July 25th [1946]
- The "Baker" Day arrived withbeautiful sunny blue sky &
occasional white clouds - breakfast
@ 7.15 on deck at 8 & climbed
on to look-out post on starboard
side back of bridge - tried to
locate ships & did so fairly satisfactorily - were told we were
11 miles away from target which
I could see. the loud speaker called
the time like the start of a
yacht race - it went off as he said
the words - a clear view as we
had just passed the Appalachian -
[Sk,?] the Panamint, the Blue Ridge
were about a mile inside us &
the Mt. McKinley two miles.
First I saw a white blast
wave spread horizontally. It was
much bigger than I anticipated -
An instant later came a huge
column of water -with straight
sides - It went up a long way -
but no plume on top. a white
cloud without mushroom shape
found the ceiling - it arose to
expected - I was told about 5000 ft.
It spread out a little wider in
diameter than the water spout
then suddenly a piece of the
target ships shot out of the cloud
on our left & dove for the surface -
As the spray came down it seemed
to be a quire dark gray - then the light
grayish haze hung over the ships.
It took bet. 10 & 15 minutes for
this to clear so the red of the
Nevada could again be distinguished -
Meanwhile about as foreseen
a wave hit
Bikini - This could
be distinctly seen - I should
guess two to three big ones that
diminished quickly - they spread
from
Bikini to the islands to the
The grayish fog bank gradually
blew to the west but hung quite
visible for at least 3/4 qts. of
and hour - the overhead white
cloud mingled & disapated much
more rapidly -
My estimation of the scientists
prophecy is high - they overestimated
the height of the water but not
much - the diameter of the spout
I guess was quite accurate - the
horizontal blast force I expected
larger from what they said - how
much of the dark cloud coming
down was from mud I don't
know but that was bigger
than I expected - The looks of
the white water thrown up was
like the pictures - the waves on
The Arkansas is gone - what
else we can't yet see - @ 10
AM
we are steaming in - The McKinley,
a destroyer, & the Appalachian
are ahead of us - now on deck again -
4.20 P.M.- no particular change during
the morning - we held our position
about 6 miles to the east & waited -
about 2 P.M. we started to go
south to round
Ewoi Island &
come up the channel - we
anchored about 3.30 P.M. after a
lovely hot sail - I was watching
the Saratoga - she was listing
heavily to starboard & gradually
going down - but very slowly -
beyond her an A.P. had a list
to port & the Nagato is listing -
[Saltonstall previously wrote only on the recto of the page; but having
reached the last page in the diary, began writing on the verso.] (turn
over & reverse the book)
4 to watch the Saratoga go down -
Her stern was already in the water-
By 4.10 she was all under except
for the top of her radar turret -
That may not have gone - It is
hard to see- We guess that the
A.P. will go next - probably during
the night - The radio activity
is so hot there (about 300 [renthermes?]
where .1 is safe) that they could
do nothing - Did I mention
that the water all round
there this morning was obviously
lighter in color - presumably
from the bottom being dug out -?
Penney guessed a hole 50 ft
deep & 1000 ft in diameter)
Now for a walk with Farrell-
This evening I visited Col.
Warren's radio activity room
on the Haven - Their data To-date
is very mixed - They hope for
better luck tomorrow - There are
destroyers outside the lagoon for
a distance of 80 miles patrolling
to pick up the mist for activity -
also inside down at S.W. end
for activity - The current has
been sluggish due to the lack of
wind - It ought to go 3 miles
a day above & back at 100 ft
depth ½ mile a day - S.W.
@ 3 - N.E.
@ ½. (I think)-
Then to bed -
[The entry for 26 July 1946, which concludes this page, has not been transcribed. Please refer to the page image.]