Heavy Cruiser SLC, "work horse" in the Pacific Fleet during WWII, is shown being nudged into her berth at Puget Sound Naval Yard, Bremerton, WA. following a long trip from Bikini Atoll, where she underwent atom bombing tests. She was berthed at Bremerton for radiological study which it is hoped will solve some of the nation's defense problems.
US Navy Photo

Five tired old ships were being readied for Davy Jones' locker or a place in history today as the Terminal Island navy Yard stripped them down for atomic bomb tests.

The scarred battleships NEVADA and ARKANSAS, the heavy cruisers SALT LAKE CITY and PENSACOLA and the attack transport CRITTENDON stood in ways beneath giant cranes which pulled all their expensive seagoing equipment from them.

The ships were being readied for the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests scheduled for May.

In opposite berths, the seaplane tenders ALBERMARLE and CUMBERLAND SOUND were being converted into floating laboratories for scientists who will observe the historic tests.

If the five ships and the 91 others which will join them at Bikini go down, they will leave behind delicate rangefinders and fire control mechanisms, 20 and 40mm anti-aircraft guns, five inch batteries, elaborate mess and hospital facilities.

The Navy was leaving aboard only "samples" of the smaller guns and none of the expensive equipment of ships of the line.

The NEVADA and ARKANSAS will keep their main batteries - the huge 16-inch turret rifles and 11-inch secondary. And the cruisers will be left with their main armament.

Science and the Navy want to study the effect of the atomic bomb on those weapons.

Without a farewell salute by whistle or gunfire, and with nothing else to signify that she is on her way to a gallant end, the USS SALT LAKE CITY was towed yesterday from the harbor to the target range off San Diego.

The 19 year old ship which survived the A-bomb test at Bikini after a wartime record of sinking and destruction of enemy ships and bases, was unceremoniously snaked away from her anchorage near the Long Beach Harbor entrance by a navy tug and not long afterwards disappeared over the horizon.

The Navy will test new and improved weapons in sinking her tomorrow. During her career, she was based for a long period of time at Long Beach and many local men served aboard her.