CHAPTER IV, SECTION 2 SECTION 2 MARINE OPERATIONS The Marine Operations Department was di‘ctly supervised by a Marine Superintendent nd was responsible for operating and main- aining facilities to provide intra-atoll and inter- toll water transportation for cargo and personiel; locating, improving, and marking channels; nstalling and maintaining approximately 250 nooring buoys; providing tug services to oceanxoing vessels in docking; moving scientific and sargo barges and houseboats; installing and maintaining underwater pipelines; operating cable-laying boats; furnishing deep and shallow water divers; mooring scientific barges and other scientific afloat stations; and operating the ocean-going vessel MV ALOTO. Perhaps the most significant factor of the HARDTACK Operation with respect to marine activity was that of 37 zero stations prepared, 23 were located on barges and 5 were on LCU hulls. With this increase in shot stations afloat in HARDTACK over previous Operations, marine support services increased proportionally. Figure No. 4-8. Lifting Mooring Buoy to Sea Mule Deck. specially-fitted, large, cable winches were used dition to providing for smoother operations in loading the test device and its instrumentation. Houseboats were widely used, requiring 24-hour services of LCM’s and DUKW’s; LCU’s with to lay and retrieve cables to detectors and recorders. Extensive shallow-water diving was required on caisson work in connection with Pinex barges and other Scientific Stations; and varied support in materials and personnel was furnished the Users in their instrumentation activities. The USS CREE, towing Stations 3 and 8 to Bikini from Eniwetok, had to set Station 3 adrift approximately 35 miles from its desti- nation. This Station, carrying a heavy sand bal- last load, sprung a leak, became almost totally submerged, and floated on end with approximately 20 feet of its 120-foot length above water. After the USS CREE delivered Station 8 to Bikini, she recovered Station 3, which she towed to Eniwetok, where it was raised and placed in drydockfor repairs. The major portion of the construction of Barge and LCU Hull Stations was accomplished at Elmer. Those destined for use in Bikini Atoll were either towed or carried there in an LSD. A newly-constructed barge slip was constructed at Nan, and final outfitting of the barges and loading of the test devices were accomplished at this facility for the Bikini shots. This slip differed from the one at Elmer in that it was provided with gates at the seaward end and hinged loading ramps at the inshore end, which facilitated movement onto and off the barges in ad- Since the first use of Barge Zero Stations in Operation CASTLE, there have been evolved methods and techniques for mooring and positioning which have proved effective for expedit- ing the operation and maintenance of tolerances required in barge movements. The 585-ton Army-type BC barge and the standard LCU (stripped of engines and equipment) were modified to meet the scientific criteria for each station. Of particular interest was the innovation of the Pinex barge, which required considerable construction to the underwater body. Pinex tubes extended through the barge structure approximately 25 feet below the water line, and it was found most economical and feasible to perform the construction in drydock. The extent of the work involved, combined with the fact that Pinex criteria were late in being developed, led to the acquisition of a second floating dry- dock (AFDL-27) so that two barges could be worked concurrently, thereby enabling the meeting of completion dates. The docking of these Pinex barges was rather unusual in that the dock blocks were doubled in height, and approximately one-third of the barge extended beyond the stern of the drydock. Inter-island transportation of cargo and personnel was provided by boats on scheduled runs between camp sites or by assignment of craft Page 413