6 Nukes Are Missing from the U.S. Military

A lot of us United Statesians have a lot of confidence in our military. Surely something as important as nuclear bombs would have a number of layers of safeguards, and a very thorough accounting system for each bomb. If not, the military would definitely pursue any inventory loss thoroughly and resolutely, right? RIGHT?!



Are any or all of these nukes still a threat? Why or why not?

I have heard of two of these incidences perhaps previously, but certainly not in this great of detail. Seems much of the declassification occurred not so long ago. With the lack of terrorists obtaining these and no World War III yet, this is a sign that there is a lot of unseen work going on in the background surely, but in a world of hackers and AI, can security keep up?

The commentator in the video mentions 'conspiracy theory' a few times, but always thought these were fairly clear...what conspiracy theories are out there specifically?

I think it is only logical to ask the question, "If the U.S. lost 6 nukes, how many nukes have other countries lost as well?"

This would include (but not exclude others perhaps): Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and/or Israel.

Find the information outside of YouYTube and I will discuss .

originally posted by: Gothmog
Find the information outside of YouYTube and I will discuss .

You may proceed counselor

nationalinterest.org...

Fact: The longest missing nuclear weapon hasn't been seen in 71 years, and it is unlikely it will be found anytime soon.

by Peter Suciu
The 1996 John Woo film Broken Arrow features a quite memorable line – uttered by character actor Frank Whaley – "I don't know what's scarier, losing nuclear weapons, or that it happens so often there's actually a term for it." In fact, the term "Broken Arrow" does refer to the loss of a nuclear weapon and it has happened more than once.

Between 1950 and 1980, there have been 32 documented nuclear weapon accidents that involve the unexpected accidental launching, firing, detonating, theft or loss of the weapon. To date, six U.S. nuclear weapons have been lost and shockingly never recovered. Below you will find a breakdown of the situations that lead to this shocking statistic.

February 13, 1950

The longest missing nuclear weapon hasn't been seen in 71 years, and it is unlikely it will be found anytime soon.

It was lost when the crew of a United States Air Force Convair B-36 bomber was conducting a mock nuclear strike and was en route from Eielson Air Force Base (AFB), Alaska to Carswell AFB, Texas, when it developed engine trouble. Not wanting to have a crash with a nuclear warhead, the crew was ordered to drop its 30-kiloton Mark 4 (Fat Man) bomb into the Pacific Ocean.

According to the "official" report, the bomb didn't contain the plutonium core necessary for a nuclear detonation, but it still contained a substantial amount of uranium.

March 10, 1956

Six years after losing the first bomb, two nuclear cores were lost when a B-47 bomber likely crashed in the Mediterranean Sea while en route from MacDill AFB, Florida to Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco. The aircraft had successfully completed its first aerial refueling, but it failed to make contact with a tanker for a second refueling and was reported missing.

The exact weapon wasn't disclosed, but the B-47 typically carried the 3,400-kilogram Mark 15 nuclear bomb. No trace of the plane nor the cores has ever been found.

February 5, 1958

During a simulated combat mission near Savannah, Georgia, another Air Force B-47 bomber carrying a Mk 15 weapon collided with an F-86. After multiple attempts to land, the bomber crew was given the green light to jettison the bomb to reduce weight, and also to ensure it wouldn't explode during an emergency landing. The bomb, which was dropped over the Wassaw Sound near the mouth of the Savannah River, wasn't recovered.

January 24, 1961

Somewhere near Goldsboro, North Carolina, a uranium core is likely buried in a field. It had been one of the cores for a pair of 24-megaton nuclear bombs that were on a B-52 that crashed shortly after takeoff. What is especially unsettling about this incident is that three of the four arming mechanisms on the bomb that was recovered had been activated.

The second bomb's tail was discovered 20 feet below ground in the muddy field, and when efforts to find the core failed to uncover it, the military did the next best thing. The United States Army Corps of Engineers purchased a 400-foot circular easement over the buried components to restrict digging.

