TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS - FIRST FIELD TRIAL
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
CONTROL STATION
CONDUCT OF THE FIRST FIELD TRIAL, OPERATION BRAVO-CHARLIE
23 MAY 1955, COMMENCING 0540 HOURS
PERSONNEL PRESENT AT THE CONTROL STATION:
Dr. , principal technical officer, presiding
Dr. , instrumentation
Dr. , materials, by relay from the apparatus station
, senior technical assistant, at the apparatus station
W. Seaton, Division Chief, Western Europe
, liaison officer to OSI
Professor , historical consultant
of this Agency, recording
PERSONNEL ABOARD THE PRINCIPAL VESSEL, (PC ):
, master, USN officers and ratings, complement as the roster
PERSONNEL ABOARD THE RECOVERY VESSEL, (AT ):
, master, USN , observation officer complement, as the roster
The following transcript is prepared from the contemporaneous shorthand notes of the undersigned, from the wire recording made at the control station, and from the radio log maintained between the control station and the principal vessel. Conversation upon the radio link is set in indentation as it appears in the log. Pauses, instrumental readings called aloud, and remarks of a strictly technical character not bearing upon the conduct of the trial have been omitted in the interest of brevity and are indicated by the customary ellipsis.
- Dr. announces commencement of the pre-trial sequence. Conditions at sea reported by the principal vessel as fair, sea state two, wind north-northwest at eight knots. The principal vessel is reported on station at the designated point of initiation.
DR. (presiding): All stations confirm readiness.
DR. (instrumentation): Chronometers running. Plates loaded. The principal and the second are within tolerance. I shall log against the principal.
DR. (materials, by relay): The field generators are at standby. The coupling holds at half load. reports the bench temperature steady.
(by relay): The coupling will hold, Herr Doktor.
DR. (presiding): So you continue to say. Mr. Seaton.
MR. SEATON: Yes, Doctor.
DR. (presiding): I should like the record to show, before we proceed, that I have advised you on three occasions in the past fortnight that the magnitude of this trial exceeds by a factor of two thousand the largest magnitude at which we have yet operated, and that the interpolation across that interval is not such as I am able to vouch for in its particulars. I should like the record to show, further, that you have on each occasion acknowledged my advice and have directed me to proceed.
MR. SEATON: The record will so show, Doctor. Have I your readiness?
DR. (presiding): You have it.
MR. SEATON: Then proceed.
- Dr. commences the displacement sequence. The principal vessel is signaled to stand by upon the radio link. DR. (presiding, on the radio link): , this is the station. We commence the sequence at five-four-seven. Confirm.
THE PRINCIPAL VESSEL: Station, . Sequence commenced at five-four-seven, confirmed. Crew at stations. Instrumentation running. Standing by for displacement.
DR. (presiding): First stage. … First stage stable. Second stage. … Second stage stable at the predicted value. , the coupling.
(by relay): The coupling is warm. The coupling is within the figure. The coupling holds.
DR. (presiding): Third stage. … Third stage stable. We are at three-quarter load. Fourth stage. … .
(by relay): I am at the bench, Herr Doktor. The coupling holds.
DR. (presiding): Fifth stage. We are entering the regime of interpolation. , the field at the vessel.
DR. (materials, by relay): The field forms. I have the index. The index is climbing. , the vessel reports field formation.
THE PRINCIPAL VESSEL: Station, . We have a phenomenon at the vessel. The instrumentation reads as predicted. The crew reports a sensation as of pressure upon the ears. We are within the field.
DR. (presiding): Sixth stage. Sixth stage stable. We are at the threshold of initiation. Mr. Seaton, the order to initiate is yours.
MR. SEATON: Doctor, I should not presume to give it. It is yours.
DR. (presiding): Very well. , mark the time.
(recording officer): Marked, sir. Five-five-one and forty seconds.
DR. (presiding): Initiate.
0551:48. Initiation. The wire recording captures a sound described by the undersigned in his contemporaneous notes as a brief change of pressure in the chamber, of approximately one second’s duration, followed by silence. The radio link to the principal vessel ceases without intermediate transmission.
DR. (presiding): , the radio.
[no transmission]
DR. (presiding): , the radio.
[no transmission]
DR. (presiding): , raise the recovery vessel.
DR. (instrumentation, addressing the radio operator at the station): Raise .
