July 1st, 1946: A fleet of ninety-five warships of varying types has been gathered in an atoll in the Marshall Islands, known as Bikini Atoll. Among these warships is the Lexington-class aircraft carrier, CV-3, USS Saratoga, the Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, and the Nagato-class battleship IJN Nagato. This fleet of ninety-five warships has gathered in Bikini Atoll to participate a joint military and scientific effort: Operation: Crossroads.
The objective of this endeavor was to collect data on the effects of nuclear weapons on various warships and pieces of military equipment. The first test of Operation: Crossroads was Test Able.
At 8:59 A.M. on July 1st of 1946, a Mark III 'Fat Man' nuclear bomb, carried by a Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Dave's Dream, was dropped from an altitude of 28,000 feet into the center of the fleet. Fifteen seconds before 9:00 A.M., the bomb detonated with an explosive yield of twenty three kilotons.
Five ships would sink as a result of the test, others would suffer damage that ranged from critical to negligible. USS Saratoga, Prinz Eugen, and Nagato would survive Test Able.