Many articles have written about tasks the U S Navy sent its tug and rescue fleet to perform, however I have seen very little written about the role Navy tugs played in Operation Crossroads Atomic Bomb Tests Abel and Baker that were carried out during the month of July 1946. I would like to take this opportunity to tell some of the tasks that the AT A 192, later named USS Tillamook and crew were called on to do before and after each of the A bomb tests. Other tugs did similar task, I have no idea how many tugs were involved in test Abel and Baker, but at one time there were six tugs including ours tied in a nest to a single buoy for the weekend, with so much activity involved I am confident that more tugs were involved.

OPERATION CROSSROADS BIKINI ATOLL 1946

This article is about my memories of events that occurred before and after the atomic bomb tests Able and Baker conducted at Bikini Atoll on July 1946.

Its been long ago since these events occurred, I will describe, to the best of my memory how Operation Crossroad was seen through the eyes of a young Seaman First Class that was assigned to the AT A 192, Later named the USS Tillamook.

It was January 1945, and several hundred white hats were sitting around the Aiea Naval Receiving Station not far from the shores Pearl Harbor waiting for reassignment. We had nothing on our minds but more liberty in Honolulu. One morning we were lined up on the grinder and were instructed to step forward if our name was called, my name was on the list.

The sailors who were selected were instructed to pack their sea bags and return to the grinder in an hour. Upon our return we were marched to another barracks. When we arrived at our new quarters were told that we would be attending the Aiea Navy Fire Fighting School for six weeks. I am not sure about the six weeks, it could have been shorter or longer period of time, but it seemed like forever before it was completed. We were divided into teams of eight; each team had a Chief Petty Officer for a leader. We learned about maintaining and operating Handy Billy and P500s (portable, water pumps) and all sorts fire fighting techniques materials and equipment. Every fire test fixture at the school was extinguished many times by each team over the weeks ahead. Movies were also part the training. The movies were about extinguishing different types of fires and the methods used to extinguish fires, such as solids, liquid materials or electric. There was also a short movie that showed a ship that was totally engulfed in flames. I guess that was to get our attention.

When the school ended our team was assigned to the ATA 185 with our fire fighting equipment and materials. It was docked in Pearl Harbor waiting for us to finish school. I will always remember what the Chief Boatswains Mate said the day I walked up the gang plank it was like, BLANK BLANK I love breaking in raw recruits. The team became a part of the crew and was assigned regular ship duties. I was now a fire fighting Deck Ape.

We finally set sail for Bikini, my first trip aboard a seagoing tug. It was an uneventful trip, except for flying fish, an ocean that was calm at times without a ripple in sight, a couple of sharks and the day we when we crossed Longitude 180. There were some strange events took place that day, other than that day it was a pleasant trip

As soon as we arrived we went right to work mooring target ships fore and aft to buoys as they arrived to the lagoon getting ready for test Abel. Inside of the Atoll was beehive of activity. There was a fleet of tugs working to position the target ships many of the target ships were repositioned more than once to please the powers that were. The target ships were fueled and equipped as if ready to go to sea. Some animals (mice and goats) were placed aboard the target ships to see what effects the bomb would have on them. I could see trucks, army tanks and airplanes on the decks of some of the ships.

Then the bad news came, one of the main engine had failed and the ATA 185 had been ordered to return to Pearl Harbor for repair. And then we learned that the Fire fighting team was being transferred to another tug, the ATA 192 later named the USS Tillamook. Work continued getting the ships aligned in position for Test Abel.

We had been working at Bikini Atoll about a month the only recreation we had was old movies, fishing in the evening and night. Red snappers were plentiful, and were a pleasant change from the mutton and canned meat we had onboard. The cook set out shark lines every night and we would laugh at him and kid him because he never caught a shark. Then one morning he woke everybody in the crews sleeping compartment about 0400 yelling he had a shark on his line, a few of us got up to see what was going on, Sure enough, it turned our to be a six foot Blue Shark. We had to use a capstan to land him.

Once a week we could get three beer chits for a dime apiece and go over to the Coral Reef Tavern on the Island of Bikini. Shark barrier nets had been installed on the beach for any who wanted to swim, or maybe play baseball. Liberty parties were ferried back and forth in the motor whaleboat, half the crew got liberty on Saturday afternoon the other half on Sunday afternoon.

And finally July 1, 1946 had arrived; we had put to sea the night before. Every thing seemed to be normal after an early reveille and breakfast it was getting daylight.

Some of the crew went out on deck to look around, we could see the ships in the lagoon but they were hull-down and only the masts and super structures were visible. Some of our crew was apprehensive; they were the older crewmembers that had an idea of what was about to happen, I didn't have any idea about what was going to take place in the day ahead of us.

At about 0730 all hands except the engineers on watch and personnel on watch on the bridge were ordered to topside. We were instructed to line up single file with our backs to the test fleet. When the countdown started we were instructed to close our eyes and place an arm over our eyes to keep from being blinded.

