The times the US lost nuclear bombs, they have never been found

The times the US lost nuclear bombs, they have never been found Picture 1

Disaster could happen in US nuclear bombs (photo: The Sun)

1. The most infamous nuclear bomb drop

This is the most infamous nuclear bomb 'drop' by the US military, according to Grunge.

It all happened on February 5, 1958, during a US Air Force training exercise, when a radar system error caused an F-86 plane to collide with a B-47 bomber. The collision occurred over the state of Georgia (USA). It is worth mentioning that the B-47 plane was carrying a nuclear bomb at that time, according to Grunge.

The pilot of the F-86 fighter landed safely, but the pilot of the B-47 plane had difficulty because the plane's wing was severely damaged. The times the US lost nuclear bombs, they have never been found Picture 2

Howard Richardson – a B-47 pilot – tried to land several times at the Georgia Air Force base but was unsuccessful. A nuclear bomb stored in the B-47's cabin was damaged, making it impossible for Richardson to take any risks. If the landing is unsuccessful, the bomb could explode.

Faced with a dangerous situation, Richardson decided to direct the plane to the sea and drop the nuclear bomb from a height of 2,195 meters. The B-47 then landed safely.

During a mission lasting more than 2 months after the plane crash, US Air Force and Navy divers could not find the missing nuclear bomb in a 62 square kilometer area near Tybee Island, in Wassaw Bay. Sound, Savannah, Georgia. Because of this, the missing nuclear bomb became known as the 'Tybee bomb'.

The incident of the missing nuclear bomb made the people of the city of Savannah afraid.

According to Grunge, if 'disturbed', the bomb could explode. But even if it doesn't explode, the bomb can be corroded by seawater. Toxic substances in the bomb can leak into the water environment.

The Air Force and the US government have repeatedly confirmed that the missing bomb in Savannah does not contain a plutonium core (the fuel core of a nuclear bomb). This means a nuclear explosion will not occur.

However, in a declassified letter in 1994, Mr. Jack Howard - US Assistant Secretary of Defense - said that the bomb dropped near Tybee Island was a complete nuclear weapon, meaning it contained a plutonium core. .

In a 2004 interview, pilot Howard Richardson said he regretted dropping the bomb overboard because of all the trouble it caused. However, the safety of the crew on the B-47 comes first.

In the same year 2004, Mr. Derek Duke - former lieutenant colonel of the US Air Force - led a search team for the Tybee nuclear bomb. Mr. Duke's team detected radiation levels four times higher than normal in shallow waters off the coast of Savannah.

US officials then organized a search for the bomb but found nothing.

According to Daily Mail, the US military calls nuclear accidents similar to the missing 'Tybee bomb' 'broken arrows'. Since 1950, the US has recorded 32 incidents of 'broken arrows'.

2. The mystery of the loss of the first nuclear weapon

According to Business Insider, on March 10, 1956, an American B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber carrying two nuclear warheads took off from MacDill Air Force Base (Florida state) to Morocco.

According to the plan, the B-47 Stratojet was refueled in the air twice. However, during the second refueling, the B-47 Stratojet suddenly lost signal and 'disappeared' on radar before being refueled.

The US military did not find any trace of the B-47 Stratojet, even if it was just debris. Finally, the US military decided to stop searching.

According to Business Insider, this is the most mysterious nuclear weapon disappearance the US military has encountered.

3. Two nuclear bombs nearly turned North Carolina into a bay

On January 24, 1961, a B-52 bomber performing a training mission over Goldsboro district, North Carolina (USA) suddenly encountered a problem. The plane exploded in midair, causing two nuclear bombs carried in the cabin to fall freely, according to American Home Front.

A nuclear bomb has an automatic parachute opening mechanism so it lands slowly, the nose of the bomb collides with the ground.

According to American Homefront, this bomb has gone through 3/4 activation steps. The bomb is 260 times more powerful than the atomic bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima (Japan). If it explodes, it could kill tens of thousands of people and send radioactive dust as far as New York.

