Hmmm you guys lost a nuke???

j0lly

Platinum Member
Jul 30, 2001
2,885
0
0
Oh, there it is ;)

Saw it on the news a few weeks back. The Govt. says it is too dangerous to be tampered with and it will be left alone. Chances are that it will stay dormant forever ;) . Calculate the half-life of Uranium and that is how long forever will be.
 

MeanMeosh

Diamond Member
Apr 18, 2001
3,805
1
0


<< &quot;The weapon was then jettisoned visually over water off the mouth of the Savannah River. No detonation was observed.&quot; >>



heheheh, it would kinda be hard to miss if it did detonate.... i mean, all the two headed children would kinda be a giveaway


 
Aug 22, 2001
44
0
0

This is intresting. They say it does not pose a threat if they leave it as it is YET they say it is too dangerous to recover it. Uuuuuummmmm where is the logic behind this? Can someone explain it to me?:eek:
 

lowtech1

Diamond Member
Mar 9, 2000
4,644
1
0



<< The 3450kg hydrogen bomb, known as a Mark 15 weapon, has been lying off the coast of Georgia since February 5, 1958, when it was jettisoned from a B-47 Stratojet bomber after the plane was struck by a fighter jet during a training exercise at 36,000ft. >>



What kind if training exercise were they doing that requier a live nuke???
This kind of stupidity is our demise.
 

GoldenLion

Banned
Jun 23, 2001
217
0
0
WHY IN THE WORLD DID THEY HAVE A LIVE NUKE ON A TRAINING MISSION?! That sounds like the stupidity that BUSHSTER would have!

-(posted for GoldenTiger)
 

Aquaman

Lifer
Dec 17, 1999
25,054
13
0
I saw a documentary on that :D The only other missing nuke that the US govt. will confirm is one lost in the western pacific of the coast of Japan (I can't remember exactly where but it was in the documentary).

Cheers,
Aquaman
 

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
4
0
I think there's about 5 or 6 that were lost during the cold war. they're still laying around the US, lost in swamps forests and bays. Yeah, we weren't very careful with them.
 

OS

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
15,581
1
76
Found it!! It was in a tidepool by my house. Sitting in my closet right now, just finished scraping off the barnacles. Who wants to play chicken? :D
 

Dark4ng3l

Diamond Member
Sep 17, 2000
5,061
1
0
I can see it in the newspaper now... &quot;genocidal maniac recovers US lost nuclear weapon and uses it to destroy Canada&quot;
 

Tauren

Diamond Member
Jan 30, 2001
3,880
1
0
<<hmm you guys will kill us eventualy if you keep losing nukes>>

Considering it happened almost fifty years ago, I think your going to be O.K.
 

shiner

Lifer
Jul 18, 2000
17,112
1
0
I think you need to be more worried about what the Soviets might have lost and what the Russians have &quot;lost&quot; recently. Of course if you really want to be worried about nuclear pollution coming from old military hardware then take a look at Murmansk. 3/4 of the old Soviet nuclear sub force is sitting there rusting away. Countless tons of waste were dumped in the water, some subs have been scuttled with their reactors still in them, there are even reports that some of the weapons were left onboard. No ICBM's mind you, but nuclear torpedoes.
 

Czar

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
28,510
0
0
The scary part is that this is not a nuclear bomb but a hydrogen bomb, so much more powerful.
 

Texmaster

Banned
Jun 5, 2001
5,445
0
0


<< I can see it in the newspaper now... &quot;genocidal maniac recovers US lost nuclear weapon and uses it to destroy Canada&quot; >>



USS Defiant? LOL that looks more like USS Crisom :D
 

Kosugi

Senior member
Jan 9, 2001
457
0
0

There are quite a few missing nuclear warheads around the world.


The US has admitted to losing 4. One in the Indian Ocean that actually &quot;rolled&quot; off of an aircraft carrier deck. The one in the article. One lost from an fighter crash (what the hell they need to fly with real ones, I have no clue), and one for other reasons.


The Russians lost several nuclear submarines, including boomers like the Kursk, during the cold war. I think they had 3 cold war sub casualties, 1 to collision with a US submarine some time ago. Their entire crews, plus nuclear missles, are still lying in the frigid depths of our oceans.

Back in the late 60s, Nixon okay'd a plan to recover one of the nuclear subs that we knew had gone down. Our under water sub detection net (asnet, I think it is called), recorded its death throes, and so the US pretty much knew where it was.

The US (with quite a bit of help from Howard Hughes) recovered sections of the submarine in what has to be one of the greatest cold war espionage coups of all time. They also recovered a few Russian nuclear warheads.

Let me see if I can get lucky and find a source for this story on line...
 

burnedout

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
6,249
2
0
If the salt water hasn't deteriorated the warhead yet, then the potential may be there to utilize the device in some respect.

