Mystery of lost US nuclear bomb ...

[eizo]

The United States abandoned a nuclear weapon beneath the ice in northern Greenland following a crash in 1968, a BBC investigation has found.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7720049.stm

[Farnan]

Better get it quick before the Danes find it.

[Kanaric]

Maybe this is what NK used to "test" their nuclear weapon.

[jonny duck]

Maybe this is what NK used to "test" their nuclear weapon.

Hopefully the wits forgot to make a copy of it first

[Garbarsardar]

Hopefully the wits forgot to make a copy of it first

"North Koreans", "copy" and "forget to", have absolutely no place in the same sentence.

[Caelius]

Why should this be surprising?

There have been dozens of incidents both during and after the Cold War where nuclear weapons have been lost in such ways. By both the US and Russia, as well as other nuclear powers like the UK and France.

The number of times its happened is almost comical, in a sinister kind of way.

A few snippets:

An A-4E Skyhawk aircraft with one B43 nuclear bomb on board fell off the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga into 16,200 feet (4,900 m) of water while the ship was underway from Vietnam to Yokosuka, Japan. The plane, pilot and weapon were never recovered. There is dispute over exactly where the incident took place—the U.S. Defense Department originally stated it took place 500 miles (800 km) off the coast of Japan, but Navy documents later show it happened about 80 miles (130 km) from the Ryukyu Islands and 200 miles (320 km) from Okinawa.

A B-52 carrying four hydrogen bombs collided with a USAF KC-135 jet tanker during over-ocean in-flight refueling. Four of the B-52's seven crew members parachuted to safety while the remaining three were killed along with all four of the KC-135’s crew. The conventional explosives in two of the bombs detonated upon impact with the ground, dispersing plutonium over nearby farms. A third bomb landed intact near Palomares while the fourth fell 12 miles (19 km) off the coast into the Mediterranean sea. The US Navy conducted a three month search involving 12,000 men and successfully recovered the fourth bomb. The U.S. Navy employed the use of the deep-diving research submarine DSV Alvin to aid in the recovery efforts. During the ensuing cleanup, 1,500 tonnes (1,700 short tons) of radioactive soil and tomato plants were shipped to a nuclear dump in Aiken, South Carolina. The U.S. settled claims by 522 Palomares residents for $600,000. The town also received a $200,000 desalinization plant. This accident would later be called the Palomares hydrogen bombs incident.

– The Soviet submarine K-171 accidentally released a nuclear warhead while off the coast of Kamchatka. After a frantic search involving dozens of ships and aircraft, the warhead was recovered.

Cosmos 954, a Soviet Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite with an onboard nuclear reactor, broke up on reentry over Canada; some radioactive pieces were recovered.

At about 6:30 p.m., an airman conducting maintenance on the Titan-II missile at Launch Complex 374-7 in Southside (Van Buren County), just north of Damascus, Arkansas, dropped a socket wrench, which fell about eighty feet before hitting and piercing the skin on the rocket’s first-stage fuel tank, causing it to leak. At about 3:00 a.m., on September 19, 1980, the missile exploded. The W53 warhead landed about 100 feet (30 m) from the launch complex’s entry gate; its safety features operated correctly and prevented any loss of radioactive material. An Air Force airman was killed, and the complex was destroyed.

[Holger Danske]

World Power, here we come...

[Daneboy]

World Power, here we come...

Must have weapons of mass destruction...

Sweden, we will have Skåne back now, please..

I honestly wish that Osama would rename himself Cobra Commander.

Yeah, I remember a great comic book about that. "Action Force" or something.

[Holger Danske]

Must have weapons of mass destruction...

Sweden, we will have Skåne back now, please..

Meh, be ambitious!
Skåne, Halland, and Blekinge... oh and all of Norway!

Anyway I never really understood why our government banned nukes from being anywhere near Danish soil (or sea), because we were a priority target for the USSR, nukes or not... :hmmm: If it was for some sort 'neutrality' policy, then we should never had joined NATO in the first place!

[Daneboy]

Meh, be ambitious!
Skåne, Halland, and Blekinge... oh and all of Norway!

Anyway I never really understood why our government banned nukes from being anywhere near Danish soil (or sea), because we were a priority target for the USSR, nukes or not... :hmmm: If it was for some sort 'neutrality' policy, then we should never had joined NATO in the first place!

Try to find the programme "den hemmelige krig" (the secret war) on Dr´s net tv.

In the event of an invasion the Americans would have supplied tactical nukes for us within 24 hours. So much for "no nukes".

[Ishoss]

Meh, be ambitious!
Skåne, Halland, and Blekinge... oh and all of Norway!

Anyway I never really understood why our government banned nukes from being anywhere near Danish soil (or sea), because we were a priority target for the USSR, nukes or not... :hmmm: If it was for some sort 'neutrality' policy, then we should never had joined NATO in the first place!

I believe the Greenlanders will take it, then force Denmark to secede the Islands (including Faroe Islands etc.) to their rightful owners!

[Da Skinna]

They lost and recovered one in BC too in the Fifties I think.

Even our most dangerous can get a little clumsy, as scary as that might sound.

[Nouvelle Vague]

Great another geological disaster caused by man and not properly cleaned up.

[Exarch]

broken arrow, here we come!!

[Mikelus Trento]

broken arrow, here we come!!

"Broken arrow!! Broken arrow!! Broken arrow!!"

Probably the most stirring moment in "We Were Soldiers".

[danzig]

"Broken arrow!! Broken arrow!! Broken arrow!!"

Probably the most stirring moment in "We Were Soldiers".

Blah wrong movie which always annoyed me cause "broken arrow" (US unit being overrun) in We Were Soldiers was much more intense then "broken arrow" (losing a nuke) in the movie Broken Arrow.

[Lou337]

great, now the terrorists will assemble their deep sea terror squad and retrieve this thing.

[humvee2800]

I honestly wish that Osama would rename himself Cobra Commander.

[alhoon]

Oh Great. Anyway, except from ecological threat, I don't think anyone would find need for a partially blown-up 40-years-in-the-bottom-of-the sea nuclear missile. On the other hand, the thing probably leaks plutonium everywhere.

[Hookah Smoking Caterpiller]

Great, Nuclear Vikings, now were all ed