Sakawa (酒匂) was the last of four Agano-class light cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Fuel shortages crippled the IJN's operations by the time the ship was completed in late 1944 and she never left Japanese waters. After the war, Sakawa was used to ferry Japanese troops home until she was selected in early 1946 to be expended for nuclear weapon tests during Operation Crossroads. The ship was used as a target during the first bomb test on 1 July and sank the following day.
Sakawa in November 1944 at Sasebo, shortly before commissioning
Sakawa in Sasebo, 15 October 1945
Sakawa awaiting atomic bomb testing, 1946
Aerial view of the Able mushroom cloud rising from the lagoon with the Bikini Island visible in the background
Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity on July 16, 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The purpose of the tests was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on warships.
Prospective Operation Crossroads target ships and support ships at Pearl Harbor on February 27, 1946. Ships from front to rear: USS Crittenden, Catron, Bracken, Burleson, Gilliam, Fallon, unknown ship, Fillmore, Kochab, Luna, and an unidentified tanker and Liberty ship. On the right are LSM-203 and LSM-465. Farther in the background are a floating drydock and a merchant ship hulk.
Nevada painted in high visibility orange for the atomic tests
The target fleet after test Able. The aircraft carrier Saratoga is right-center with Independence burning at left-center. The ex-Japanese battleship Nagato is between them. The ship at left, next to the battleship Pennsylvania, is trying to wash down the radioactivity with water from the lagoon.
Aerial view of the Able mushroom cloud rising from the lagoon with the Bikini Island visible in the background. The cloud carried the radioactive contaminants into the stratosphere.