The device rests in about 18 ft (6m) of water and roughly 15 ft. (5m) further down in the sand. Relatively shallow! Could be salvaged with some degree of difficulty. No deep sea equipment would be needed. Divers could use standard recreational gear from a dive shop to begin excavation.

At the time this device was in service, Permissive Action Links or PAL devices weren't in existance. So in theory, yes, the device could be detonated if it were complete and not suffered from extensive deterioration.

WHY IN THE WORLD DID THEY HAVE A LIVE NUKE ON A TRAINING MISSION?!

Back during the Eisenhower administration, SAC was on constant alert. They trained realistically in the event the proverbial &quot;balloon went up&quot;. Many aircraft, particularly bombers, carried live nukes on training missions.

What bugs me is why they didn't recover the weapon at the time. They had the capability to do so back then. During the 60s, DOD went to great lengths to recover a downed aircraft carrying a nuke which crashed off the coast of Spain.
 

Kosugi

Senior member
Jan 9, 2001
457
0
0

I love the Internet. Have I told anyone else that lately? I guess not.


Found the story (synopsis), and a link to where you can get the book.

The author, Clyde W. Burleson (burleson@hal-pc.org) , May 11, 1999
Author's Summary
In February 1968, K-129, a Russian Golf class submarine, sank in the Pacific Ocean. Thanks to Sea Spider, a fantastic top-secret system which tracked every Soviet vessel on or under the Pacific Ocean, we knew what had happened to K-129. The Soviets did not.
K-129 carried the latest Russian nuclear missiles and torpedoes. She was also equipped with their most advanced Ships Internal Navigation System (SINS). All told, if that boat could be salvaged, it would be the intelligence coup of the Cold War.

There was only one problem. She lay on the bottom in 17,500 feet of water. And experts said it could not be done.

The CIA ignored the experts. Using a Howard Hughes seabed mining venture as cover, they hired Global Marine Inc. to raise K-129.

Working under immense time pressure because of a weather window, brave men sacrificed their personal lives to design and build a massive ship, a barge, a claw, and a lift pipe string.

By June 1974, the ship, carrying the claw and lift pipe, was ready for this hazardous mission.

The crew faced unknown dangers.

First, the nuclear warheads, after exposure to immense water pressure, might be unstable and explode during retrieval. Then, in addition to the normal hazards of salvage, they would be alone on the vast ocean. If the Russians discovered their true purpose they would be sunk. And if the weather window closed while lifting K-129's remains, they faced the risk of snapping the pipe string, which would tear their ship in half.

While they risked their lives, Richard Nixon resigned his presidency, the CIA had reason to believe the Russians had penetrated the mission's cover, and the Soviet Union feared a military takeover of the U.S. government, so went on full military alert.

The story elements are factual, dramatic, and fascinating. The characters, including Howard Hughes, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Richard Helms, William Colby, Leonid Brezhnev, and other key 20th century figures, are the players in the greatest spy story ever told.


The Jennifer Project

I especially like this readers comment:

Reviewer: A reader from the world
I have immensely enjoyed all the speculation concerning the Russian Golf submarine. I have but one question for the author. I was personally involved in the &quot;Jennifer Project&quot; while serving in the United States Navy. When I left the program due to PCS orders, I was debriefed by the CIA. I signed and have upheld my promise to &quot;never&quot; divulge anything about the &quot;Jennifer Project&quot; including those words &quot;Jennifer Project&quot; to anyone.

I'd like to know how the author, claiming to be a former CIA employee can get away with writing a book about this program without spending the rest of his life in prison for violating a security agreement.


 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
Dark4ng3l

It's not in the ocean, I already dredged it up and put it your basement. You have 30 seconds to stop being an ignorant asshole.
 

Clinotus

Golden Member
Jan 6, 2001
1,042
0
0


<< Public advised not to use cell phones or throw rocks off the coast of Georgia... >>



ROTF!
 

bishnu

Member
Aug 15, 2001
57
0
0


<< What kind if training exercise were they doing that requier a live nuke???
This kind of stupidity is our demise.
>>



During the Cold War it was an American policy to have live nuclear weapons in the air at all times so it was not vulnerable to a Soviet nuclear first strike that would destroy all retaliatory capabilities.

Thank you IB History.
 

AmigaMan

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
3,644
1
0
The same thing happened in Goldsboro, North Carolina back in 1961. LINK
I lived there from 1977 to 1992 and my parents are still there (dad was stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB).

EDIT: I forgot to mention that one of the bombs was like the one in Georgia, too expensive to dig up (if they could even find it) and doesn't pose too much of a risk. Of course that could explain the third eye I have on the back of my head... ;)