Travel
In this three-part series, underwater shooter Don Silcock visits Bikini, the far-flung atoll in the Marshall Islands where the United States carried out its notorious nuclear weapons tests between 1946 and 1958.
The massive proper of the IJN Nagato, one of the ships swallowed by the ocean in the aftermath of the nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll during Operation Crossroads in 1946
How do you tell 167 men, women, and children that their island home, which had always provided for their basic needs, is going to be destroyed by a nuclear bomb? In the case of Navy Commodore Ben Wyatt, the US military governor of the Marshall Islands, he turned to the Bible, comparing their situation to “the children of Israel whom the Lord saved from their enemy and led into the Promised Land.” He further promised that their sacrifice was “for the good of mankind and to end all world wars…”
So, in March 1946, they left their island—but not for the promised land. Instead, they traveled by landing craft with all their worldly possessions, including their disassembled church and community house, some 125 miles to the east, to the uninhabited Rongerik Atoll. One-sixth the size of their home island, Rongerik was haunted by the “demon girls of Ujae” and had an inadequate water and food supply. They had been told it was a temporary move and that they could return once the nuclear tests were completed. Almost 80 years later, they have yet to return.
Navy Commodore Ben Wyatt informs residents of Bikini Atoll that they will have to vacate their home
Residents of Bikini Atoll board a US Navy landing craft to depart for Rongerik Atoll. Bikini Atoll remains uninhabited till today
A Convenient Location
The nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 were so devastating that they forced Japan to concede defeat, ending World War II. However, their destructive power also initiated a nuclear arms race, as other nations sought to achieve strategic parity with the US.
Determined to win that race, the US sought to understand whether conventional naval vessels were still relevant in the new nuclear age. It was eventually decided to conduct a series of nuclear tests, using obsolete American and captured German and Japanese World War II vessels as targets, to assess the effectiveness of atomic bombs against large naval ships.
Bikini Atoll was selected for these tests primarily because it had come under exclusive US control at the end of the war and met the other conditions established for testing: a very remote location, a large and protected anchorage, predictable weather patterns, and freedom from severe cold and violent storms.
The one condition it did not meet was that it was not uninhabited—an issue resolved by relocating its small population to the “promised land.” Perhaps we should actually be grateful, as one of the alternative locations seriously considered was Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands!
Unbeknownst to them, Bikini residents take their final steps on their home beaches before departing, never to return
The Tests
In total, 23 nuclear tests were conducted at Bikini Atoll, but the first two—Able (Alpha) and Baker (Beta) in 1946—along with those in 1954, in which a new and much more powerful dry-fuel thermonuclear (hydrogen) design were tested, are probably the most significant.
Able and Baker were the core of the incredibly complex Operation Crossroads, with a fleet of 95 target ships assembled in Bikini Lagoon, together with a support fleet of over 150 ships and some 42,000 personnel. The stated goal of Crossroads was to measure damage as a function of distance from the blast center, at as many distances as possible, resulting in far more vessels being moored in the lagoon than military doctrine would normally allow.
Both the Able and Baker nuclear bombs were 21 kilotons—roughly the same size as the one dropped on Nagasaki but 25% more powerful than the 15-kiloton one used at Hiroshima. Able was dropped from a B-29 Superfortress bomber and exploded at an altitude of 525 feet, while Baker was exploded underwater at a depth of 90 feet.
In total, Able sank five ships, while Baker’s underwater explosion proved much more destructive, sinking 12 ships. Baker also caused far more nuclear radiation contamination issues than the Able test did, simply because the massive plume of irradiated water created by the underwater explosion carried the radiation much farther.
The Able bomb was dropped from a B-29 Superfortress (the plane that dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and detonated at an altitude of 525 feet. You can see several test warships in the blast zone
The massive mushroom cloud from the Baker bomb, as seen from Bikini Atoll. The Baker bomb was detonated underwater at a depth of 90 feet
However, the Operation Castle tests in 1954 were far more significant, causing widespread radioactive contamination, because they were 1,000 times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Traces of radioactive material reached as far as Australia, India, and Japan, provoking an international incident. This led to calls for a ban on atmospheric testing of thermonuclear devices and ultimately resulted in the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963.
The Backstory
From a purely technical perspective, the stated goal of Operation Crossroads is understandable, but the backstory is less so.
The size, strength, and capability of the US Navy proved to be very significant in the overall Allied victory in World War II. However, there was real concern at the highest levels of its leadership that the Navy’s role as America’s “first line of defense” would be greatly diminished in the new nuclear age. Those leaders were determined to demonstrate that large naval ships could withstand nuclear explosions, while the Air Force wanted tests to show the vulnerability of the ships.
