In the summer of 1946, less than a year after the end of World War II, the United States brought a fleet of more than 90 ships to Bikini Atoll for Operation Crossroads, the first nuclear weapons tests since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The aim was to find out what an atomic bomb would do to a navy. Retired and surplus American warships were anchored in the lagoon alongside ships captured from Japan and Germany, and some were loaded with fuel, ammunition and even live animals to see how they would fare.
Two bombs were set off. Test Able, on July 1, was dropped from a B-29 and exploded above the fleet. Test Baker, on July 25, was detonated underwater and threw up a vast column of radioactive water that swamped the ships around it. Between them, the two blasts sank the vessels that now make Bikini lagoon one of the world’s great wreck dives.
Months earlier, in March 1946, the people of Bikini had been moved off their atoll to make way for the tests. The wrecks now belong to them.
Operation Crossroads · 1946
The Ghost Fleet of Bikini Lagoon
To dive Bikini Atoll you must contact Bikini Local Government for information on current visitation options and regulations: bikinijack@gmail.com
Bikini Atoll was the site of numerous atomic bombs in the 1940s and 1950s and has the world’s largest dive-able wrecks, but it is not so easy to access these today. Back in June of 1996 a dive operation was open to provide an economic base for a possible future resettlement of Bikini Atoll. The then Bikini Atoll Council, under the name of Bikini Atoll Divers, fulfilled their goal to open the one of the most professional – and safest – dive operations possible. In early 2008, however, the dive operation couldn’t be sustained because of transport difficulties and was closed down.
Note that up until February, 2017, yachts were allowed visit the atoll after seeking permission from the Bikini Town Hall for free, however under a new administration there was a fee of $5,000. There is a complication that anyone diving the wrecks has to have a Bikinian diver and a councilman with them.
The ships sunk by the nuclear tests in 1946 in Bikini Atoll’s lagoon belong to the people of Bikini. This is a very unusual situation as in most places in the world where there are sunken US warships; their ownership is retained by the United States government.
The Wrecks of Bikini Lagoon
USS Saratoga CV-3
- Aircraft carrier
- Sunk by Test Baker
- 190 ft
Commissioned in 1927, the American aircraft carrier is 880 feet in length and weighs 39,000 tons. It rests in Bikini’s lagoon at a depth of 190 feet.
Her bridge is easily accessible at 40 feet, her deck at 90 feet, and the hangar for the Helldivers at 125 feet. These Helldivers and bombs are still on display, complete with all dials and controls.
Saratoga had a fuel capacity of 63,200 barrels of fuel oil, 249 barrels of diesel oil, and 132,264 gallons of gasoline. Fuel and ammunition loads during test BAKER were 10% of capacity and 67% capacity respectively. She was reported sunk by the Japanese seven times during World War II. She received seven battle stars.
Eight hours after the waves created by the atomic Baker blast rolled over her, New York Times correspondent Hanson W. Baldwin wrote this epitaph as he watched the Saratoga sink slowly beneath Bikini’s lagoon:
“There were many who had served her in the observing fleet and they fought with her through the long hot hours as the sun mounted. Outside the reef…the observing ships cruised, while the Sara slowly died.
“There were scores who wanted to save her – and perhaps she might have been saved, had there been a crew aboard. But she died a lonely death, with no man upon the decks once teaming with life, with pumps idle and boilers dead. From three o’clock on she sank fast, her buoyancy gone, as the fleet kept the death watch for a ‘fighting lady.’
“The Sara settled, the air soughing from her compartments like the breath from exhausted lungs. At 3:45 p.m. the starboard aft corner of her flight deck was awash; then the loud speakers blared: ‘The water is up to her island now; the bow is high in the air.’
“She died like a queen … proudly. The bow slowly reared high; the stern sank deep, and, as if striving for immortality, the Sara lifted her white numeral 3 high into the sun before her bow slipped slowly under. Her last minutes were slow and tortured; she fought and would not sink, but slowly the 3 was engulfed by the reaching waters, the tip of her mast was the last bit of Sara seen by man.”
Unless, of course, you are a diver fortunate enough to be visiting Bikini Atoll!
The USS Saratoga is the largest dive-able vessel in the world, and the only aircraft carrier available for diving.
HIJMS Nagato
- Japanese battleship
- Sank after Test Baker
- 170 ft
The Japanese Flagship to the Japanese Navy, Nagato was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s floating fortress during Japan’s World War II attack on Pearl Harbor and was a treasure to the Japanese forces.
Japanese Naval historian Masanori Ito wrote:
“When World War II began, the Japanese Navy – the third most powerful in the world – included some of the mightiest ships in naval history and was a force worthy of the pride and trust of the Japanese people.
