Remember the old Davy Crockett recoilless rifle? According to legend, that weapon phased out rather quickly when President Kennedy realized that a sergeant had the ultimate weapon release authority.
Posted on 09/13/2004 7:15:02 PM PDT by 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. ......
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
IIRC, uranium mostly emits alpha particles, which would hardly penetrate a couple feet of water. (Any actual scientists care to comment/correct?)
Nuclear detonation? Nope.
Look at post 174 :-)
Anything is possible.
Not when it defies basic physics.
Finders Keepers
In 1950 a B-29 carrying an A-bomb crashed at Travis AFB CA. The HE detonated and killed 27 people, there was negligible radiation problem.
Let me clarify that. The method of reaching criticality for a fusion weapon without a trigger is none.
Somewhere between none and nil.
;->
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 13 and 22 Kiloton respectively. This puppy is around 3 Megaton
That's the difference between 10 pounds of potatoes and a ton of spuds.
Remember the old Davy Crockett recoilless rifle? According to legend, that weapon phased out rather quickly when President Kennedy realized that a sergeant had the ultimate weapon release authority.
I know of a few more in CONUS. I don't know if it is as high as 10.
Outside of CONUS there are more.
Can this be farmed for dirty bomb material?
Keeping this stuff out of the wrong hands is very much a necessity. However, any salvage operation would be quickly noticed.
On land, I'm sure a salvage operation would be noticed.
Under water, what about divers?
That statement is now known to be preposterous. The DNC has pointed out that George Bush never served in the Air Force. Only the Texas Air National Guard.(sarcasm off)
The weight given does not seem to match most bombs in the U.S. arsenal. The article states that the bomb is a thermonuclear weapon so this is a very old H-bomb. Probably in the three megaton range. The two fission weapons used on Japan were in the 9000-11,000 pound range and had 22 and 13 kiloton yields.
I am not a professional diver, however, IMHO, a recovery of this magnitude would be noticed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.