December 15, 1947 - USS PASIG AW-3
On the way to the atoll we made a brief stop at the island of Roi. I have no conformation of the name but it is what we were told. We came to a stop and were soon joined by a smaller cargo type vessel. The big black box was off loaded onto this ship along with the security marine group. We then proceeded to Bikini, took up our assigned station and dropped anchor. The next morning ( July 26 ) we got underway and took up patrol station among all the rest of this operations ships. I cannot remember how many ships were anchored in the test area but there were a lot of them. All doomed to be sacrificed to further our country’s need to know the effectiveness of the bomb on ships at sea. The German battleship Prinz Eugen ( pronounced Yoygen) which was captured during WWII and our old retired aircraft carrier Yorktown.
We were all very nervous about this test. Thinking about the radioactivity and the force of the blast but here we were determined to make the best of it come-what-may. My normal sea detail was in the forward engine room but when the captain requested anyone that could draw sketches of the explosion should “lay up”to the bridge. This was to be an opportunity of a lifetime that I was not about to miss so up to the bridge I went. I was handed a sketch pad , a pencil and a pair of special dark glasses to protect the eyes from the intensity of the blast. When the bomb exploded it was so fascinating it took me a few minutes to get to working on the sketches but I did. They were good enough to be entered into Naval records and I got a thank you letter from the Admiral in charge of this operation. Believe me it was an unforgettable experience.
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