[OPERATION CROSSROADS - BAKER TEST]. Photograph from atomic test at Bikini Atoll July 24, 1946 (but printed 2009).

13 x 24 in. black and white print on Harman fiber paper. Matted and framed (not examined out of frame, overall dimensions 22 1/4 x 33 in.).

The Operation Crossroads tests were conducted by the United States in June and July 1946, and marked the first nuclear weapons tests conducted after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the previous year. The Baker test was unique in that it was the first underwater test of a nuclear weapon, with its condensation cloud and accompanying water column providing a sense of scale against the small fleet of ships surrounding it. The Crossroads project was terminated in the aftermath of the Baker detonation as it became clear that the U.S. Army had failed to come up with adequate decontamination procedures; to this day the area is considered largely uninhabitable.