This next series of pictures has major historical import. On the way to Manila, Philippines, the USS General H.W. Butner passed through several places in the South Pacific, including Kwajalein Atoll.
The United States has used Kwajalein Atoll for military purposes since 1944, including establishing it as the main support site for Operation Crossroads, a weapons-testing program designed to test the effects of nuclear weapons on naval ships conducted at nearby Bikini Atoll in 1946. Operation Crossroads was the first nuclear weapons test after the July 16, 1945 nuclear test at the Trinity Site in New Mexico – the culmination of the Manhattan Project.
While passing by Kwajalein Atoll either in September or early October 1946, my pap saw several of the surviving target ships brought back from Bikini Atoll anchored in the lagoon and took some pictures.
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