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 only on shot ABLE. Sample kits of food and clothing were stored in normal storage spaces aboard Nevada, USS Arkansas (BB-33), USS Carteret (APA-70), and Saratoga. Test lots of over 150 items of food and clothing were exposed on the decks of 11 target vessels. Field equipment, lubricants, and fuels were exposed on four tank landing craft and on the concrete drydock, ARDC-13.

Aircraft parts were placed on the decks of target ships. Several types of wing panels made of various materials were secured to the decks. In addition, wing tanks, stabilizers, a P-47 fuselage, an altimeter, and several fire extinguishers were exposed. No aircraft parts were exposed on BAKER test (Reference C.9.206, p. 7.10).

Bureau of Aeronautics Group

The Navy Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) Group was responsible for providing, exposing, and inspecting Navy aircraft and aeronautical equipment. It also provided special instruments to be placed in the Navy F6F aircraft drones to determine radiation intensities and blast effects. Velocity and acceleration gauges were installed on various target aircraft located on the target ships. The BuAer group, berthed on Wharton and USS Avery Island (AG-76), was evacuated with the ships the day before each shot and planned to return to the lagoon the afternoon after each shot. Records of F6F drone aircraft reaction to the detonations were removed from the aircraft after they landed at Roi Island, Kwajalein, and aircraft were inspected for damage (Reference C.9.208, pp. 3.51 and 7.8).

Bureau of Ships Group

This group was responsible for preparing target ships (and certain non-target ships) to determine effects of the detonations on the ships and carrying out decontamination activities. The group prepared Op Plan 1-46 Annexes W and X entitled "Ship Preparation Plan" and "Rebounding and Inspection Plan," respectively. Readying the target ships for the tests took place initially in shipyards at Philadelphia; Terminal Island, Long Beach, California; San Francisco, California; Mare Island, Vallejo, California; Bremerton, Washington; and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Target ship crews did much of this work, both at Pearl Harbor and on site at Bikini.

Members of the Bureau of Ships (BuShips) Group were berthed on Wharton. They were aboard that ship when it sortied from Bikini the day before each test and returned after each test. Ship inspection began on 2 July after ABLE and on 26 July after BAKER. Interim repairs after ABLE to prepare ships for BAKER were completed by 5 July; however, ship inspections continued for several more days. The ship inspection program was broken into six categories: hull, ship stability, machinery, electrical, electronics equipment, and measurement of any change in magnetic fields within the ship. Inspection of ships after BAKER was hampered by radioactivity on the ships and in the lagoon. Five attack transports, one destroyer, two infantry landing craft, and four submarines were reboarded and manned in August and September and were sailed back to U.S. ports. The remaining target ships, however, were too contaminated to be boarded except for short visits and were towed to Kwajalein during August

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