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 Observers included United Nations representatives, Congressmen, the President's Evaluation Commission, the JCS Evaluation Board, and media representatives (Reference C.9.206, Part V, p. C8).

The Army radsafe monitor previously quoted was again aboard a Navy PBM about 15 nmi (28 km) away and described the visual effects as follows (Reference A.2, p. 93): "The flash seemed to spring from all parts of the target fleet at once. A gigantic flash — then it was gone. And where it had been now stood a white chimney of water reaching up and up. Then a huge hemispheric mushroom of vapor appeared like a parachute suddenly opening.... By this time the great geyser had climbed to several thousand feet. It stood there as if solidifying for many seconds, its head enshrouded in a tumult to steam. Then slowly the pillar began to fall and break up. At its base a tidal wave of spray and steam rose to smother the fleet and move on towards the islands. All this took only a few seconds, but the phenomenon was so astounding as to seem to last much longer."

Another aircraft observer reported seeing a major ship "on [its] nose" before it sank and saw a water wave pass over one of the small islands between Bikini and Eneu islands about 2 minutes after the detonation (Reference C.9.206, Part VI, p. D9). Figure 29 shows the BAKER detonation wave as it lifted the stern of Saratoga some 43 feet (13.1 meters). The dark area to the left of Saratoga is believed to be a cavity in the column formed by the hull of USS Arkansas (BB-33). When the air over the fleet cleared, Arkansas, LSM-60, and four LCTs were not in sight. Saratoga was listed to starboard and her stern was low. Figure 30 shows the BAKER cloud as viewed from the manned support ships in their operating areas.

The underwater burst inflicted heavy damage on the target fleet. Eight ships were sunk or capsized (See Table 11). Eight ships were immobilized or seriously damaged. Generally, ships beyond 1,500 yards (1.37 km) were undamaged. Those between 1,100 and 1,500 yards (1.01 and 1.37 km) sustained only slight damage. Those between 900 and 1,100 yards (0.82 and 1.01 km) suffered moderate damage. Those inside 900 yards (823 meters) were seriously damaged or were sunk (Reference C.9.208, p. 23.3).

At 0912, the drone control ship, Begor, began moving two drone boats from the lee of Eneu towards the target array using directions from the orbiting drone control TBMs as in Test ABLE. Each boat took ten 5-gallon (18.93-liter) samples of lagoon water and by 1030 was en route back to its anchorage. The drone boats were so radiologically contaminated that boarding parties from Begor could not go aboard. The drone boats were taken to USS Albemarle (AV-5) where the water samples were finally removed about 1430. Two additional drone boats were guided into the target area the same afternoon using the same combination of TBMs and Begor. Each took 10 samples of water, which were transferred to Albemarle about 1800. Albemarle then headed for Kwajalein with the samples. Four more runs were made on 26 July and two more on 27 July using the same control procedures. The radiation intensities had lessened somewhat, allowing boarding parties from Begor to remove these samples and transfer them to USS Haven (AH-12) (Reference C.9.206, Part VII, p. R28-34).

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