Date

Mar 30, 1946

Description

On a Saturday morning in late March 1946, Admiral William Blandy, the Joint Task Force's director, briefed the President's Evaluation Commission, composed of civilians, on the plans for the atomic tests at Bikini, including the reasons why Bikini itself had been selected (see section 8 of report). At this point, former Los Alamos laboratory director J. Robert Oppenheimer was a member of the commission but he would soon drop out (see document 9 below). During the discussion, Oppenheimer asked whether a "model test" could provide the same information as an actual weapons test, but Admiral Parsons and others suggested that such tests could not duplicate ships'structures, among other considerations.

During the discussion Blandy explained why target ships in the lagoon would be clustered close together: "1) the effect of the blast pressure drops off rather quickly with distance and 2) that it is desired to allow for possible bombing errors, and insure that the bomb will burst near at least one large ship." The latter point was a prescient one in light of the significant and expensive bombing error that would occur during the first test.

Source

RG 59, Records of the Department of State, Records of the Special Assistant to the Secretary for Atomic Energy and Outer Space, General Records Relating to Atomic Energy Matters, 1948-1962, box 37, 16. U.S. Government 11 Navy Test 1946-1952.

Document published in following posting(s):

Bikini A-Bomb Tests July 1946

Jul 22, 2016

"Minutes of Meeting of the President's Evaluation commission for the Atomic Bomb Tests and the Staff of Commander Joint Task Force One Held at Navy Department, Washington, D.C. at 0930 on Saturday 30 March 1946," Restricted, prepared by Captain Horacio Rivero.