Air Force Finds No Trace of Lost Nuke

AP on Yahoo ^ | 6/17/05 | Russ Bynum - AP

[Criminal Number 18F]

Didn't see "Sum of All Fears", any good?

No.

The book was about Arab terrorists getting a nuke. Hollywood isn't afraid of Arab terrorists -- it kinda likes them -- so the movie makers changed the Arab terrorists to the much more believable threat (if you're a typical Hollywood exec, meaning a left-liberal atheist of Jewish heritage) of European Neo-Nazis. The relentless PC of the moviemakers ruined what might have been a good film.

Why, we can't show the terrorists as being from the race and religion responsible for over 90% of terrorism... that would be stereotyping. Paugh.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Fresh Wind]

This makes one wonder just how good our nuclear weapons detectors really are at our ports. Considering they can't find this big, old and likely poorly shielded bomb...

Water is an excellent shield for radiation. It is used for that exact purpose in some reactor designs.

[DB]

Yes, that's why I question how well we can detect a nuke in the bottom of an oil tanker filled with oil going into any port USA.

[Bear_Slayer]

"The best course of action in this matter is to not continue to search for it and to leave the property in place,"

This wouldn't fly if it were his car keys, or his wallet, why should it fly with a nuke.

I'm sur ethe residents of Tynbee don't agree!

[Bear_Slayer]

IIRC - the Navy lost a nuke in the ocean off Japan - it was never recovered either.

[Bear_Slayer]

I seem to recall a recent movie with a similar plot. Only the nuke was found in the middle east desert due to an Israeli plane crash

Wasn't that a Tom Clancy novel?

I vaguely remember a plot where terrorist discover a lost Israel nuke, modify it for there own uses and then detonate it at a US sporting event. Fortunately the yield is lower due to engineering designs.

[Lucy Lake]

The Ruskies dug it out of the muck in the early 60s with a recovery submarine.

[Flightdeck]

"Clive Cussler found the H.L. Hunley in similar conditions..."

I think some other guy is claiming he found it first, like 25 years before Cussler, and has some documentatin. Either way, it was found, which I guess was your point.

[southland]

RE #6: The potenacy of the high explosive depends on a lot of things. . The shell of the bomb was not likely broken therefold it may not be broken now or yet. There is approximately a ton of HE. There is likely no danger of nuclear yield in the event of detonation except for residual radiation . If people find it they should let the Air Force know so experienced people can handle it . A ton of high exlosive can cause a lot of damage.

[southland]

You may be more accurate than I on the amount of HE but the location is approximately 100 miles away from the site where are looking.
This information was given me 45 years ago by a person formerly in that outfit that droped the bomb and for a different reason than that being advanced recently.

[TXnMA]

I think some other guy is claiming he found it first, like 25 years before Cussler, and has some documentatin.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I agree. I am convinced that Lee Spence found the Hunley in 1970 -- and documented and reported his findings. Here is a whole collection of articles on the Spence/Cussler Hunley controversy .

My point was that Cussler systematically searched a large area -- using modern technology (magnetometers and side-scan sonar) -- and he successfully (re) located the Hunley.

If the USAF really wanted to locate the Tybee Island "Broken Arrow", the (magnetometer) technology is available to do so. IMHO, radioactivity detection would be the appropriate tool to verify that a mag anomaly was, indeed, the bomb -- not a primary search tool.