Bikini, the Eneman base camp was to be the center of operation
.
Parties
recovering scientific data soon after the shot would operate fJgom Navy
vessels in the lagoon, until early radiological surveys determined that
the atoll environment was safe enough to move data-recovery op@rations
ashore,
When shot BRAVO, the first CASTLE shot at Bikini, was detogated on
l March, it contaminated the base facilities on Eneman Island
operation plan was abandoned.
dnd the pre-
To provide for personnel safety[during re-
covery operations, four Navy ships served as platforms for TU ]
activities (Reference 9, Annex N).
radsafe
These functions are indicafed in Ta-
ble ll.
Table 11.
Shipboard radsafe activities, CASTLE.
Location
Bairoko (CVE-115)
Radsafe
Center
Radsafe
Checkpoint
Decdntamination
Station
x
X
X
Curtiss (AV-4)
X
Fred C. Ainsworth (T-AP-181)
Estes (AGC-12)
‘
X
X
X
A barge moored alongside the Ainsworth provided the radsafq@
checkpoint
and decontamination station.
The task force conducted radsafe operations from these vesgels for the
remaining four shots at Bikini.
To alleviate the crowded workjng space
conditions, the Curtiss and the Ainsworth's radsafe barge were jdesignated
as radsafe subcenters, primarily for the use by, and control off, personnel
from TG 7.1 and TG 7.5 (Reference 17, p. 14).
Because the entire atoll had been contaminated to some extd@nt, all task
force personnel stationed at Bikini lived aboard ship for the
the Bikini shots.
No personnel left shipboard without permiss
and exit at contaminated areas were strictly controlled throug
127
emainder of
n.
Entry
radsafe