During the Cold War , the United States military misplaced at least eight atomic weapon permanently . These are the stories of what the Department of Defense calls " broken arrows"—America ’s isolated thermonuclear warhead , with a combined explosive violence 2,200 time the Hiroshima bomb calorimeter .
STRAY #1: Into the Pacific
February 13 , 1950.An American B-36 bomber en route from Alaska to Texas during a breeding exercise lost power in three engines and began losing altitude . To lighten up the aircraft the crew jettison its cargo , a 30 - kiloton Mark 4 ( Fat Man ) atomic turkey , into the Pacific Ocean . The conventional explosive blow up on impact , producing a flash and a shockwave . The bomb ’s uranium components were lost and never go back . According to the USAF , the plutonium core was n’t present .
STRAY #2 & 3: Into Thin Air
March 10 , 1956.A B-47 carrying two nuclear weapon cores from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida to an abroad airbase disappeared during a scheduled air - to - air refueling over the Mediterranean Sea . After becoming lose in a thick cloud cant at 14,500 foot , the carpenter’s plane was never heard from again and its wreckage , admit the nuclear burden , was never found . Although the weapon eccentric stay on undisclosed , Mark 15 thermonuclear bombs ( usually conduct by B-47s ) would have had a combine yield of 3.4 megaton .
STRAYS #4 & 5: Somewhere in a North Carolina Swamp
January 24 , 1961.A B-52 carrying two 24 - megaton atomic bomb calorimeter doss down while taking off from an airbase in Goldsboro , North Carolina . One of the weapon sank in swampy farmland , and its uranium core was never found despite intensive lookup efforts to a depth of 50 feet . To guarantee no one else could recover the weapon system , the USAF grease one’s palms a lasting easement need politics license to toil on the demesne .
STRAY #6: The Incident in Japan
December 5 , 1965.An A-4E Skyhawk approach aircraft carrying a 1 - megaton thermonuclear weapon ( H dud ) rolled off the deck of the U.S.S. Ticonderoga and fell into the Pacific Ocean . The plane and weapon dip in 16,000 ft of water and were never found . 15 yr later the U.S. Navy in the end let in that the accident had have space , claim it happened 500 Swedish mile from commonwealth the in relative refuge of the gamey seas . This turned out to be not true ; it really happen about 80 mile off Japan ’s Ryuku island chain , as the aircraft carrier was sailing to Yokosuka , Japan after a bombing missionary station over Vietnam .
These Revelation caused a political uproar in Japan , which interdict the United States from impart atomic weapons into its territory .
STRAYS #7 & 8: 250 kilotons of explosive power
Spring , 1968.While returning to home foundation in Norfolk , Virginia , the U.S.S. Scorpion , a nuclear onslaught torpedo , enigmatically pass about 400 miles to the SW of the Azores islands . In addition to the tragical red of all 99 crewmembers , the Scorpio the Scorpion was carry two unspecified nuclear weapons — either anti - submarine missiles or torpedoes that were tip with nuclear warheads . These could concede up to 250 kilotons explosive power ( depending which sort of weapon system was used ) .
NOTE: WHAT ABOUT TYBEE?
The United States lost a load off of Tybee Island , Georgia , in 1958 . concord to the U.S. Air Force , it did not contain a plutonium core and therefore could not be considered a functional nuclear weapon , though that has been debate . Whether you believe the U.S. Air Force on this matter is a personal call .
