Measurements of short wave energy, surface tension distributions, and radar imagery of centerline ship wakes are presented. A direct association between reduced radar return and reduced scattering wave energy is demonstrated. The dominant influences of ship-generated turbulence and surface film distributions upon reduced short wave energy in ship wakes are shown. The effect of turbulence is emphasized by the very slow regrowth of attenuated wave energy in the especially turbulent wake of a towed barge. The effect of surface film distributions is emphasized by the suppression of short wave growth during a wind puff in a wake that is about 1 hour old. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1993