Now lately ive been diving into the atom bomb from the Baker bomb to the Tsar Bomba and beyond. I have this question for awhile. I know the Baker bomb wasnt even a firecracker compared to modern day armaments. So what were all those ships doing so close? Id assume some of them were there for scientific purposes or maybe some mothballed ships to examine destruction properties. I mean tyou watch the video and its right there on top of them.
The plan was to examine amongst other things the effectiveness of nukes on a fleet. They even went so far in some cases to place livestock on the ships to see what the effect on the crew would be.
Turns out most of the ships could take a lot of damage and at least were still floating after multiple tests. But were so irradiated that it was unsafe to send anyone aboard to make repairs so many of the ones that sank did so from slow leaks.
Interesting enough one of the ships that was used was the former Prinz Eugen. After the war was over the USN took possession of her and sailed her through the Panama Canal all the way to Bikini. She even survived both Able and Baker blasts and later sank because of leaks.