THE RECOVERY VESSEL: Station, . We have observed the displacement of the principal vessel at the designated time. The principal vessel is no longer visible. Conditions at our position are unchanged. We are commencing the recovery pattern as briefed.
DR. (presiding): Acknowledge to . Maintain the recovery pattern for the period briefed. Report any change.
A silence of some seconds upon the wire. The recording officer notes that no person at the control station spoke during the interval.
DR. (presiding): The four seconds have elapsed.
DR. (instrumentation): They have. The chronometer reads five-five-one and fifty-two seconds.
DR. (presiding): , the radio.
[no transmission]
DR. (presiding): Continue the recovery pattern.
The radio log records the recovery vessel reporting at intervals of fifteen minutes throughout the morning and into the early afternoon. The principal vessel was not observed to return. Conditions at the point of initiation remained unchanged throughout. The recovery pattern was extended at 1100 hours and again at 1500 hours upon the direction of the control station. At 1717 hours, upon consultation between Dr. and Mr. Seaton, the recovery pattern was discontinued and the recovery vessel was directed to make for .
The principal exchange of substance at the control station during the interval between initiation and the discontinuation of the recovery pattern is set forth below.
- Approximately twenty minutes after initiation. PROF. : Doctor, may I ask. The four seconds of the bench trials — was the four seconds the duration of the displacement at the apparatus, or the duration of the displacement at the article?
DR. (presiding): At the apparatus, Professor.
PROF. : And at the article?
DR. (presiding): The article does not, in the bench trials, experience the displacement in any sense that we are capable of measuring. The article is present, then it is absent, then it is present again.
PROF. : I see.
DR. (presiding): The question you wish to ask, I think, is whether the principal vessel may be experiencing a displacement of a longer duration than four seconds at the apparatus.
PROF. : Yes.
DR. (presiding): I am not in a position to answer the question.
PROF. : I see.
- Approximately one hour and forty-three minutes after initiation. MR. SEATON: Doctor.
DR. (presiding): Mr. Seaton.
MR. SEATON: If the vessel does not return, what is the form of the report I am to render?
DR. (presiding): That is not a question for the technical group, Mr. Seaton.
MR. SEATON: No. I am asking what the technical group is able to tell me at the present moment that I shall need to include in such a report.
DR. (presiding): I can tell you that the apparatus operated within the predicted parameters. I can tell you that the displacement was initiated. I can tell you that the field at the vessel formed and was reported by the principal vessel as formed. I cannot tell you why the vessel has not returned. I shall not be in a position to tell you that for some considerable time, if I am ever in such a position.
MR. SEATON: I am obliged to you, Doctor.
DR. (presiding): I have not yet told you anything that obliges you, Mr. Seaton.
A pause of perhaps thirty seconds upon the wire.
MR. SEATON: You said, in advance of the trial, that the steel would return.
DR. (presiding): I said that I believed the steel would return. I did not, I think, undertake to guarantee it. , have you the recording of that conversation?
(recording officer): I have, Herr Doktor.
DR. (presiding): Let it be reviewed in due course. I should wish to be precise in my recollection.
A further pause upon the wire.
DR. (instrumentation): Herr Doktor, I have looked at the plates.
DR. (presiding): And.
DR. (instrumentation): There is no shadow upon the plates of the present trial. The plates show the field, the vessel within the field, and the displacement. There is no shadow.
DR. (presiding): I see.
DR. (instrumentation): I do not know whether the absence of the shadow is to be understood as a favorable indication or as an unfavorable indication.
DR. (presiding): Nor do I. Make a note of it for the report.
DR. (instrumentation): I have done so.
- Dr. directs the discontinuation of the recovery pattern upon consultation with Mr. Seaton, as above noted. The trial concluded at 1734 with the securing of the apparatus and the standing down of the personnel. The complete radio log, the wire recording in its entirety, the photographic plates of the trial, and the contemporaneous instrumental record are retained at the facility and are available to cleared personnel upon request.
These minutes have been prepared from the contemporaneous shorthand notes of the undersigned and from the wire recording made at the control station, excepting as noted above. They have been reviewed by the principal technical officer prior to circulation. Any correction or addition is to be addressed to the undersigned within ten days of the date of the present document.
Recording Officer
Office of Scientific Intelligence