Bikini Atoll is the place where US-made atom bombs sunk warships stuffed with live animal test subjects. A place where the world’s media gathered to watch an intense display of power. A place where some of the most significant ships in naval history rest and the once home of the Bikinians, their island still too irradiated to live on.
1946 seems so long ago, but a quick sweep of the newspapers from the times reveals the panic over Operation Crossroads. In particular, the media seemed highly focused on the dangers of setting off a bomb underwater.
Vice Admiral William Blandy, the man in charge of orchestrating the tests released a very memorable statement of denial in response to the furor:
“The bomb will not start a chain reaction in the water, converting it all to gas, and letting the ships on all the oceans drop down to the bottom. It will not blow out the bottom of the sea and let all the water run down the hole. It will not destroy gravity. I am not an atomic playboy, as one of my critics labeled me, exploding these bombs to satisfy my personal whim.”
Blandy was right, gravity is still intact, there is no hole in the ocean, and the water did not turn to gas. That said, Operation Crossroads did more damage to the ecosystem than scientists in the 40s and 50s could have imagined.
As they say though, ignorance is bliss and why shouldn’t the forces have their cake and eat it too? In fact, they did just that, this image shows Blandy and his wife ceremoniously cutting into a mushroom cloud cake. Is it just us or does Mrs. Blandy’s fascinating hat seem to match the cake?
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