The overall result of Operation Crossroads was that large naval ships were much more vulnerable to “dirty” underwater nuclear explosions than they were to “clean” ones in the air. Ships outside the blast “red zone” were hardly impacted, and eight of the major ships and two submarines were towed back to the US and Hawaii for radiological inspection.
Twelve target ships were so lightly contaminated that they were remanned and sailed back to the US by their crews. The rest of the targets were ultimately scuttled off Bikini and Kwajalein Atolls.
Disposition of the target ships for Operation Crossroads
The Wrecks
Out of all the wrecks at Bikini, seven are dived regularly: the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, the Japanese battleship IJM Nagato, the battleship USS Arkansas, destroyers USS Anderson and USS Lamson, the submarines USS Apogon and USS Pilotfish, and the transport vessel USS Carlisle.
All are at depths of 165 to 180 feet, and each one is truly an exceptional, almost once-in-a-lifetime dive. But their depths mean that any dive on them requires careful planning and adherence to that plan—it’s real technical diving, and it’s serious stuff. Fascinating, exciting, adventurous, but serious. More on that in Part II.
A diver explores the bow of the USS Apogon submarine
The wreck of the USS Anderson: These deep wrecks require advanced diving skills and careful dive planning
Surrounded by a school of baitfish, a diver swims over the USS Lamson
Planning Your Trip to Bikini Atoll
Location: Bikini Atoll is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI)—an isolated, sparsely populated, low-lying Pacific country consisting of more than 1,200 islands and islets covering just 70 square miles of land, spread out over 750,000 square miles of ocean. Located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean, roughly halfway between Papua New Guinea and Hawaii, the Marshall Islands were occupied by Japan during World War I. The US drove the Japanese out during World War II, and in 1947, they were made a Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, administered by America. The Marshall Islands became an independent country in 1986 but signed a Compact of Free Association with the US, which means Amercia remains responsible for defense, external security, and providing financial assistance while retaining its military base and missile testing range on Kwajalein Atoll.
Downtown Bikini Island: Despite some attempts at rehabitation of the island, Bikini remains abandoned, 80 years later
Getting There: The journey to Bikini Atoll is an adventure in itself. For me, coming from Australia, it started with a flight to Hawaii to connect with the “island hopper” operated by United Airlines. This meant a Qantas flight from Sydney and an overnight stay in Honolulu. United is the sole airline that flies into the military base on Kwajalein Atoll. Entry into the base is not allowed, and although you can land there, you are escorted from the small terminal to the jetty, where the military operates a ferry to the nearby island of Ebeye. The base is the main employer, and most of the employees live on Ebeye and “commute” on the ferry. Ebeye is also where Master Liveaboards’ Pacific Master is based, and their trips operate around the United Airlines flights from and to Honolulu. After Kwajalein, the United flight continues eastwards towards Guam before returning a day or sometimes two days later.
Ebeye, the jumping off point for the Pacific Master, the only dive operation that provides access to the underwater realm around Bikini
How to Dive: The Pacific Master is the only liveaboard that operates at Bikini Atoll. Master Liveaboards offer 10-, 11-, and 13-night itineraries from May through September. Operating technical diving trips in such a remote location as Bikini Atoll involves some significant logistical and operational challenges, and Masters Liveaboards really deserve congratulations for doing so—particularly after previous attempts at operating both a liveaboard and a land-based operation on Bikini ultimately failed.
A dive shop stands eerily abandoned on Bikini Island
Safety Considerations: You’re probably wondering only one thing: Is it safe? The answer is: yes. The wrecks themselves have been naturally cleansed over the nearly 80 years they have been there, and residual radiation is negligible. Bikini itself is still not considered safe for long-term habitation due to radioactive pollution of groundwater and topsoil. Therefore, nothing grown or living on the island can be consumed, which is the reason the islanders have not been allowed to return.
An aerial view of modern-day Bikini Atoll. A beautiful spot, and aesthetically, not one you would expect to have witnessed such incredibly destructive forces
Final Thoughts
For me personally, diving Bikini Atoll was—I thought—the culmination of a two-year journey into technical diving. But it was such an epic and incredibly fascinating experience, I am determined to go back and see more of this unique location. To find out why, you will have to check out Part II!
Don is an underwater photographer and photojournalist based in Bali, Indonesia. His website www.indopacificimages.com has extensive location guides, articles, and images on some of the best diving locations in the Indo-Pacific region and “big animal” experiences globally.
