OPERATION CROSSROADS
25 July 1946.
Official USN photo taken remotely from Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands. Underwater blast of atomic bomb. An aerial dropped bomb by a U.S. Army B-29 was on Able Day, 1 July 1946. The underwater blast caused far more damage than the aerial dropped bomb.
The very first atomic bomb was detonated in New Mexico in early 1945. The 2nd and 3rd bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on 6 and 9 August 1945. These bombs ended World War II and saved countless American and Japanese lives, including mine. Operation Crossroads detonated atomic bombs number 4 and 5. For more information,
I recommend the book, "Operation Crossroads," by Jonathan M. Weisgall, Naval Institute Press.1994.
USS Benevolence (AH-13) was the hospital ship for Operation Crossroads. I worked in the medical records office of Benevolence.
