel, was flipped over, bow over stern, but the vessel did not sink. He stated that even if there had been a crew on board, they would all have had broken necks from the trauma.

A small point.....

On a flight back from Bikini, th epilot took us over the German cruiser Prinz Eugen, which capsized whilst being towed in to Kwajalein. Tricky one to dive, unless you know someone at the Ronald Reagan Star wars base there...!