article_snippet.sent: The USS Independence even survived an atomic bomb test after being chosen as a 'target vessel' for Operation Crossroads on July 1, 1946.
article_snippet.sent: James Delgado chief scientist on the NOAA mission added: 'The USS Independence fought a long, hard war in the Pacific and after the war was subjected to two atomic blasts that ripped through The USS Independence. '
article_snippet.sent: Independence operated in the central and western Pacific from November 1943 to August 1945 and later was one of more than 90 vessels assembled as a target fleet for atomic bomb tests in 1946 in the Farallon Islands.
article_snippet.sent: Tough: The USS Independence even survived an atomic bomb test after being chosen as a 'target vessel' for Operation Crossroads on July 1, 1946 . '
article_snippet.sent: Independence (pictured in 1946) was one of more than 90 vessels assembled as a target fleet for atomic bomb tests in 1946 .
article_snippet.sent: Damaged by shock waves, heat and radiation, Independence survived the tests and returned to the United States.
article_snippet.sent: her took part in the attacks on Rabaul and Tarawa in Japan before being torpedoed by Japanese planes, having to be repaired and refitted in San Francisco from January to July 1944.