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 ...
ping
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"Why would this take 5 years and 23 million bucks?"
Because it's the government?
A private firm could probably do it in a week for 100K$.
If the explosives do go off accidentally, there is little likelyhood of a fission reaction. If there is, it would be a low yield "fizzle". The implosion around the pit would have to be damn near perfectly symmetrical for the fission trigger to go off. More likely if the 400# of TNT went off, there would be a lot of decontamination work to be done (and pieces of any techs nearby).
Yuppers.
Give underwater robotics, and undersea exploration work a few more years, an dthis can be done remotely.
Cost goes down, time goes down. Risk is reduced.
(Anybody want to start an underwater robotics company, apply for guvment grants to recover A-bombs?)
I used to work at a weapon storage facility. There are multiple safeguard levels on our weapons. They are impossible to arm without knowing EXACTLY how. The worst thing that can happen is that if the high explosive in it detonates, there will be a radioactive debris field to clean up.
Well, as I said, I am no expert in this field so I will bow to those who are lol. If ya'll say it won't explode, then I'll take your word for it.
I just pray for those in and around Chatham county that you are correct.
The timing of this is suspicious............
Doesn't this article conflict with itself? First it states it was a hydrogen bomb, like Fat Man. Then it describes it as a thermo-nuclear bomb which implies a Bravo style design.
What kind of capability did we have during this time frame? Any Nuke buffs out there that could give us a rundown?
As this bomb is located in the coastal waters of Georgia, this bomb rightfully belongs to the People of the Great State of Georgia. This makes us a nuclear power.
So listen up Kim Ill Jung -- Washington may be circumspect when it comes to the use of nuclear weapons, but Georgia will nuke your ass in a heartbeat, so you best get your act together. And all you jihadis -- unless you want to spend eternity encased in glass, stay out of Georgia.
And you don't even want to know the message from the nuclear power of Georgia to the cities of Ithica, Berkeley, Austin, and Madison, or the state of New Jersey.
I thought hydrogen bombs were thermonuclear. At least that's what the salesman told me.
It has always bothered me that the borders of the Florida panhandle were drawn to deprive Georgia of access to the Gulf of Mexico. Now that Georgia is a nuclear power, she should annex the panhandle as part of manifest destiny and declare Pensacola to be her 19th province.
Right, if the core is missing than its just a very large chunk of U238 and totally harmless except the HE shell.
The article was not well enough written to inform "you" of that, and the "writer" was not well-enough informed to know that he wasn't telling you the the difference.
(This thing was written from an AF script, to an audience who had no idea what they were listening to.
In other words, typical ow-quality pre-pajama-clad warrior MSM.
You think like a Georgian, my man. But I was going to recommend we go for everything north of Orlando.
I know there is a significant difference between the earlier single stage atomic bombs and the later two stage bombs. I guess I've never heard of H bombs described as being "thermonuclear" before, I always thought that designation was reserved for FFF (Fission Fusion Fission) type bombs, ie they achieve fusion.
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