December 5, 1965

Somehow an A-4E Skyhawk attack aircraft, loaded with a one-megaton thermonuclear weapon, managed to roll off the deck of the USS Ticonderoga and fell into the Pacific Ocean. The pilot, plane and bomb quickly sank in 16,000 feet of water and were never seen again.

However, it wasn't until 15 years later that the U.S. Navy even admitted the accident had taken place, and only noted it happened 500 miles from land. However, that wasn't true – as the carrier was about 80 miles from Japan's Ryuki island chain. As a result of that accident, the Japanese government now prohibits the United States from bringing nuclear weapons into its territory.

Spring 1968

The final bomb to be lost and not recovered occurred sometime in the first half of 1968, and involved the loss of the U.S. Navy's nuclear attack submarine USS Scorpion, which sank about 400 miles to the southwest of the Azores Islands. In addition to the tragic loss of the 99 crewmembers, the submarine was carrying a pair of nuclear-tipped weapons, which had yields of up to 250 kilotons.

While this should be as scary as suggested, the good news is that in the past 50 plus years, no other nuclear weapons have been lost – at least that we know of.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms, and is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.

a reply to: putnam6
So , nothing new .
Remember , I am an old guy with a still fairly decent memory .
1 is under hundreds of feet of ice in the Arctic Circle and 1 is off the shore of Florida .
Some listed as "missing nukes" are only the shell (encasement) without a warhead.
But that is not shock enough to stir clicks ....
"Broken Arrow" was just a movie .
The title is correct though .

ETA : And if memory serves me correctly , a couple were just the delivery system with nothing onboard .
But that's not scary enough .

Is it reasonable to think that they "lost" six bombs in about 18 years; then have lost none since that time?

Is it reasonable to trust the US government to report anything resembling the truth about it?

There have also been cases of bombs being "accidentally" transported acros the CONUS without authorization.

So how many are missing that they don't even know about?

a reply to: LanceCorvette

So how many are missing that they don't even know about?

Absolute 0

a reply to: putnam6

FYI, the Uranium in the 1950 accident was not weapons grade material. It was depleted Uranium, used as a tamper. A couple of the other incidents might be in the same category.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that this is the uranium hillary sold. I can picture that smug rotten egg look on her face as she says, "Of course the uranium was in bombs. Where else would it be? I never thought I had to explain that..."

a reply to: LanceCorvette

They stopped flying missions with them in the 1970s. Until 1968 we kept nuclear armed bombers airborne 24/7 during Operation Chrome Dome. Several were lost on those missions. Others were lost on training missions with them. The only gravity bomb we use now is the B61-12, but the only missions flown with anything resembling one are certification missions with concrete plugs mounted internally to simulate warhead weight.

originally posted by: Gothmog
a reply to: putnam6
So , nothing new .
Remember , I am an old guy with a still fairly decent memory .
1 is under hundreds of feet of ice in the Arctic Circle and 1 is off the shore of Florida .
Some listed as "missing nukes" are only the shell (encasement) without a warhead.
But that is not shock enough to stir clicks ....
"Broken Arrow" was just a movie .
The title is correct though .

Man, I thought you were gonna actually discuss the topic, not just piss on the thread. I mean I agree the cartoonish presentation is tiresome but we got to remember even though you and I know these stories. Nothing wrong with having a format that may appeal to those younger than ourselves.

Not to mention they have 13 million subscribers they are well past the need "clicks" . That little silly nothing new "podcast" vid probably made the guy over 13 grand even and if you watched it he/she/they just made another 5 bucks

Now back to the topic...

So none of these are actually missing bombs? which ones are bogus?

Use to hear some decent stories that the Tybee Island one isn't off the coast they think it landed in the swampy area on the Georgia coast and is buried in the mud or the black water of the coastline.

I got some questions though maybe you can point me in the right direction if you don't know.

