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14
Emphasis in this short account will be found to be on broad operational problems of the Air Task
Group, and on information on the results
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ee
Operation CASTLE also showed that the system of firing thermonu-
clear devices from anchored barges (no thermonuclear device or weapon
has to date been detonated as an air drop) in Bikini and Eniwetok Atolls
wags practical.
By firing from barges anchored in the craters of pre-
vious shots, the limited amount of available real estate was thus pre-
served for future tests.
By leaving the reef intact, the lagoon was
preserved, and lagoon operations were protected from strong ocean currents and roughness.
The high-yield thermonuclear devices detonated on the surface at
CASTLE caused radiological contamination of personnel and natives in
the atolls to the east of Bikini Atoll following BRAVO, and made it evident that the Pacific Proving Ground had outgrown its previously