Grant J. Powers(1899-1978) was an official USMC combat artist.
In the summer of 1946, he was brought in with two other artists, Captain Charles Bittinger and Lieutenant Commander Arthur Beaumont by the U.S. Navy to witness and record, in art, the first two atmospheric nuclear weapon tests at the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
The test series named Operation Crossroads consisted of two detonations, a low altitude test and a shallow water test. Each device had a yield of 21 kilotons and were named ABLE and BAKER. It was intended to study the effects of nuclear weapons on warships, equipment, and material.
0900 Through Protective Goggles on the USS Appalachian
The bomb blast reflected in goggle lenses
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Framed Dimensions 24H X 30W
USS Appalachian (AGC-1) was the press ship from which most of the observers watched the bombs. Goggles were worn during the initial phase of the explosion--when the fireball was brighter than the sun--but then taken off later as the protective glass was too dark to view the rest of the bomb phenomena.How We Looked to the Atom Bomb
A cartoon of the observers on the deck of a ship
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 15H X 20W
And now for something completely different...Mike Hour
The fire ball of an atom bomb
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 13H X 21W
At 0900 on 1 July, test ABLE detonated about 518 feet above the target fleet. The surface temperature of the resulting fireball was about 100,000 degrees Fahrenheit, scorching wood, paint and metal alike.Plus 1 Second Bikini Atoll
The blast wave of the bomb
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 14H X 20W
The initial explosion and blast wave collided with the surface of the lagoon and was reflected back upwards. This deformed the shape of the fireball, creating the skirt around the stem of the mushroom cloud.Plus 1 Second, Carlisle and Gillian Transports Take It on the Bottom
Two ships caught in the atom bomb blast
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 13H X 21W
Do to a bombing error, the ABLE device exploded almost directly over the attack transport USS Gillian (APA-57). It was flattened by the force of the blast and sank in under one minute. USS Carlisle (APA-69) was tossed about 150 yards by the blast. Battered and on fire, the ship sank in flames shortly thereafter. To the right is former Japanese cruiser Sakawa, which sank the next day following severe superstructure and hull damage.Plus 3 Seconds
Mushroom cloud rising from the ocean surface
Painting; Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 15H X 20W
The bomb cloud has formed four distinct parts. At sea level, the blast wave has expanded horizontally, blasting through the anchored fleet at the bottom of the cloud. The stem and mushroom cap have formed, with lingering remnants of the initial atomic reaction coloring the clouds. In the background, a circular condensation cloud has formed around the mushroom cap, a consequence of high humidity levels at Bikini.Plus 4 Seconds
Mushroom cloud with ships at the base
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 15H X 20W
As the reaction within the cloud began to wind down after 90 seconds, the thunder and hot wind of the blast arrived at the ships stationed 15 miles away.Plus 2 Seconds
Atom bomb after two seconds
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 14H X 23W
The fireball surrounded by bomb debris and water vapor begins to rise into the sky. At the same time, the blast wave moves out from the bottom at 180 mph. The orange warship on the left is USS Nevada (BB-36).Plus 2 Seconds
A top view of the cloud from an atom bomb
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 15H X 21W
As the hot gasses moved outward, they pulled a hollow water column--made up of millions of gallons of water--up into the sky.Plus 5 Seconds
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Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 15H X 22W – last posted date: Feb 23, 2017
A view of the cloud as seen from a B-29 observer plane. Note the ripple effect caused by the enormous tidal wave resulting from the blast.
Plus 25 Seconds
The cloud from the atom bomb test is almost completely collapsed
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 15H X 20W
An illustration comparing the cloud to the size of the atoll.Plus 15 Seconds
The atom bomb cloud collapsing
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 15H X 20W
The column of water begins to spill out of the top of the condensation cloud.Atomic Burst
A mushroom cloud rising from the ocean
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 15H X 20W
The full formation of the BAKER cloud only reached a height of 10,000 feet, significantly less than ABLE's cloud. The blast column did reach to the floor of the lagoon--some 200 feet deep--and spewed bits and pieces of coral on the decks of the target fleet.Battleship Arkansas being lifted by the underwater nuclear explosion of Operation Crossroads Baker. Watercolor by U.S. Marine Corps artist. Grant Powers #4, 88-181-D.3:25 Carrier Independence Burning
Several of the test ships are on fire
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 14H X 20W
The blast touched off fuel and munitions stored inside USS Independence (CVL-22) and blew off or destroyed the planes parked on her flight deck. The blast also severely damaged the island superstructure and destroyed parts of the flight deck.Navy Tug Fighting Deck Fire on Target Ship
Tug fighting a fire on a ship
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 13H X 18W
USS Independence (CVL-22) was not the only ship to catch fire, and the rest of the day was spent fighting fires on 23 of the target ships. Ironically, the water pumped from the lagoon to put out those fires led to more extensive contamination than that caused by the explosion.The 32,000 Ton Japanese Battleship Nagato
A battleship in the predawn hours sinking
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 14H X 19W
Nagato finally sank just before dawn five days after BAKER. She rests on the bottom near USS Saratoga (CV-3) and USS Arkansas (BB-33).Explosion on DD-367
Explosion on the deck of a destroyer
Painting, Watercolor on Illustration Board; by Grant Powers; 1946; Unframed Dimensions 15H X 20W
The destroyer USS Lamson (DD-367), although moored over 600 yards away from ground zero, suffered an explosion from the force of test ABLE and sank that afternoon. Later investigations discovered the blast wave had created a large wrinkle in the hull.
