The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.

Friday, March 11, 2022

The Nagato After the War: Operation Crossroads

From Wikipedia.

The battleship Nagato was selected for the testing of the atom bombs at Bikini Atoll in Operation Crossroads.

Getting her to the site was not easy with breakdowns and leaking.

The first test of Operation Crossroads was Test Able, an air burst on 1 July 1946 when she was 1640 yards from Ground Zero (just shy of a mile) and she was only lightly damaged.  A skeleton crew boarded the ship to assess damage and to prepare her for the next test on 25 July.  

Test Baker was an underwater explosion and the ship was 950 yards away from Ground Zero (a little over half mile away).  The Nagato rode out the tsunami from the explosion with little apparent damage and had a slight list to the starboard of two degrees when it passed by.

A more thorough assessment couldn't be made because of radioactivity.  Her list gradually increased over the next five days and she capsized and sank during the night of 29/30 July.

The wreck is upside down and her most prominent features are her four propellers at 110 feet below the surface.  She has become a scuba diving destination in recent years and has been named as one of the top ten  wreck diving sites.

--GreGen


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