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 :*Predictable winds directionally uniform at all altitudes from sea level to 60,000 feet (18 km)


 * Predictable water currents of great lateral and vertical dispersion; fast currents avoiding important fishing areas, ocean shipping lanes, and inhabited shores


 * Control by the United States.

The location that best satisfied these requirements was Bikini Atoll. Bikini's location in the Central Pacific is shown in Figure 1 and a map of the atoll itself in Figure 2. The final choice of Bikini was announced on 24 January by the JCS after a slight delay because the fishing industry feared the tests might kill millions of fish, especially tuna and whales. To evaluate any dangers, the Department of Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service conducted surveys. Those surveys concluded that Bikini was not a critical area for tuna fish or other fish of commercial importance and was far from migratory whale routes (Reference A.1, pp. 19 and 20).

CJTF 1 requested that the Bikini native population be evacuated from the atoll by 15 March 1946. Rongerik Atoll was selected as the future home for the Bikinians and on 26 February a group of Navy Construction Battalion personnel (Seabees) began construction of cisterns, water catchments, and 26 house frames there. These frames (Figure 3) were temporarily covered with canvas, but this was replaced by thatch from the pandanus, or screw pine, tree. The thatch was brought to Rongerik by the Bikinians. The cisterns were initially filled with 25,000 gallons (94,785 liters) of water brought from Kwajalein.

Bikini was evacuated on 7 March. Figure 4 shows the Bikinians collecting their belongings, and Figure 5 shows the loading of the LST that transported them. The 167 Bikinians arrived at Rongerik the next day (Figure 6). In an effort to improve the lives of the Bikinians who were unhappy with Rongerik, meetings were held in 1946 and 1947 between the Chief and members of his council and military authorities to find a more suitable island. On 3 November 1948, the Bikinians and their possessions were resettled on the island of Kili, in the southern Marshall Islands, 400 nmi (741 km) southeast of Bikini and 27 nmi (50 km) southeast of Jaluit Atoll (Reference A.8, pp. 507-551).

On 23 March, after preparations for the operation were well underway, the President changed the date of the first test from 15 May to 1 July; the second test was scheduled for 25 July. This allowed certain members of Congress to observe Operation CROSSROADS. On 7 September 1946, the President announced that Test CHARLIE, the third scheduled and a deep underwater test, was indefinitely postponed (Reference C.9.206, p. V-(D)-5). Engineering problems in constructing a bathysphere capable of withstanding the tremendous pressures involved precluded the scheduling of Test CHARLIE before Spring of 1947 (Reference C.9.206, p. V-(A)-5).

REPORT ORGANIZATION

Subsequent sections of this overview chapter discuss the form of weapon effects test programs, with emphasis on potential radiation exposure of participating Navy and War Department personnel. The chapter concludes with a description of JTF 1 and indicates how elements within JTF 1 functioned.

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