“Then, in less than four years, this great machine of war fell from glory to oblivion. Of 10 battleships riding in Hiroshima Bay in December of 1941, nine were sunk. The lone survivor, the Nagato, died at Bikini as a target in an atomic bomb test.”
The 32,720-ton battleship is at rest upside down in 170 feet of water; her bridge is accessible at 150 feet, the hull and monstrous props at 110 feet. The Nagato was built by Kure Naval Dockyard, launched on November 9, 1919, and completed on November 25, 1920. She was reconstructed in 1934-1936, with torpedo bulges, increased elevation for main armament, aircraft crane, etc. After this refit, Nagato had 10 Kampon boilers, driving four sets of Kampon turbines developing 82,300 shaft horsepower for a speed of 25 knots. Her fuel bunkerage was now 5,650 tons of oil, giving her a radius of 8,650 nautical miles at 16 knots. Her new dimensions were 725′ 9″ long at the waterline, 113′ 6″ beam, 32′ 2″ draught. Her normal displacement was 39,130 tons, 42,850 tons at full load. She carried a crew of 1,368.
In June 1944 she was known to be fitted with radar. By October 1944 her armament consisted of 8 x 16″/45, 18 x 5.5″/50 [guns that were later removed], 8 x 5″/40, and 98 x 25mm AA guns. Her displacement had by now increased to 43,581 tons full load, and as a result her maximum speed was 24.98 knots. By the end of the war she had had her main mast and funnel removed for camouflage purposes, as she was holed up in Sagami Bay near Yokosuka. Fuel and ammunition loads during both ABLE and BAKER tests were, respectively, 15% and 10% of capacity.
She is upside down in the water and an incredible dive with her four massive screws appearing like an underwater Stonehenge.
USS Arkansas BB-33
- Battleship
- Sunk by Test Baker
- 170 ft
A 29,000 ton American battleship that survived two world wars, the Arkansas had a fuel capacity of 37,779 barrels of fuel oil, 119 barrels of diesel oil, and 4,000 gallons of gasoline.
The Arkansas took part in the Presidential Naval Review in the Hudson River, October 14, 1912 and then carried President William H. Taft to the Panama Canal Zone for an inspection of the unfinished canal. On April 22, 1914, she assisted in the occupation of Veracruz, Mexico. In December of 1918 she formed part of the escort carrying President Woodrow Wilson to France. In World War II, the Arkansas escorted convoys across the Atlantic. She remained in European waters for the invasion of Normandy where she performed yeoman service at Omaha Beach, the bombardment of Cherbourg and the invasion of southern France. She then moved to the Pacific to participate in action at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
The Arkansas, at rest almost completely upside down in Bikini’s lagoon in 170 feet of water, received four battle stars for her service in World War II and was sunk by BAKER.
USS Carlisle APA-69
- Attack transport
- Sunk by Test Able
A merchant craft named after a county in Kentucky, she had fuel capacity of 9,695 barrels of fuel oil and 375 barrels of diesel oil. She made three voyages to the west coast from Hawaii and Japan and shorter passages among South Pacific islands.
She sits upright on the bottom and is guarded by a magnificent school of skip jacks; and there is almost always a shark sitting on this ship. The ABLE blast split her open so she makes for a sensational penetration dive. Fuel and ammunition loads during test ABLE were 95% of capacity. The Carlisle was sunk by the ABLE blast.
USS Lamson DD-367
- Destroyer
- Sunk by Test Able
The American destroyer Lamson received five battle stars for service during World War II. She was used to search for Amelia Earhart in 1937 in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. She was deployed from Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, in the unsuccessful search for the Japanese Task Force that bombed Pearl Harbor and later served throughout the Pacific until the end of the war.
Her fuel capacity was 3,600 barrels, her diesel oil capacity was 110 barrels, and she was at 50% capacity for both fuels and ordnance when she was sunk by ABLE. Her hull provides a great example of the power of a nuclear explosion as it is horribly twisted and damaged. She is a Bikini dive-master favorite.
USS Apogon SS-308
- Submarine
- Sunk by Test Baker
Apogon is an American submarine with normal fuel capacity of 54,000 gallons, and an emergency load of 116,000 gallons. She made eight war patrols sinking three Japanese vessels totaling 7,575 tons. Her first patrol was out of Pearl Harbor in November of 1943. She later patrolled from Majuro to Midway and was part of Operation Galvanic during the invasions of Tarawa and the Gilbert Islands. Working off Formosa, she ran in a wolf-pack known as the “Mickey Finns” that sunk 41,000 tons worth of Japanese vessels toward the end of the war. She received five battle stars and was sunk by BAKER.
