single location for working on the nuclear devices.
It included support
and shelter of the assembly teams, machine tool facilities, and highexplosive magazines at hand.
ence 5, p.
This was completed in March 1954
(Refer-
2-199).
The devices were largely assembled in this area and then transported
by water to the test location.
A ramp was available within the area so
that an LST could take devices aboard by truck.
The barge-detonated de-
vices were assembled in a shelter
on the barge, which was
(called a cab)
moored in a specially constructed slip equipped with a large overhead
crane to handle heavy loads
(Figure 7).
After completion of work, the
device barges were towed to their final destinations.
The Air Force component of the joint task force, based on Kwajalein in
previous operations, was moved to Enewetak for CASTLE.
This move required
considerable improvement in the airfield that occupied the southern half
of Enewetak Island.
looking west.
B~36s
Figure 8 shows the extreme western end of the island
The light area near the right wing of one of the parked
is a decontamination area that was constructed for CASTLE.
In the northeastern are of the islands, a causeway constructed for
GREENHOUSE (1951)
to link Eleleron, Aomon, Bigire, and Lojwa islands was
widened.
A major construction camp was built on the Lojwa end of this
complex.
This required some work that is more properly described in the
following subsection (p.
47)
on the radiological condition of Enewetak.
Generally, the northern and eastern islands involved in the shot or
shot-support activities had been graded extensively.
Japtan, lying just
across the Deep Passage from Parry, still contained a considerable stand
of coconut palms, pandanus, scaevola, and other tropical vegetation.
In October 1952, H&N, acting as the resident contractor for the AEC,
began construction of a camp on Eneman Island on the southern perimeter of
Bikini.
An airstrip to serve Bikini-Enewetak traffic was also begun on the
neighboring islands of Aerokojlol and Aerokoj and on the causeway that was
45
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