1946 started with Operation Crossroads, the Nuclear detonations at Bikini Atoll that resulted in the accidental exposure of all fo the ships, both target ships and the support ships when a radioactive steam cloud spread all over the ships irradiating about 70% of the ships of the Pacific fleet at the time.
These ships had to be cleaned to be useable and their focus was to prevent radiation sickness that was seen at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
They didn’t know the long term effects of radiation, they did not have the ability to measure it well, the devices of the time were prehistoric compared to a few years later and all of the sailors had film badges that were limited to 2 Rads. Guess what they were all overexposed!
It is appropriate that the last two postings here would reveal everything you wanted to know about the total disregard civilians in this work, the dumping of radioactive materials into the Bays, not only San Francisco Bay but every port on the West Coast, Hawaii, Guam and even Norfolk got a little bit of radiation from trying to clean the ships.
The record stands for itself:
- 1946-07-31 Decontamination Procedures on Target Vessel – DIRECTOR OF SHIP MATERIAL JOINT TASK FORCE ONE
- 1946-07-31 Director of Ship Material Reducing Radiation on Ships by crews on Ships used in Atomic Tests, that were being sent to San Francisco, Pearl Harbor etc.
- 1946-09-04 CINPAC ORDERS Disposal of Target Vessels hit by two Atomic Bombs in Operation Crossroads
- 1946-09-05 – Report of INSPECTION FOR RADIOACTIVITY of the USS LAFFEY (DD724) at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard
- 1946-09-06 Telephone-conversation between Captain W. E. Walsh (MC) USN, Joint Task Force One, Medical Officer, and Captain C. J. Cater, Planning Officer, San Francisco Naval Shipyard
- 1946-09-11 RECORD OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION BETWEEN CAPTAIN W. G. WALSH, RADIOLOGICAL OFFICER, FOR JOINT TASK FORCE 1 AND CAPTAIN C. J. CATER, PLANNING OFFICER, SAN FRANCISCO NAVAL SHIPYARD
- 1946-09-16 SECOND REPORT INVESTIGATION OF RADIOACTIVITY of Ships from Bikini at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard
- 1946-09-16 Third Report INVESTIGATION OF RADIOACTIVITY Of Vessels from Bikini At the San Francisco Naval Shipyard Begun 5 September 1946
- 1946-09-16 Submarine Barracks at Hunters Point Shipyard contaminated by use as decontamination centers for workers at Shipyard to clean ships used in atomic tests.
- 1946-09-18 4th Report INVESTIGATION OF RADIOACTIVITY Of Vessels from Bikini At the San Francisco Naval Shipyard Begun on 5 September 1946
- 5th. Report, INVESTIGATION OF RADIOACTIVITY of Vessels from Bikini at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard begun 5 September 1946.
- 1946-09-20 6th Report, 20 September 1946 – INVESTIGATION OF RADIOACTIVITY of Vessels from Bikini at the San Francisco Naval
- 1946-09-21 REPORT NO. 7 – EXPERIMENTAL WORK, SAN FRANCISCO NAVAL SHIPYARD
- 1946-09-23 REPORT NO. 8 – EXPERIMENTAL WORK AT SAN FRANCISCO NAVAL SHIPYARD
- 1946-09-24 RADIOLOGICAL CLEARANCE OF NON TARGET VESSELS AND PROCEDURES FOR DECONTAMINATION; Ships bound for Pacific bases after Atomic Bomb tests
- 1946-09-10 Cleaning Salt Water Systems; dumping radiation directly into into San Francisco Bay
- 1946 Nuclear radiation exposure requiring hospitalization of the crew of the USS Bayfield at Puget Sound Naval Base Bremerton Washington 26 September 1946
- 1946-10-01 Meeting discussing the dumping of radioactive Sand into SF Bay, Puget Sound, LA, San Diego, Pearl Harbor, Norfolk etc.
- 1946-12-04 ACID AND OTHER DECONTAMINATING SOLUTIONS USED IN CLEARING SALT WATER SYSTEMS MAY BE DISCHARGED INTO HARBORS
- Dumping Nuclear Waste Directly into San Francisco Bay the Cover UP, NAVY REPORT 10 December 1946
- Plutonium injections – Human Radiation Experiments at UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco by Joseph Hamilton and Robert Stone
- 1946 Chemical Warfare Training and Radium Plaque Adaptometer course Schedules at Treasure Island and the Navy from US Naval Training Bulletin
Treasure Island California 