We listened to the countdown over the intercom as we heard three-two-one-zero, I thought nothing had happened until I turned around, I was amazed at all the cloud of smoke that was still developing from the bomb and black smoke billowing from some of the target ships. Then I saw a shock waves traveling through the clouds and then through the water. I didn't know what they were or what they might do to us; to put it mildly I must admit I was a bit spooked. But the shock waves passed in a short time with no bad effects. 

Shortly after the bomb blast the ship was ordered to proceed to Bikini Lagoon. Our Capitan set a course for the opening in the lagoon reef, full speed ahead, all of 12 knots. I didn't have time to think about what was happing, GQ sounded. We were instructed to break out or gear and prepare to fight fires. When our ship arrived at the mouth of the lagoon there was a boat and crew standing by waiting for a remote controlled boat to return from the inside the lagoon with samples to see if radiation levels were at a safe level for the tug fleet to enter the lagoon. The boat returned in a short time. The tug fleet was ordered to proceed into the lagoon. 

I don't know if we were assigned ships that were burning or if someone aboard our ship picked a test ship that was burning to extinguish. The first couple of fires were extinguished with the ships water cannon and P500 portable pumps aboard our tug, the next fire was aboard a cargo ship, and we couldn't extinguish the flames with the water cannon and pumps on deck. A boarding party was organized; I was picked for one of members of the boarding party. The fire was forward on the main deck. We boarded on the port side and moved forward. As we started around superstructure we saw an airplane setting on a cargo hatch with wing tanks, that got my attention, then as we advanced a little farther we saw a goat teetered in front of the superstructure, It was still alive but it looked like it wouldn't last long, We could see the fire now, it wasn't a very large fire and it didn't take long to extinguish it. The reason the water cannon couldn't put the fire out was because other cargo on deck shielded the burning material from water that had come from the side. I could not see much damage to the $hip other than the cargo fire on the main deck I didn't give it much thought at the time but since the ships were spaced over a wide area and some ships were far enough away that the damage was minimal As we were retreating back to mid-ship to return to our ship we met a navy officer that was an observer from another ship and was attached to our tug for the test days. He was holding a Geiger counter in one hand and he was writing HOT on the bulkhead of the superstructure with a piece of chalk, HOT meaning radioactive, I remember some one saying, "If he thinks it's hot here he should have been with us."  

As our tug moved on to other fires, maybe two or three, I don't remember, the days events got fuzzy and I lost tract of time. The next thing that really got my attention was the USS Independence, she engulfed in flames and explosions were occurring over and over and blowing debris in all directions it was a real scary sight. Our tug laid off at a safe distance and we watched the fire works. It was getting close to dark and the explosions had subsided. Our ship was given orders to tow the Independence out of the lagoon to deep water and set her adrift. The Independence was connected to a mooring buoy, our tow line was shackled to the Independence anchor chain and then the anchor chain was released from the buoy. Due to the size of that anchor chain this turned out be a drawn out affair that was finished after dark using flood lights, then she was towed a safe distance from the atoll and set adrift. She was still afloat the next morning when we returned to the lagoon. After the Independence was set loose it was time for showers and chow. After each person showered we were surveyed with a Geiger counter for radiation, almost everyone that worked on deck that day had to clean under their finger nails again after showering to remove some small amounts of radiated dirt of some kind. About this time I realized that I had never been so tired in my entire life.  

In the days following test Abel the ships that had survived were repositioned (some more than once) for test Baker and several attempts to decontaminate some the radioactive target ships using our ships water cannon and portable pumps seawater were conducted. The wash downs did not remove much contamination, then some one remembered that foam used for fire fighting was a detergent so we started allover again,  

July 25, 1946 started out like July 1st except when I turned around to look at the test ships. I was expecting to see something similar to test Abel. It wasn't, the A Bomb was detonated under water and it looked like it picked up half of the water in the lagoon and blew it sky high. I saw a large shock wave traveling through the water and It was a lot bigger the shock wave made by test Abel, when it passed by the ship there was a big noise and the ship shuddered as if we had rammed something solid in the water, but there was not any damage to the ship.  

The tug fleet made another a mad dash to the lagoon. Instead of fire fighting tugs we were now salvage ships. Some of the surviving test ships were taking on water and were beached others pumped out. And many were on the bottom of the lagoon.

The test ships that were saved after Tests Abel and Baker by the tugboat fleet at Bikini Atoll provided scientists with valuable test data that would have been lost if the test ships had burn out or sunk.

US Navy tugs played a vital role in the success of Tests Abel and Baker at Bikini Atoll In July 1946.  

Our ship towed a portable living quarters with a self contained power plant, galley, mess hall and sleeping quarters to Enewetak Atoll and left it there. Then we returned to Bikini where we picked a 500-ton barge, its contents unknown to us, and sailed to Pearl Harbor. After two weeks we sailed on with our tow to San Francisco, where I celebrated my eighteenth birthday in September 1946.  

After a month in San Francisco we set sail for Bremerton, Washington Naval Ship yard where the ship was decontaminate for radiation, the motor whale boat was a total loss and many of the salt water lines had to be replaced due to radiation contamination, and other repairs. When the ship certified as clean of RA Contamination it was North to Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. 

Bill Rose