Secret Base For
p. 22 · Read in the full issue
Tests
US Body Takes Over Eniwetok Atoll
ENIWETOK ATOLL, in the Marshall Islands, has been chosen by the United States Navy and the Atomic Energy Commission to be the site of what newspapers describe as “a super-secret atomic weapon testing-ground.”
The first post-war tests of the atomic weapons were carried out on Bikini Atoll, also in the Marshalls; and Bikini has not yet been given a clean bill of health — some parts of the islets are still radio active, and therefore probably fatal. But Bikini is not big enough for the large permanent establishment that is now planned.
There are only 145 natives on Ehiwetok, and they will be shifted to a permanent new home of their own choosing. There are hundreds of miles of open sea around Ehiwetok, so that there are no neighbours to be disturbed by the more or less hellish operations that will take place there.
Supply points for the large-scale con structional works to be immediately under taken on Eniwetok are at Honolulu, Johnston Island, and Kwajalein Atoll, in the Marshalls.
Eniwetok Atoll consists of the usual ring of islets —in this case, 30 in number —strung out along a circular reef that is 29 miles in diameter. It was discovered in 1794 by Captain Thomas Butler, and it was formerly called Brown Island.
Of the 97 passengers, who embarked in Sydney on “Montoro” on November 28, for New Guinea ports, 22 were male adults and 44 females. The number of children was 31.