ARMED FORCES: Creeping Death

When the underwater bomb was exploded in the second atomic test at Bikini, nine ships were sunk. Most of the other 67 seemed to have escaped with only a drenching of radioactive spray. But the spray has proved more lethal than the bomb itself.

One by one the Navy has had to sink the ships which survived Bikini. Last week the submarine Skate and the transport Crittenden were destroyed during landing maneuvers off Southern California. Next month the heavy cruiser Pensacola and the destroyer Hughes will be sent to the bottom. Two years and three months after Bikini, all four were still radioactive.

In all, the Navy has had to write off 57 Bikini ships as still too difficult or too expensive to decontaminate. The carrier Independence is still afloat at San Francisco, but is so “hot” that it can be used only as a laboratory for decontamination training. Of the original 76 ships (including two barges) that rode at anchor in Bikini Lagoon, only two submarines, five transports and two LCIs are afloat and declared to be completely safe.