Wreck Diving at Bikini Atoll
by: ThePope
Word Count: 366
Where can you dive, in the one day, two wrecks of 43,000 tons displacement and one of 31,000 tons? "Not possible" you might say! Well it is, and what's more, they are within a few hundred metres of each other and mostly within the magic 40 metres sportdiving limit set by instruction agencies.
The bad news, at least for the moment, is that although there is a dive operation that services these magnificent shipwrecks, the price is way out of reach of all but the richest divers. This is because the wrecks are to be found at the bottom of Bikini Atoll Lagoon.
The three wrecks mentioned above are the 43,500 ton USS Saratoga, a carrier of 880 feet, the 43,581 ton battleship HIJMS Nagato, 708 feet long, and the USS Arkansas, a 31,900 ton, 562 feet long battleship.
As well as these vessels, there are two US destroyers (Anderson and Lamson [sister to USS Tucker at Vanuatu]), two US submarines (Apogon and Pilotfish), one Japanese cruiser (Sakawa) and two heavy transports (Gilliam and Carlisle).
All these vessels (and a number of others) were sunk during two atomic tests (the third and fourth ever conducted) that formed Operation Crossroads on 1 July (Able) and 25 July 1946 (Baker).
Despite what you might think, the radiation is not dangerous. A recent study showed that the radiological dose while swimming in the lagoon is essentially zero and the radiological dose for a two week diving visit is estimated at about 1/10 that of living in a US city for two weeks.
The USS Saratoga is almost 100% intact, sitting upright on the bottom with the bridge area only 12 metres below the surface. The flightdeck is about 27 metres down and the sand 54 metres deep. Inside the vessel are aircraft, bombs and other remains. The Arkansas and Nagato are fairly intact, but they are located on their sides and therefore a bit deeper for real internal exploration. All the vessels sunk at Bikini were loaded with armaments, fuel and stores to simulate real wartime situations.
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© Michael McFadyen - Devilfish Diving Services
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