40 Years Ago, the US Lost a Nuclear Bomb 470
Hugh Pickens writes "A BBC investigation has found that in 1968 the US abandoned a nuclear weapon beneath the ice in northern Greenland after a nuclear-armed B52 crashed on the ice a few miles from Thule Air Base. The Stratofortress disintegrated on impact with the sea ice and parts of it began to melt through to the fjord below. The high explosives surrounding the four nuclear weapons on board detonated without setting off the nuclear devices, which had not been armed by the crew. The Pentagon maintained that all four weapons had been 'destroyed' and while technically true, investigators piecing together fragments from the crash could only account for three of the weapons. Investigators found that 'something melted through ice such as burning primary or secondary.' A subsequent search by a US submarine was beset by technical problems and, as winter encroached and the ice began to freeze over, the search was abandoned. 'There was disappointment in what you might call a failure to return all of the components,' said a former nuclear weapons designer at the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory. 'It would be very difficult for anyone else to recover classified pieces if we couldn't find them.'"
Report to Number 1 (Score:5, Funny)
Broken Arrow? (Score:4, Funny)
Greenland eh? (Score:5, Funny)
Wonder if Sarah Palin can see it from her house.
Re:gentlemen: (Score:5, Funny)
Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
From a unnamed news source:
Re:So, where is it? (Score:5, Funny)
Nonsense.
But, of course, this means that Greenland possesses WMDs and must be destroyed.
Imperialism Gone Mad (Score:4, Funny)
This sort of national irresponsibility needs to stop, right now.
I realise these events happened a little while ago now but nonetheless just what the hell did the USA think it was doing flying nuclear bombs around outside their own borders in the first place, this was, it can now be seen, a completely indefensible and irrepsonsible course of action and one for which the USA should now make a full apology.
The best course of action now is for the USA to hand over full documentation of the accident to a responsible and trustworthy country, France for example, and let them conduct an investigation to first of all try and find this nuclear timebomb and second of all to assign blame and set up the process for trying those who are guilty and punishing them appropriately.
Now the USA is at least out of the hands of the mad cowboy and we've good reason to hope Obamas administration will behave far more honourably we can hope their will be no repeats of this disaster but nonetheless until we in the rest of the civilised world can be sure of that the EU should impose regular nuclear inspections on the USA just to double check the same terrible mistakes are not being made today.
Re:So, where is it? (Score:5, Funny)
And AGAIN the US knows this because they left them there themselves ;).
A matter of time. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:A matter of time. (Score:2, Funny)
what?! santa claus is not real??
Re:24 episode (Score:3, Funny)
Only if Jack ties the suspect to a chair and forces him to watch Jack torture his wife and children.
Re:Greenland eh? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:A matter of time. (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah because no one is going to notice a bunch of middle eastern men running around Thule Airbase drilling holes in the ice?
Also considering how much alcohol they consume up there any extremists are going to have a real hard time keeping their cover.
Re:Imperialism Gone Mad (Score:5, Funny)
The US (USAF?) does need a major overhaul of its nuclear handling policies; this crap would've never flown under SAC. You can pin that one on Clinton,
Yes, because everybody knows Clinton was in power in 1968.
Re:Experimental nuclear waste storage? (Score:5, Funny)
Nobody wants Godzilla showing up in 50 years.
It's just too terrifying a possibility.
Especially if there's a commercial tie-in & jingle.
Re:Rouge Nations (Score:4, Funny)
Rouge [wikipedia.org]?
Yes, yes, I know I'm going to get -1 Redundant on this but...
There they stand, redfaced.
Re:Hey, 50 years ago, they lost one, too! (Score:5, Funny)
From Wikipedia:
The 12-foot (4 m) long Mark 15 bomb weighs 7,600 pounds (3,500 kg) and bears the serial number "No. 47782".
I thought I'd gotten lucky, but the one I found had the serial number "No. 47783". Damn.
Re:gentlemen: (Score:5, Funny)
Famous Last words. (Score:4, Funny)
I'll take famous last words for $1000, Alex...
Also highly amused the quote at the bottom of the page is from Stanley Kubrick, director of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb.
I think you'll find... (Score:3, Funny)
...that the US is actually now a bleu nation not a rouge nation.
