[Andrew Rowland]

Andrew Rowland  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hi Chris,
 
Been listening to you on 702 radio here in South Africa.

One question I'd love to know the answer to is this: On the archive footage of early nuclear testing, there is one in particular that is often used in documentaries, of a test done in the ocean somewhere. In the foreground, well in fact all around the blast site, you can see a number of what appear to be warships of various sizes. Now in the footage, they pretty much all disappear in the expanding ring from the blast. Question is, rather tongue-in-cheek, did someone bugger up horribly on their calculations, or were those old ships placed there to see what the blast would do to them?
 
Regards,
 
Andrew

What do you think?

[LeeE]

I believe you're thinking of the Baker test carried out as part of Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll.

Have a look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads

In brief though, yes, the ships were deliberately placed there to see what would happen to them.