left in Bikini Lagoon during shots detonated there. The BAIROKO provided helicopters and a radiological laboratory. personnel and small craft. The BELLE GROVE provided the boat pool, both The CURTISS transported the test devices and the associated personnel of TG 7.1. The ESTES was the JTF-7 flagship and also provided headquarters facilities for the staffs of TG 7.1 through 7.4 during operations at Bikini. The destroyers EPPERSON, NICHOLAS, PHILIP, and RENSHAW provided surface security patrols and performed plane guard, escort, and air control station duties. LST-551 and LST-762 provided interatoll transportation. The LST-825 and LST-975 were transient ships not attached to TG 7.3 and thus had no operational assignments with respect to the rest of the task group (Reference1). Because the first five shots were detonated at Bikini, the majority of the ships operated in the vicinity of Bikini until after Shot YANKEE on 5 May. Exceptions to this were the LST-551 and LST-762 which, except for trips to Bikini between shots, remained at or near Enewetak. The LST-825 departed Enewetak the day after Shot BRAVO enroute to Japan and LST-975 did not arrive in the PPG until approximately 1 May. Two of the four destroyers were always on patrol either in the Enewetak area or far from Bikini at the time of the five Bikini events. Following Shot YANKEE, most of the ships began to shift operations to Enewetak where Shot NECTAR was detonated on 14 May. During Bikini operations the AINSWORTH, BAIROKO, BELLE GROVE, CURTISS and ESTES were normally anchored in Bikini Lagoon except for late on D-1 and well into D-Day during which time they, along with the other ships operating in the vicinity of Bikini, took assigned stations to the southeast of the atoll, some 30 to 50 nautical miles from surface zero. All personnel evacuated Bikini aboard TG 7.3 ships the night before each shot; return to Bikini anchorages was planned for the afternoon of D-Day. 2.1.1 Shot BRAVO Shot BRAVO was detonated at Bikini Atoll at 0645 hours, 1 March 1954. Nine of the task group ships were operating in the southeast quadrant off Bikini (see Figure 2-1), having departed Bikini the night before. 1? With the exception of the NICHOLAS,