Atomic Testing 1946

[Guest]

I believe she was responsible for re-setting buoys that had been pushed out of position by the blasts.

[Timerover51]

I worked on her as a relief manager a couple years ago and she is, indeed, in good shape.

I figured she would be going at some point as the Museum didn't want her listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as she rightfully belongs.

I hope your intentions for her are noble, as she deserves a happy future and not something ignominious.

I intend on taking her to the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific to locate the USS Strong, a Fletcher-class destroyer sunk off of the northwest coast of the island of New Georgia, and then attempt to locate the submarine USS Grampus which vanished in the same area in March of 1943. While there, I also will be checking out the status of the wreck of the PT-109, which I helped Dr. Robert Ballard, the man who located the Titanic. to locate in May of 2002. If this trip is successful, I then hope to take her into the Northwest Passage again to try to locate the Erebus and Terror, the lost ships of the Franklin Expedition of 1845. She will be traveling both new seas and the seas of her youth, bringing stories of courage and endurance alive to all that will listen.

[guest]

I worked on her as a relief manager a couple years ago and she is, indeed, in good shape.

I figured she would be going at some point as the Museum didn't want her listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as she rightfully belongs.

I hope your intentions for her are noble, as she deserves a happy future and not something ignominious.

[Timerover51]

Logbooks from that far back are probably in the National Archives. The government took all of the important artifacts off her related to the Northwest Passage trip, including the big plaque. There is only a photograph of it on the bulkhead where it once hung.

If she's sold, it will be a shame. She is the most historically significant of the 180-foot cutter class, according to the Historic American Engineering Record report that Timerover is quoting from.

I have been talking extensively with the Port Huron Museum, and they simply cannot afford to keep the ship. I will be in Port Huron on Saturday, Oct. 30, to look the ship over with the possibility of purchasing it. Based on all what I have found out, the ship is in superb shape.

[Guest]

Logbooks from that far back are probably in the National Archives. The government took all of the important artifacts off her related to the Northwest Passage trip, including the big plaque. There is only a photograph of it on the bulkhead where it once hung.

If she's sold, it will be a shame. She is the most historically significant of the 180-foot cutter class, according to the Historic American Engineering Record report that Timerover is quoting from.

[Timerover51]

Back in 1946 when the US Government tested the effects of atomic bombs on surface ships via Operation Crossroads, I have read that the Cutter Bramble participated in this operation. I am rather curious to know what role she played during these tests. Was she a target vessel? Or was she used as a support vessel used to inspect damage and transfer personell and equipment around the fleet to repair, or get damage under control for the survey of damage? Anyone out there read at all what the USCG's duty or task was in this test? I am rather curious to know. Thanks.

Steve, I will be on board the Bramble on October 30, inspecting it with the possibility of purchasing the ship. I plan on checking to see if there are any log books from the period on board.

Edit Note: I found this information on the Bramble in the National Park Service report on the 180 foot class of buoy tenders.

"While based in California Bramble traveled to Bikini Atoll in the
Marshall Island to participate in Operation Crossroads. Bikini
was the site of U.S. atomic bomb tests. Bramble took over
responsibility for the maintenance of AtoN in Bikini’s lagoon
from her sister ship Redbud, which had helped prepare the
target area for the first round of tests. After several weeks of
refurbishing AtoN, marking channels into the lagoon, and
working on the moorings for ships used as target vessels during
the tests, Bramble left Bikini. Bramble paused about fifteen
miles from the atoll to watch the detonation of an atomic bomb
over the target area before setting a course for Hawaii.41"

AtoN means Aids to Navigation

[Guest]

I think I may have read at one time she tended buoys around the area that marked channels and relevant points to the testing. She obviously was not one of the test vessels.

[Guest]

The Coast Guard Historians Office should be able to help.

U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office

Historian's Office (CG-09224)
U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters
2100 Second Street, SW
Washington, DC 20593-0001

(202) 372-4651
(202) 372-4653
Fax: (202) 372-4984

[sh71382]

Back in 1946 when the US Government tested the effects of atomic bombs on surface ships via Operation Crossroads, I have read that the Cutter Bramble participated in this operation. I am rather curious to know what role she played during these tests. Was she a target vessel? Or was she used as a support vessel used to inspect damage and transfer personell and equipment around the fleet to repair, or get damage under control for the survey of damage? Anyone out there read at all what the USCG's duty or task was in this test? I am rather curious to know. Thanks.