Independence (U.S.S.)

This vessel was sponsored by Mrs. Dorothy Warner, wife of Rawleigh Warner, Sr, Chairman of Pure Oil Co. Assigned as a target vessel for the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb tests, this vessel was placed within one-half-mile of ground zero for the 1 July explosion. The veteran ship did not sink, however (though her funnels and island were crumpled by the blast), and after taking part in another explosion on 25 July was taken to Kwajalein and decommissioned 28 August 1946. IThe highly radioactive hull was later moved to Pearl Harbor and then San Francisco for further tests. This vessel was finally scuttled near the Farallon Islands off the coast of California on 29 January 1951, by packing two torpedoes in her hull.