June 23rd 2024.
The loss of three nuclear bombs by the US military has been a source of concern and speculation for decades. It all started on July 16, 1945, when the US successfully detonated the world's first nuclear bomb. Just weeks later, two more bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing devastating destruction. Since then, the US has not used any more nuclear bombs, but unfortunately, they have lost three – and some say possibly even six.
These incidents, known as "broken arrow" events, refer to any unexpected launching, firing, theft, or loss of a nuclear weapon. While there have been numerous broken arrow incidents involving nuclear weapons, there are no recorded cases of bombs being stolen – although there have been instances of nuclear material being taken. However, this provides little comfort in a world where at least three bombs have been lost and never recovered, all of which have occurred at sea, lying beneath the waves, undisturbed but still unsettling.
The first incident happened on February 5, 1958, when two planes collided during a training mission off the coast of Tybee Island near Savannah, Georgia. One of the planes, a B-47 bomber, was carrying a 3.8 megaton hydrogen thermonuclear bomb – a bomb 190 times more powerful than the one dropped on Nagasaki. In fear that the bomb could break loose and drop over land, the pilot, Colonel Howard Richardson, jettisoned it into the waters around Wassaw Sound. Despite a two-month search by a team of 100 Navy personnel, the bomb could not be located. There were rumors that a Russian submarine had retrieved it, but a 2001 survey of the area showed that it was buried under 15 feet of silt. While an Air Force report stated that the bomb would pose no hazard if still intact, some believe that if it were a fully-functioning bomb with a plutonium trigger, an above-water explosion could create a massive fireball.
In 1965, during the Vietnam War, the USS Ticonderoga was deployed in the Philippine sea, around 80 miles off the coast of Japan's Okinawa island. On December 5, Lieutenant Douglas Webster was flying an A-4E Skyhawk attack aircraft and was coming in to land on the aircraft carrier. However, the plane could not be stopped and rolled over the side of the deck, quickly sinking with Lt Webster and the one megaton thermonuclear bomb on board. They were never seen again.
Just three years later, the USS Scorpion, a nuclear attack submarine, was lost in the Atlantic Ocean, along with all 99 of its crew members. Two nuclear-tipped torpedoes were also lost to the sea. The question remains – what happens to nuclear weapons lost at sea?
In autumn 2022, a British nuclear submarine came dangerously close to its "crush depth." Speaking at the time about the dangers of underwater nuclear weapons, Dr. Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow in sea power at the Royal United Services Institute, stated that while there is little risk of accidental launch, the potential danger lies in the radioactive waste that would be difficult to salvage from the depths of the ocean. This is not the only incident, as in March 1956, a B-47 bomber crashed into the Mediterranean Sea while flying from Florida to Morocco, and in North Carolina, there is believed to be a buried nuclear bomb in a field.
It is worth noting that the US is not the only country to have experienced broken arrow incidents. In 1986, the Soviet submarine K-219 sank off the coast of Bermuda, carrying up to 30 nuclear warheads. This is just one example of the approximately 12,500 nuclear warheads in the world, held by nine countries and hosted by six others.
The loss of these nuclear weapons raises concerns about the potential for accidental nuclear disaster, as seen with the B-52 bomber that crashed in 1961, with one of its bombs still missing. While the area around the bomb has been bought to prevent anyone from stumbling upon it, it serves as a reminder of the danger that nuclear weapons pose, and the responsibility that comes with controlling them.
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