Operation Crossroads: Able and Baker Day Tests, Bikini Atoll, Summer 1946
Operation Crossroads: Able and Baker Day Tests, Bikini Atoll, Summer 1946 is a short film from 1949 released on 16mm. It is held in the Prelinger Archives collection.
Documents the Able Day and Baker Day blasts of the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Island in the Pacific, Summer 1946.
| Operation Crossroads: Able and Baker Day Tests, Bikini Atoll, Summer 1946 | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | U.S. Naval Photographic Center |
Production company | U.S. Naval Photographic Center |
| Distributed by | U.S. Naval Photographic Center |
Release date | 1949 |
Running time | 26:36 |
| Language | English |
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Commander Joint Task Force One presents, OPERATION CROSSROADS
Assured that they were "making history", this film contains footage from many of the ground and aerial sources set up to record the Bikini Island blasts, beginning with the B-29 "Dave's Dream" dropping an atomic bomb on Bikini Atoll. It records the military's expertise, preparations, and precautions involved in this A-bomb experimentation. It impresses upon the viewer its use of the scientific method through such shots as: still and motion cameras being encased in lead boxes on towers, the 90 ships placed as targets for testing their durability during the bomb blasts, metal boxes for collecting and measuring degrees of radioactivity are pulled by six foot poles off of military jets assuring us that the "crews removing the dangerously radioactive materials were carefully indoctrinated in the procedure of handling such objects", and pigs and goats being "placed aboard some of the ships to substitute for military personnel. A study of their future life history will provide invaluable information." After the vessels are destroyed by the atomic bomb, they are sprayed with water and chemicals so that the military can board the charred remains for inspection. "It must be remembered that the primary purpose of the Bikini experiments was to secure precise technical information which will be used to determine necessary changes in the design and construction of all military equipment and especially Navy vessels required to maintain your Navy at maximum effectiveness. We must be fully prepared to protect our national security promptly and effectively in the event that we are attacked. We must defend ourselves against this new and elemental force, or be destroyed by it. THIS IS CROSSROADS!"
"These historic experiments were executed by units of the United States Army Ground Forces, Army Air Forces and the Navy in cooperation with the Manhattan Engineering District and many other branches of the United States Government and civilian scientific institutions. The primary purposes of the Bikini tests were to secure precise and accurate ship damage and instrumentation measurements resulting from atomic bomb explosions occurring both in mid-air and just beneath the surface of the water. The lessons learned may save many lives, many ships and many millions of dollars by guiding future expenditures for national defense into the most productive and efficient channels. It is therefore essential that our Army and Navy designers, tacticians, strategists and medical officers learn as much as possible NOW regarding the effect of this revolutionary weapon on targets not heretofore exposed to it. Without the information which can be gained from these experiments, your military leaders cannot discharge their responsibilities which you have assigned them. To find this information was the objective of Operation Crossroads. "
Poking at metal boxes used for radioactivity collectors with long hooked metal poles
Many mushroom clouds, bombers in flight and landing, charred ships