Wouldn't you think by now our nuclear-sniffing aircraft could have found atleast the one on land, or are not the sensors sensitive enough?

www.businessinsider.com...

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originally posted by: 1947boomer
a reply to: putnam6

FYI, the Uranium in the 1950 accident was not weapons grade material. It was depleted Uranium, used as a tamper. A couple of the other incidents might be in the same category.

Teach me harder...

I do dig the subject matter, I'm thinking I first read about this aspect in one of the original Book of Lists back in the 80s and later found more detailed versions, etc.

But I became especially interested because I was a huge fan of Clive Cussler's books as a kid, and Vixen 03 is about this subject and it is a damn good read. The extent of my technical learning is from Richard Rhoads's TMOTAB and Dark Sun as well as Delivered From Evil by Robert Leckie

So if I am following correctly you are saying it didn't have a core? one would assume none of these labeled as training missions wouldn't have had the complete package either

One thing to note is that even if one of these bombs were to be found that they would be completely useless as nuclear weapons. The reason for this is that at the very center of the plutonium core lies a component known as a neutron initiator that provides the initial neutrons needed to start the fission chain reaction. These are typically made from a combination of polonium and beryllium that are kept separate from each other until it's time for the weapon to explode, as bringing the two together is what generates the neutrons. The problem is that polonium has a 138 day half life, so over the decades these weapons have been lost, the polonium has completely decayed, rendering those components completely inert and useless.

They probably aren't missing, Biden probably just mistakenly sent them to Ukraine with one of their packages of military aid and they are afraid to say anything because Russia would not like it...

a reply to: saint4God

Have you checked in Sam Brinton's purse?


He might've gotten the wrong idea when someone told him those toys go bang-bang.

originally posted by: Proterozoic
One thing to note is that even if one of these bombs were to be found that they would be completely useless as nuclear weapons. The reason for this is that at the very center of the plutonium core lies a component known as a neutron initiator that provides the initial neutrons needed to start the fission chain reaction. These are typically made from a combination of polonium and beryllium that are kept separate from each other until it's time for the weapon to explode, as bringing the two together is what generates the neutrons. The problem is that polonium has a 138 day half life, so over the decades these weapons have been lost, the polonium has completely decayed, rendering those components completely inert and useless.

Thanks for this. I'm no rocket surgeon, but have heard on a discussion group that nukes in the ocean really aren't a problem...and if you're worried about a nuke, dump it into the ocean. Not sure if that's the answer environmentalists want to hear, but the explanation of why made a lot of sense (even though I cannot remember the physics behind it).

a reply to: putnam6

Man, I thought you were gonna actually discuss the topic, not just piss on the thread.

I just call em as I see em.

I did one thread a while back looking at this issue:

Broken Arrow?

Two main take aways, the military ain't going to admit to anything it does not want too. Sure there has been some unintentional accidents at times, its good for workplace health and safety to talk about them.

As for what this globalist arms movement is about, takes a lot of money to get in that club.

Not sure if that's the answer environmentalists want to hear, but the explanation of why made a lot of sense (even though I cannot remember the physics behind it).

Salt water is highly corrosive, will destroy the detonation mechanism and erode everything rapidly.

a reply to: 38181

Salt water is highly corrosive, will destroy the detonation mechanism and erode everything rapidly.

Not if there was a submarine sitting in the area and ready to pick it up. They where never recovered. Why where they not found on the sea floor 'officially'?

a reply to: kwakakev

Anyone that could have had a submarine waiting at the time of the accident had their own nuclear weapons. It would have required a long range sub, which means larger nation at the time of the accident.

They weren’t found because they are tiny targets on the bottom of the ocean, and could have landed anywhere. The hydrogen bombs that were recovered off Spain took weeks of divers in hard suits searching, and a lot of luck. A Mk4 nuclear bomb was 10 feet long, by about 5 feet in diameter.