Bikini Nuke: Atomic Bomb Detonated Underwater

An underwater nuclear detonation lifted two million tons of seawater into the air, capsized battleships anchored a quarter mile from the blast, and contaminated the entire Bikini Atoll lagoon with radioactive fallout that made the test fleet too dangerous to touch. The Baker test, part of Operation Crossroads, was the fifth nuclear device the United States had ever detonated and the first designed to evaluate what an atomic bomb would do to a naval fleet from below the waterline. The United States military had assembled a target fleet of ninety-five vessels in the lagoon, including captured German and Japanese warships, decommissioned American battleships, and submarines, then stocked them with live animals to measure biological effects. The first test, Able, had been an aerial burst three weeks earlier that sank five ships but left most of the fleet afloat. Baker was expected to demonstrate more destructive power against hulls at the waterline. The bomb was suspended beneath a landing craft in the center of the target fleet and detonated at a depth of ninety feet. The resulting water column rose over a mile into the atmosphere, then collapsed back into the lagoon as a massive radioactive wave that washed over every ship in the anchorage. The aircraft carrier Saratoga, a veteran of multiple Pacific battles, sank within seven hours. The battleship Arkansas disappeared entirely, dragged to the bottom by the underwater shockwave. What stunned the observers was not the blast damage but the contamination. Radioactive water saturated every surface of every surviving ship. Sailors sent aboard to scrub decks and decontaminate the vessels absorbed dangerous radiation doses despite repeated washings. The planned third test, Charlie, was canceled after the Navy acknowledged it could not make the target fleet safe for human crews. Bikini's 167 residents, relocated before the tests with promises of return, have never permanently resettled their homeland.