assisted in decontaminating the harbor craft and small boats left behind
tee ete
in Bikini Lagoon during shots detonated there.
A total of 31 personnel of
the Utility Unit received exposures greater than 3.9 R during CASTLE.
Task Unit 7.3.6 (Atomic Warfare Ship Countermeasures Test Unit)
This unit contained two task elements.
The Drone Ship Element,
7.3.6.0, was made up of the specially modified Liberty ships, YAG-39
George Eastman)
and YAG-40
(USS Granville §. Hall).
tamination Element, 7.3.6.1,
(USS
The Towing and Decon-
included the Molala, whose primary responsi-
bility was servicing the YAGs, and the Tawakoni, both of them fleet tugs
of the Utility Unit.
The principal purpose of the unit was to use the
YAGS as data-collection platforms for Projects 6.4 and 6.5, which required
both ships to be positioned in the area of heaviest fallout.
Both YAGs
were instrumented with fallout-collection devices, as well as with various
test materials, in order to determine their susceptibility to fallout contamination and the ease with which they could be decontaminated.
ship had a shielded control compartment and,
ated by remote control.
Each
in addition, could be oper-
While YAG-39 mounted a washdown system topside,
YAG-40 did not, thereby providing a cortrol situation for the experiments
being conducted on board both ships.
The YAGs were employed on shots BRAVO, ROMEO, UNION, and YANKEE.
Neither ship had a crew on board for the first two shots, but on the latter two YAG-39 carried a skeleton crew that controlled the ship from the
shielded control compartment.
The usual pattern of operation was for
crews to sail both YAGs to Bikini Lagoon prior to the tests.
Before the
ships left the lagoon, most YAG crewmen were transferred to other TG 7.3
ships for evacuation sorties.
Skeleton crews then sailed the YAGs to a
debarkation point in the anticipated fallout area accompanied by the
Molala.
The tug removed the skeleton crews and took over the YAGs by re-
mote control.
(There is evidence that the Bairoko might also have had
remote-control capabilities.)
An Enewetak-based P2V-5 aircraft equipped
with remote controls assumed control of the YAGs for the duration of shottime activities.
The skeleton crew on board YAG-39 could also control
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