Totnes BSAC Bikini Expedition 2024
Diving Bikini by Peter Grimsey.
Photography: Stephen Lewis & Peter Grimsey.
Back in 2018 a group from Totnes BSAC, South Devon, decided to take the trip of a lifetime in 2021 to Bikini to mark the 75th anniversary of Operation Crossroads, when the US Navy tested the impact of two nuclear bombs on hundreds of ships. Covid got in the way, so we decided to try again in 2024, by which time we were down to just myself, Matthew and Stephen.
Not only was this by far the most expensive holiday that we had been on, but it was also the most challenging in terms of skills, endurance, and logistics. You have to take considerably more than the standard baggage allowance, particularly as you need spares and tools for every possible equipment issue. Being in the Pacific, just west of the date line and just north of the Equator, it takes three flights to get to the nearest airport in Kwajalein so there was plenty of opportunity for bags to be delayed or damaged, and a big sigh of relief when everything arrived in one piece.
All three of us were diving Inspirations in various configurations so with the help from AP Diving we got any niggles fixed and pooled together for spares and special tools to take with us. Whilst most of the spares and tools that we took were never used, we all had problems that we were able to resolve while we were out there with minimal disruption to our diving.
Me on the USS Saratoga
Matthew on the Prinz Eugen
Stephen on the Nagato
Truck Master, our home for the next 10 days.
Before setting out to Bikini there were a couple of cool shakedown dives on the Prinz Eugen. This German heavy cruiser has 8 x 8” guns and, together with the Bismarck, sank HMS Hood in 1941. It was badly damaged by the bombs of Operation Crossroads and then towed to Kwajalein for salvage where it turned over and sank. Part of the rudder and a propeller are out of the water with the bow in 30 metres.
Prinz Eugen’s propellers.
The bow upside down.
4" casemate guns.
A pair of the 8” guns.
Torpedo Store.
It took our dive boat 'Truck Master' 26 hours to cross the ocean to Bikini. It can take 36 hours in rough weather.
On reaching Bikini our initial dives were on the Aircraft Carrier USS Saratoga. This vast wreck stands upright with the keel on the seabed at 52m, the flight deck at 30m and the top of the bridge at about 18m. We did a total of 6 dives on the Saratoga and still only saw two thirds of the ship.
Even with 30m plus visibility, it is difficult to take a picture that takes in the bow from the end of the flight deck to the keel on the seabed. It’s even harder to get a good picture of the bridge as the swarms of glass fish form a permanent halo around it.
Not so many fish inside the bridge but there is a bit more silt, especially if someone was there first!
Occasionally you get a clear shot of a gun.
Also to be seen are turtles and reef sharks.
The main lift shaft gives access to the various decks. It is from the forward side of the shaft that most of the penetration dives start. Surplus cylinders are left on the flight deck, down you go to the chosen entrance!
CIC (Command Information Centre) and Senior Officers’ Quarters with radar, comms, galley and barbers.
Machine Shop is the lowest entrance where you are greeted by a gas mask and then lathes, mills and drills.
The Dentists’ Surgery is quite a trip through several doors, down a flight of stairs and then back one deck down. On the way you pass the Purser’s office and a diving helmet.
Traveling through the wreckage on the aft side of the lift shaft are several racks of live bombs together with the crushed remains of a few aircraft and artifacts that divers have pulled out of the wreckage.
Scattered on the seabed around the Saratoga are a number of aircraft that would have been on the flight deck when the bombs were let off. Most are upside down and still have their bombs in them.
Moving on to the USS Anderson, a Sims-class destroyer.
The knife edge of the bow on its side with the keel to the left.
The first of the 5 x 5” guns.
And the second.
The bridge.
4 of the 8 torpedo tubes.
A depth charge on the end of one of two racks on the stern. The fish are getting in the way again!
Next up was the massive Nagato, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s flagship during the attack on Pearl Harbour.
The weight of the huge 8 x 16” guns turned her as she sank. This is the classic shot photographers go for.
A batfish gives some idea of the size of the guns’ turret.
My turn to pose for the camera.
The top of Nagato’s bridge is lying on its side and was called ‘The Pagoda’ due to its height and shape.
I prefer this photograph of one of the Pagoda’s rangefinders in black & white.
I took the first picture of the rudders and the port propellers and didn’t realise I was also being photographed.
Moving on to the Apogon a US Balao-class submarine. This was significantly bigger than the German U2021 I had dived on a few weeks earlier.
Brain coral on the radar.
Front and back of the conning tower largely obscured by fish.
Is this the range finder or SpongeBob SquarePants hiding in Bikini Bottom?
Somewhere behind those fish is a torpedo in the stern tube.
More glassfish at the stern.
Just over halfway through and we take a break from diving to off gas and visit Bikini Island. Abandoned a few years ago due to misappropriated US funds, it looks as though everyone expected to be back in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately all food and water from the island is poisonous, although they clearly tried to grow stuff.
Next the Lamson, a Mahan-class destroyer.
She had 4 x 5" guns.
10 Anti-Aircraft guns.
12 torpedo tubes.
...Including torpedo!
2 racks of depth charges on the stern.
4 depth charge projectors on the sides.
Last but not least, we dived on the USS Arkansas. A Wyoming-class dreadnought battleship with 12 x 12” guns and 21 x 5” guns. As is to be expected with this weight of armament she is upside down.
A couple of gentlemen sporting the best in AP Diving gear.