Vintage original 1950's U.S. Navy photo taken in Febrary 1956 showing the YAG-40 USS Granville S Hall sailing with the coastal hills of the Marin Headlands /Golden Gate entrance to San Francisco Bay in the background.  The ship is seen fitted with its "pie plate" platform on the forward mast which was used for nuclear fallout sampling and measurement during atomic tests in Operation Castle (1954) and Operation Redwing (1956).

The back of the photo has two US Navy stamps: top left ("U.S. Naval /Photographic Laboratory / San Francisco, Calif.") and top right ("UNCLASSIFIED" and "NP(54)-284(L)-2-56" which shows the Navy negative/file number and date).

The black and white measures 10" x 8.25" (254mm x 210mm) and is printed on glossy photo stock.

Condition: The photo is in very good condition. There is a small 1/4" crease on the white border on the top left corner tip, and some minor curling (see photos).

Ship History: The 10,865 DWT (7,176 gross tons) 441 ft long ship was built as a World War II Liberty Ship in 1944 and operated as the commercial cargo ship SS Granville S Hall until 1953 when it was acquired by the US Navy and converted into a miscellaneous auxiliary service craft ship used for scientific and nuclear fallout measurement and testing.  The ship was fitted with scientific instruments, remote control gear, and nuclear detection and measurement devices.

The ship participated in the March-May 1954 Operation Castle atomic bomb testing in the Marshall Islands, and the May-July 1956 Operation Redwing nuclear bomb testing at the at Bikini and Enewetak Atoll. The ship was laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet in San Diego in 1957.

In 1962 the ship was reactivated for duty, and used as a floating laboratory in Project SHAD and Project 112 which measured the detection of biological and chemical warfare agents, and their effects on naval ships.  It was scrapped in 1972.