AE oe ee Col. Schnittke MAY 24 “7 (e) Graves ‘asked: “If we go ‘te “TAONGI, do we have te increase. ves . the danger areat* Gen. Sterbird stated that it would be 6 0 3” “best not to inerease the dangerarea if the present is operas 9.5". , tionally acceptable, Therewas gonsidersble. disoussion, noo ge. _ following whieh Johnson, recommended that we proceed on the = * ” ao ‘basis that. we do not’ increase the danger area, Gen. Starbird — “ feels that we.should not restricteitselves operationally hy. ‘ Ss Limiting thebise of the dangerarea to the East of TAONGI, . j-Me feels that we should keep the flexibilityiA operation that - we are gaining by going toTAGNGI, If the present, dariger.area “would prevent us from shooting to the Bast under certain» : weather conditions, it might be best to increase the ares, | 2 “<~ Perhaps we should continue looking at the questionasd ‘Hot ‘try. te make a decision at present, Gen, Luededke agreedwithGen,Starbird with‘referenceto increasing the danger‘area if:GS oA: appears5 operationally desirable, He pointed ‘out“that we do’‘het ng a _ support requiredtte support TAONGI as a third shot Bite, and commented on the cost of operation of an AKC diagnostic ship _ such as theCurtiss, The additional Naval support yequiremant as originally envisioned and some notes on operating a ship of Gartiss type by civilian crew are attached. These papers .— : together with the attached report of surveillance of TAONGI and ©... estimate of task to open channel were given me by Commander Sterrett. The latter 2 papers were not specifically discussed _ " at the meeting. Commander Starrett stated that an APA will be ~ used in lieu of the Curtiss for Bikini support, whether or not .. TAONGI is used in this operation, The Curtiss will be putin moth balis if it is not turned overto AEC for use asa diagnostic ship. JF ete ‘ 2 8: 8, In concluding the discussion“concerning the use of ‘taouat the , following remarks were made: Lo . npeed Ogle ‘wishes to’ay“Ghead’‘ind decide’ on air"ot. se bie’spatitib bi:“at o independent of TAONGI, Bo “that planning for that portion of the- operation may proceed,’.’“This would allow ail of DOD andTASL.plane, erete planning, - Underwater shots.tobefired‘off Southerne tok: . fcLAS shots to“be fired,at Eniwetok, with possthleexcemena