She now appears perfectly upright as if ready to drive away on the bottom of Bikini’s lagoon. Eric Hanauer of Discover Diving commented, “The shadowy silhouette of Apogon’s conning tower, completely enveloped by glassy sweepers, is one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen underwater.”
USS Anderson DD-411
- Destroyer
- Sunk by Test Able
The Anderson is an American destroyer that received 10 battle stars during World War II. She served as a carrier screen in the Coral Sea, Midway, the Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal, and Tarawa. Always on the frontlines, she was with the Lexington CV-2 and the Yorktown CV-5 aircraft carriers when they were sunk in battle by the Japanese. She was also with the USS Wasp and the USS Hornet when they were sunk in WWII.
In 1943, in RMI’s Wotje Atoll, she was hit with a 155mm shell that killed the captain and five officers and wounded another 18 men. She carried 2929 barrels of fuel oil and 168 barrels of diesel oil and was at 95% of capacity of both fuel and ordnance when she was sunk by ABLE and is now at rest on her side in Bikini’s lagoon.
USS Pilotfish SS-386
- Submarine
- Sunk by Test Baker
An American submarine with normal fuel capacity of 54,000 gallons, Pilotfish made five war patrols during WWII. Fuel and ammunition loads during test BAKER were 95% of capacity. She received five battle stars, patrolled the Northern Marianas, Bonin Islands, the East China Sea, and the southeast coast of Japan. She was featured in ABC’s World of Discovery Emmy nominated production about Bikini Atoll, “Forbidden Paradise.” She is on her side and half-buried in the sand.
HIJMS Sakawa
- Japanese light cruiser
- Sunk by Test Able
The Sakawa, a Japanese ship, was built in Sasebo Naval Dockyard, and launched on April 9, 1944. She was the only vessel of its class to survive the war. Nominal armament 6 x6″/50 (interestingly, these guns were refitted secondary weapons from earlier ships, like the Kongo-class battleships), 4 x 80mm AA, approx. 61 x 25mm AA, 8 x 24″ torpedo tubes, 16 depth charges, 1 catapult, and 2 floatplanes. Length 563 feet at the waterline, 571 feet overall, 49′ 10″ beam, 18′ 5″ draught. She had 4 shaft geared turbines from 6 Kampon boilers for 100,000 shp and 35 knots and carried 1,405 tons fuel oil for a 6,300 nautical mile radius at 18 knots.
The Sakawa was surrendered to the U.S. at Maizuru in August of 1945, and was then used for repatriation duties until taken to Bikini where she was sunk by ABLE with an unknown fuel load and apparently no ordnance. 532 feet long as she rests in Bikini’s lagoon in an upright position.
The Ships That Survived
Not every target ship went down at Bikini. These three came through both atomic tests still afloat, only to be sunk later – two of them in Kwajalein.
USS Pennsylvania BB-38
- Battleship
- Survived Able & Baker
- Scuttled off Kwajalein, 1948
The flagship of the U.S. Pacific Fleet before the war, the Pennsylvania was in dry dock at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and went on to fight across the Pacific. She rode out both Bikini blasts, but was left too radioactive to keep. She was towed to Kwajalein, studied there, and scuttled off the atoll on February 10, 1948.
Prinz Eugen IX-300
- German heavy cruiser
- Survived Able & Baker
- Capsized at Kwajalein, 1946
The only German warship at Bikini. The Prinz Eugen sailed with the battleship Bismarck in 1941, survived the war, and was handed to the U.S. Navy as a prize. She came through both tests, then was towed to Kwajalein. Leaking and too radioactive to repair, she ran aground and capsized there on December 22, 1946. She still lies upside down in Kwajalein lagoon today, with part of her hull showing above the water.
USS Catron APA-71
- Attack transport
- Survived Able & Baker
- Sunk by gunfire, 1948
A sister ship of the Carlisle, the attack transport Catron served in the Pacific before being chosen as a Crossroads target. Unlike the Carlisle, she stayed afloat through both tests. She was sunk by gunfire in the Pacific on May 6, 1948.
Ship photos: Junior Rena Jr. Archives. Lamson torpedo photo: Eric Hanauer. Tap any photo to enlarge.
Ship details for the Bikini wrecks are from a brochure produced by Lust4Rust & Aquatic Adventures: Bikini Atoll | Pete Mesley Dive Excursions.
For more on Bikini Atoll, see Jack Niedenthal’s site: Welcome to Bikini Atoll.
The above brochure was produced by Lust4Rust & Aquatic Adventures, which you can check out by going to Bikini Atoll | Pete Mesley Dive Excursions
