Some of the 114 press observers expressed disappointment at the effect on ships . '' The New York Times '' reported , prematurely , that " only two were sunk , one capsized , and eighteen damaged . " The next day , the '' Times '' carried an explanation by Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal that " heavily built and heavily armored ships are difficult to sink unless they sustain underwater damage . " The main cause of less-than-expected ship damage was that the bomb missed its aim point by . The ship the bomb was aimed at failed to sink . The miss resulted in a government investigation of the flight crew of the B-29 bomber . Various explanations were offered , including the bomb 's known poor ballistic characteristics , but none was convincing . Images of the drop were inconclusive . The bombsight was checked and found error free . Pumpkin bomb drops were conducted , but were accurate . Colonel Paul W. Tibbets believed that the miss was caused by a miscalculation by the crew . The mystery was never solved . There were other factors that made '' Able '' less spectacular than expected . Observers were much farther away than at the Trinity test , and the high humidity absorbed much of the light and heat
Trinity test
Trinity (nuclear test)
Operation Crossroads