Nuclear bomb possibly found (Unarmed Device dropped in ocean off Georgia during Cold War)

CNN ^ | 9/13/04 | CNN

[gutshot]

Device dropped in ocean off Georgia during Cold War WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Government experts are investigating a claim that an unarmed nuclear bomb, lost off the Georgia coast at the height of the Cold War, might have been found, an Air Force spokesman said Monday.

The hydrogen bomb was lost in the Atlantic Ocean in 1958 following a collision of a B-47 bomber and an F-86 fighter.

A group led by retired Air Force Lt. Col. Derek Duke of Statesboro, Georgia, said in July that it had found a large object underwater near Savannah that was emitting high levels of radioactivity, according to an Associated Press report.

...... Smolinsky said if the bomb were found, a decision would have to be made about whether to try to recover it or leave it where it is. .....

The 7,600-pound, 12-foot-long thermonuclear bomb contained 400 pounds of high explosives as well as uranium.

.....

The United States lost 11 nuclear bombs in accidents during the Cold War that were never recovered, according to the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

An estimated 50 nuclear warheads, most of them from the former Soviet Union, still lie on the bottom of the world's oceans, according to the environmental group Greenpeace. ......

[blackdog]

Board or not, that's one wave you'll be catching regardless.

[RockinRight]

My first thought was "Bin Laden..."

[Rebelbase]

DEEP UNDERWATER EXPLOSION PHENOMENA

2.83 Because the effects of a deep underwater nuclear explosion are largely of military interest, the phenomena will be described in general terms and in less detail than for a shallow underwater burst. The following discussion is based largely on observations made at the WAHOO shot in 1958, when a nuclear weapon was detonated at a depth of 500 feet in deep water. The generation of large-scale water waves in deep underwater bursts will be considered in Chapter VI.

2.84 The spray dome formed by the WAHOO explosion rose to a height of 900 feet above the surface of the water (Fig. 2.84a). Shortly after the maximum height was attained, the hot gas and steam bubble burst through the dome, throwing out a plume with jets in all directions; the highest jets reached an elevation of 1,700 feet (Fig. 2.84b). There was no airborne radioactive cloud, such as was observed in the shallow underwater BAKER shot. The collapse of the plume created a visible base surge extending out to a distance of over 2½ miles downwind and reaching a maximum height of about 1,000 feet (Fig. 2.84c). This base surge traveled outward at an initial speed of nearly 75 miles per hour, but decreased within 10 seconds to less than 20 miles per hour.

. Spray dome observed 5.3 second after the explosion in deep water.

Plume observed 11.7 seconds after explosion in deep water.

Formation of base surge at 45 seconds after explosion in deep water

And there's also the shallow water Baker Shot at Bikini Atol, 90' depth.

[cajungirl]

thanks for references,,

[MattGarrett]

[gutshot]

[Squantos]

As all children should be of their parents......:o)

Kudos to yer Pop for going the extra mile when such was needed....

Stay safe !

[cajungirl]

unbelievable pics.

[The Mayor]

Yea, how many feet per second, and fastest mph before impact.

I wonder how deep the water is.
as much as I hated to click on cnn.com I did.

look at this.
The bomb was dropped from an altitude of about 7,200 feet at an air speed of about 200 knots.

The Air Force investigation in 2001 estimated that the bomb landed nose first in the seabed and is now buried in 5 to 15 feet of mud.

The report also estimated it would take as long as five years and cost $5 million to $11 million to recover the bomb.

Why so long and so dam much money.
Leave it where it is.

[cajungirl]

He actually had a helmet of some kind and stickers for our windows and a list of things to do when the bomb hit,,we were convinced that we were a target because of the oil refinery, this was in the forties and exxon was then Standard Oil or ESSO and there were huge refineries in Baton Rouge. Later I found out everyone everywhere thought they were on the list to be bombed.

[COEXERJ145]

I always like how the media uses Crossroads-Baker and calls it a hydrogen bomb. In reality Baker was a detonation of a bomb identical to that tested at Trinity and detonated over Nagasaki.

[CyberAnt]

This is teriffic! My niece and her 2 children just moved to Georgia.

Somebody tell me why they would want to leave the thing there while it's emitting radiation ..??

I'm assuming it's not armed .. but even if it's not .. what is the danger in leaving it where it is ..??

[blackdog]

I made bomb casing parts in the 80's. In all cases, the components were aluminum and were anodized. I can't say what the completed units are of for sure, but even steel parts were plasma sprayed with molten aluminum and then bolted in place with conductive gaskets.

Warm sea water and aluminum don't tolerate each other very well. The aluminum would be chalk in a decade.

[The Mayor]

wow

[gutshot]

Why so long and so dam much money.

Government contracts?

[Nathan Zachary]

I think they are more concerned of disturbing it because the TNT itself is old. when it decays, (assuming the outer shell hasn't leaked) the Nitro glycerin starts leaching out, "sweating". that stuff is very unstable in that form, and can go off with the slightest vibration.
It's not the risk of it going nuclear they are worried about, it's the risk of it exploding and scattering uranium all over the place, making a big environmental hazard zone. they would prefer to let it sit there until the casing corrodes and leaks, the water will then dilute the tnt and render it safe. Then they can remove the core safely.

[al baby]

Why so long and so dam much money.
Government contracts?


Dam Haliburton

[cajungirl]

If it were up to me I would take a little radiation in the water as opposed to a big ole boom in the atmosphere altho maybe it would be a little bomb with diry stuff emitting out. Some things ought to be left alone. Just my opinionand I spent the nite in a Holiday Inn two nites ago.

[ExSoldier]

I thought I heard this thing was under like twenty feet of silt. It'd be a major salvage operation for a terrorist group to raise it. Drop some sonar bouys as a sort of burglar alarm and leave them hooked into our Atlantic Fleet. Torpedo anybody that comes snooping around....

[blackdog]

That picture never shows the writing on the bomb. In big white letters written by hand, it says "Have a Nice Day".