projected additional exposure would have raised their total th over 15 R;
these men did not return aboard the YAG.
Task Unit 7.3.7 (Bikini Harbor Unit)
The USS Belle Grove, as Task Element 7.3.7.0, and the Bikini Boat Pool,
as Task Element 7.3.7.1, made up the Bikini Harbor Unit.
Pool operated 15 LCMs,
-1225, and -1348},
5 LCUs with permanent crews
TheJBikini Boat
(LCU-637,
4638,
-1224,
2 LCPRs, an LCPL, a 28-foot motor whale bodt (MWB), an
Air Force crash boat
(AVR),
and a covered barge,
YFN-934.
Th@
latter
served as a dispatching facility and spare parts store for bo
ations between shots.
pool oper-
Together with the H&N Boat Pool, the N
Boat Pool
provided interisland and ship-to-shore transportation to the jpint task
force at Bikini.
The Belle Grove also transported shot devicek
from Ene-
wetak to Bikini as the Special Devices Transport Element, 7.3.3.0, of
TU 7.3.9,
the Transport Unit.
During evacuations for Bikini shots, the Belle Grove took
LCMs and the AVR into its well deck.
Remaining craft, includi
LCUs, were moored in the lagoon in the lee of Eneu Island.
tug towed YFN-934 to sea.
e 15 Navy
A
Both Navy and H&N personnel, along
radsafe advisor, went aboard the Belle Grove, which was one of
the five
Utility Unit
with a TG 7.1
Fhe last
ships to leave the lagoon and one of the first to reenter during
shot op-
erations, allowing critical construction and recovery operationg
to pro-
ceed with the least possible interruption.
The Belle Grove's ag@tivity for
each shot is described in Table 78.
After reentry following a shot, the Belle Grove put both bodt pools
into operation as soon as the lagoon was declared safe for boating.
At the
same time, Navy boat pool personnel, with assistance from ships’] crews,
began decontaminating the craft left behind.
These assignments
fFreated a
far greater possibility of radiological exposure than for most ofher units.
This is reflected in the waiver of MPE for boat pool crews following shot
BRAVO.
Altogether 49 members of the boat pool and 2 crewmen from
Belle Grove received exposures over 3.9 R.
366
the