Following Operation Crossroads, a Scienfific Resurvey was conducted in 1947 to assess the condition of the wrecks, conducted by the Navy, Army, Smithsoinian Institution and US Fish and Wildlife Service. According to Reference 1, more than 600 dives were made on the wrecks of Saratoga, Apogon and Pilotfish, as well as Nagato.

In 1954 "Operation Castle" was conducted at Bikini and Enewetak Atolls. A total of six hydrogen fusion bombs (thermonuclear weapons, as opposed to the fission bombs set off during Operation Crossroads) were set off, five of them at Bikini, including the largest nuclear explosion ever conducted by the United States, "Bravo," estimated to be about 1000 times more powerful than the weapons used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After Castle, "Operation Redwing" lit off 17 explosions at Bikini and Enewetak in 1956, six of them at Bikini. In 1958, "Operation Hardtack 1" exploded another 35 nuclear devices at what had become known as the "Pacific Proving Grounds." Ten of the detonations occurred at Bikini. Nuclear testing at Bikini ended in 1958 after a total of 23 detonations.

When I visited the wrecks of Bikini in 1996, there was a land-based dive operation that had just opened that year. That operation closed in 2008, and now the only way to visit these magnificent shipwrecks is by liveaboard dive boat. Our group was able to visit the Atoll in May 2023 aboard Master Liveaboards Taka / Pacific Master. The boat is well setup for this type of deeper diving with support for both open circuit and closed circuit divers. The crew were excellent and ran a fantastic operation.

All underwater images were shot in May 2023; copyright 2023 Bradley Sheard. Equipment used was a Sony A7RIV camera in a Nauticam housing.

The tiny destroyer USS Anderson (DD-411) was no match for the ABLE blast at Bikini. Anchored near the detonation point, Anderson capsized after two internal explosions and reportedly sank within seven minutes of the Able blast. At 348-feet long, Anderson was a Sims class destroyer, armed with five 5-inch guns, torpedoes and depth charges as well as anti-aircraft guns. Operating in the Atlantic when Pearl Harbor was attacked, Anderson was quickly shifted to the Pacific theatre where she spent the remainder of the war. The destroyer was present at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 and the Battle of Midaway in June 1942. That summer and into the fall she was active in the Solomons theatre and took part in the Battle of the Santa Cruz islands. She also saw action off Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Aleutians and Japanese waters.

Anderson lies on her port side with her equipment and superstructure laid out on the sandy lagoon bottom. (When I first visited Bikini in 1996 this wreck had not yet been found, so 2023 was the first time I saw her.) The wreck is visually spectacular.

Both USS Apogon (SS-308, left) and USS Pilotfish (SS-386, right) were Balao-class US fleet submarines. Apogon made eight war patrols during the war and was credited with sinking three Japanese vessels. Pilotfish made five war patrols and only torpedoed a single enemy ship, spending a good deal of her time in the Pacific performing lifeguard duty. Both submarines were anchored on the surface for the first test, and were only lightly damaged during the ABLE blast. Both vessels were anchored submerged for the BAKER blast, and neither would surface again. Today they sit largely upright on the floor of the lagoon, and are two of the most intact sunken submarines to be found anywhere.

The USS Arkansas (BB-33) was a 562-foot long battleship armed with a main battery of twelve 12-inch guns arranged in six turrets. Launched in 1911, she served in both World Wars, seeing action around the globe including the Normandy D-day invasion where she covered Omaha Beach; transferred to the Pacific, she provided support for the invasions of both Iwo Jima and Okinawa. During Operation Crossroads she was anchored within 1/2 mile of ground zero for the ABLE blast, and only 500-feet from ground zero for the BAKER detonation, which sent her to the bottom. Today she lies essentially upside-down in 170-feet of water, with her port side largely intact, while the starboard side is flattened into the lagoon bottom. At the ship's bow a diver can swim underneath her decks and examine the huge 12-inch guns, which point outward to port. The Arkansas' stern is partially flattened into the sandy bottom and is a scene of disarray. At least one of her mighty propellers can still be found at the end of it's shaft, however, it is well camouflaged with a growth of wire coral and schools of baitfish.

For more details of the Arkansas' amazing career, see my article:

In the Wake of Dreadnoughts...Part III

At 708-feet long and armed with huge 16-inch guns, the HIJMS battleship Nagato was perhaps the pride of the Japanese fleet. Nagato was the flagship of Admiral Yamamoto, and although she didn't participate in the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it was here that Yamamoto first heard by wireless of the successful attack. Only moderately damaged by the ABLE bomb, she was sent to the bottom by the BAKER blast. Lying upside-down on the floor of the lagoon, the ship's huge stern guns are an impressive sight beneath her immense hull. Near the Nagato's bow a diver can find enough clearance between the huge inverted hull and the sandy lagoon bottom to examine her forward 16-inch guns. The bow guns still have their muzzle plugs in place. As Nagato sank and rolled over to starboard, her superstructure was crushed on the sea bottom and today is stretched out to port. It was here, from the Nagato's bridge, that Yamamoto commanded the great ship. At the Nagato's stern, four immense propellers rise above her inverted hull.

At 888-feet long, the USS Saratoga (CV-3) is surely the largest ship sunk at Bikini. Originally laid down as a cruiser, she was converted to an aircraft carrier before completion due to the post-war naval arms agreements concluded after World War I. The Saratoga took part in many of the major battles in the Pacific, including Guadalcanal, the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, Tarawa and Rabaul. In February 1945 the carrier was struck by no fewer than five kamikazis. Sunk nearly eight-hours after the Baker blast, the Saratoga sits upright on the bottom of the lagoon and is the most impressive wreck at Bikini. The bow towers high above the lagoon bottom; anchor chains used to hang down from her hawsepipes just below the flight deck as recently as 1996, but have now fallen to the bottom. Down at her keel an impressive growth of wire coral reaches up toward the sunlight overhead. The Saratoga had two 5-inch gun turrets mounted on her main deck at the time of the tests (two had been removed), one forward and one aft of the superstructure. The guns prove an impressive sight on her flight deck.