cory Ad . ~ Memorandum CONFIRMED TO BE UN UNCLASSIRED AUTHORITY DOE/SA-20 éBY D.R. db 13 June 70 (e-4¢ To : Distad Marshalls From : Distad Rep Bikini Subject : My comments on the accompanying report on the M-boats ‘at Bikini Atoll. Since I arrived on Bikini over six months are the M-boats have been one of my biggest problems. One of the three has never run in all of this time. The other two have run sporadically. Most of the observations made by Mr. Kirk I can personally verify. Having spent over six months with these M-boats I can relate many instances that back up his conclusions. There have been times when we have tried to move one of the inoperative M-boats by tying one of the running M-boats to it and using the powar from this one to move both of them, and have one or both of the engines on the running boat cut out and fail to restart (the batteries soon go dead upon repeated attempts). In one instance we nearly were blown out to sea before we managed to get one of the other engines running and move back to the dock. -- When the two running boats are docking and the engines are changed from ahead to astern one of the engines frequently fails. The ramps on the boats frequently do not operate and off-loading of many ite: especially heavy equipment, is impossible. -- The ramps have been down numerous times and the winches have been unable to lift them, and in two cas: the ramps fell into the water and could not be raised without special assistance. The latest instance of repeated malfunctioning of these M-boats occurred during the past three weeks. The Atomic Encrgy Commission chartered one of the boats for their use in conducting their work on various islands on the atoll. In three weeks the M-boat was used only five hours due to sundry mechanical problems. They used our Boston Whaler instead of the M-boat. All of these defects and problems require at least the services of one full time marine engineer. We have not had a qualified marine engineer on Bikini for over four months and the man we had originally was overworked to the point of not being able to even keep up with the problems as they occurred, let alone get ahead of them. Needless to say, the problems we have had with the M-boats have slowed the rehabilitation program down. And now that we are starting to work on the island of Bikini we need a M-boat operating every work day. And the safety factor, which is foremost, has not even’ been mentioned. ‘ , COPY | a