the project officers in overseas operational and logistic problems and to
obtain more complete information from them for planning purposes.
Fortunatekgea few of the shakier projects discussed at that meeting
fell by the wayside; but the bulk of them, augmented by a comparatively
few later expansions and additions, became the Redwing experimental programs, summarized in Chapter 2,
By April 1955, the ready date for the first shot had been changed to
April 15, 1956, and by June it had been delayed until May 1, 1956. In July
it was decided to fire the l-point shots in Nevada in the late fall and winter
of 1955, and to delete them from the Redwing program.
In order to make the maximum use of the limited land available and
of instrument stations already in existence, three shots were sceduled on
the Eberiru complex plus one on Rujoru, three on Runit and one in the air
above Runit, and six on barges near the Yurochi complex. When weather
for large shots proved more favorable at Eniwetok than Bikini, and comple-
tion of the Bikini program lagged, the
shifted to the Mike crater at Eniwetok.
barges were
Because of the size of
the fact that it had to be fired early in
the program, the
Runit towers were not built until after aa: detonated.
3.4.2
Determination of Requirements
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7
As shown in the preceding section, a list of probable Redwing shots
prepared in December 1954 indicated an operation similar in scope to Castle;
preliminary estimates of military support requirements submitted at that
time were based accordingly. Unfortunately, the DOD system for planning
the support of overseas nuclear tests entails estimates of requirements long
before the shot schedule (which governs all of the planning of the Scientific
Task Group) is in any way firm.
The result is that preliminary estimates
of requirements must be based to a degree on the preceding operation, and
change substantially as planning progresses.
Except for motor vehicles, Table 3.3 lists the principal items of military support of both direct and indirect interest to TG 7.1, and shows how
requirements changed during the planning phase of the operation. No distinction is drawn in the table between items of direct interest to TG 7.1,
such as a command and firing ship, and effects ships and aircraft, and
items resulting from TG 7.1’s requirements for servicés such as base facil-
ities, transportation, and communications, which generate material requirements in the task groups which have to provide those services.
Preliminary estimates of Redwing motor vehicle requirements, made in
January 1955, were based on experience gained during Castle and totaled
x
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