'Now, you will have a very large North Carolina Bay if that bomb explodes,' said Jack Revelle - US weapons search and removal expert.

Another nuclear bomb did not open its parachute, so it fell into the field and penetrated more than 15 meters deep into the soft ground. Some parts of this bomb have not yet been found.

4. Nuclear bomb sinks to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean

On December 5, 1965, an A-4 'Sky Eagle' fighter on the US aircraft carrier Ticonderoga slipped from the lifting platform into the sea. The incident occurred about 130km from the Ryukyu Islands (Japan) and about 320km from Okinawa Island (where the US is stationed), according to Daily Mail.

When it slid into the sea, the American A-4 fighter was carrying a B-43 nuclear bomb in its compartment. The US military determined that the nuclear bomb and the plane had sunk to a depth of 4,850 meters, making recovery almost impossible. The incident sparked a number of protests in Japan.

At a depth of nearly 5,000 meters below the seabed, it is unclear whether the bomb was detonated by the pressure of seawater or not. Even if the bomb has not exploded, with today's technology, it is still impossible to salvage or probe the bomb.

4. A US plane carrying 4 nuclear bombs crashed into the Danish sea

On January 21, 1968, the US B-52G Stratofortress, carrying four nuclear bombs, crashed into the ice sea of ​​Wolstenholme Fjord, near Greenland (Denmark) - one of the coldest areas on Earth.

There was no nuclear explosion, however, the accident caused four nuclear bombs to rupture and leak radioactive material into the marine environment, according to Airforce Times.

Denmark was angry after the incident. Danish officials asked the US to compensate and clean up the accident scene immediately. All nuclear bomb debris and radioactive tape must be collected and shipped to the United States for processing. Washington agreed to Copenhagen's request.

According to Airforce Times, most of the parts of four nuclear bombs were collected, except for one part containing uranium (fuel used to make nuclear bombs). However, many speculate that only three nuclear bombs were broken, and one bomb went missing at the bottom of the Greenland Sea.

In 2008, BBC World Service (British newspaper) cited "secret US documents" reporting on the incident in Greenland: "Rumors about a missing bomb are true." According to BBC World Service, the US once dispatched a submarine to search for missing nuclear weapons in Greenland.

BBC World Service's news "shocked" Danish public opinion, causing the Danish Institute of International Studies to investigate.

In 2009, the Danish Institute of International Studies issued a concluding report. Accordingly, the Greenland Sea "has no nuclear bombs and the Americans are not looking for nuclear bombs there".

The Danish Institute for International Studies said there was 'clear evidence' that all four nuclear bombs broke up after falling into the sea.

5. Sinking of a US nuclear submarine

On May 22, 1968, the US nuclear submarine USS SSN-589 Scorpion sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, about 400 nautical miles southwest of the Spanish Azores island. The cause of the ship's sinking is still a mystery.

99 people died in the sinking of the Scorpion submarine, including a group of Russian researchers. This puts the US Navy in big trouble, according to Weare The Mighty.

The Scorpion submarine sank at a depth of about 3,000 meters below the seabed so it could not be salvaged. The ship's nuclear reactor core and two Mark 45 torpedoes carrying W34 nuclear warheads on board were concluded to be missing.

It was not until October 1968 that some fragments of the Scorpion submarine were found.

According to Weare The Mighty, the US Navy is still monitoring radiation levels in the area where the Scorpion submarine sank. The two Mark 45 torpedoes are said to still be in the compartment and there are no signs of a nuclear leak.

Mr. Stephen Schwartz - a nuclear weapons research expert in the US - said that most of the US military's 'broken arrow' incidents did not lead to nuclear explosions.

'For that, we should be grateful to engineers for designing safe systems,' Mr. Schwartz said.

'But we should also give credit to the gods of luck,' Mr. Schwartz added.

Samuel Daniel

Update 01 April 2024