BAKER test In 1946, the
United States conducted the first
nuclear weapon tests designed to measure nuclear explosion effects on ships,
Operation Crossroads. The second shot of this test, BAKER, was designed to test the effects of an underwater nuclear blast on surface ships and submarines.
LSM-60 was modified with a well through the cargo deck and hull, a derrick to lower the bomb through the well, and a large antenna to receive the detonation signal. On 25 July, a standard Mk. 3A "
Fat Man" type atomic bomb, nicknamed
Helen of Bikini, placed in a watertight casing, was suspended 90 feet below
LSM-60 in the lagoon of
Bikini Atoll in the
Marshall Islands. At 0835 local time the bomb was detonated, destroying
LSM-60 and sinking eight target ships, including . A seaman present claimed that "there was not one identifiable piece of the
LSM-60 ever located", == External links ==