Re:Trailer to a movie? (Score:5, Funny)
Gjordzilla??
Re:Broken Arrow? (Score:5, Funny)
Just send in Christian Slater to recover it. It'll only take him a few hours, with the additional bonus that movie footage of the recovery mission will make for a great action movie once the evil John Travolta tries to steal it.
Hey, cut John Travolta some slack. He just wants to get his hands on a thermonuclear weapon so he can give Xenu a taste of his own medicine.
Re:Trailer to a movie? (Score:3, Funny)
That's Fjordzilla, you insensitive clod!
Yes ! Bring good old Democracy to them ! (Score:5, Funny)
And while we are at it, why not liberate democratically some oil [wikipedia.org] ?
Re:24 episode (Score:5, Funny)
I don't like how dark Jack has become. He shouldn't even by a U.S. employee anymore with the tactics he uses.
I prefer the early seasons when Jack was still a decent human being.
Thule Air Base (Score:2, Funny)
> "Thule" is from the Latin word with the same spelling meaning "northernmost part of the inhabitable world."
"Thule?" More like Cthulu, I'd say.
If you didn't vote for him last Tuesday, Cthulu's going nuclear. Prepare to pay the price!
Re:The six-step plan (Score:5, Funny)
- You'll probably need an inside man in the Air Force. Expect to surgically alter his cornea so that he will pass the retinal scan during the re-jiggering of the aircraft payload orders.
- A one-time payment of $500B is nice, but will only finance SPECTRE operations for a short while, even with proper investment. Consider using the weapon directly. Igniting the arabian oil fields would cause irreparable damage to any country not properly prepared. That would be worth well more than $500B, and would be considered continuous revenue. Consider a project code name invoking Allah, but don't be too obvious.
- Should you encounter a British or US secret agent, politely invite him to lunch on your yacht. He will undoubtedly express interest in a tour, which should culminate with a demo of the ship's control center. At that point, put a bullet in his head. None of your hand-picked crew will think any less of you.
Re:Greenland eh? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Imperialism Gone Mad (Score:5, Funny)
Don't be so quick to dismiss this, after all Obama was involved with a terrorist group back in the '60s.
Re:Greenland eh? (Score:2, Funny)
it's ok (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Greenland eh? (Score:5, Funny)
Not really, moreover I think this is the time to make Palin jokes, previously all Palin said scared the hell out of me, but now we all can fully appreciate her stupidity.
Re:Report to Number 1 (Score:5, Funny)
Dear Mr cthulu_mt,
It is my duty to inform you that you have violated the Slashdot Users Union rule 34 part c which states in part that the Redundant moderation tag shall be used in cases where the obvious joke is obvious to the Slashdot community and therefore redundant. I hope that this clears up any confusion your part.
Thank you
Chester C Chester,
Director
Department of Redundancies Department
Re:Greenland eh? (Score:5, Funny)
Considering people are still saying Al Gore created the Internet, I don't think it will be over for awhile.
I laughed at Colbert's version: because of the International Date Line, not only can she see Russia, she can *see into the Future!*.
Re:A matter of time. (Score:5, Funny)
Population density (Score:4, Funny)
Kill everyone and just take the oil.
Well, at least that part is going to be easier in Greenland [google.ch] ...
Re:gentlemen: (Score:5, Funny)
All you have to do is move 5-600 tons of sand and silt while keeping the groundwater under control, and hope that the safety shielding hasn't been compromised from impact and exposure.
My god... the terrorists could get it! They're already experts in sand!
Re:Imperialism Gone Mad (Score:3, Funny)
I'm sure the drugs made him feel like he was in power.
Not likely -- he didn't inhale, remember?
Re:Imperialism Gone Mad (Score:2, Funny)
Yeah, but all those were STILL the fault of the US for not stopping them.
I just listened to the Kojo Nnamdi show with 5 or 6 guests telling me all about what the US needs to do about the war in the Congo. Or what the UN needs to do. Not 1 single word about Belgium or Great Britain or France or any other of the countries that fucked up Africa to begin with. But it's still the US's responsibility, apparently.
Re:24 episode (Score:4, Funny)
Hey, if you had to work all those 24-hour shifts, you'd be pretty cranky too.
Re:Greenland eh? (Score:3, Funny)
It's not an "acceptable" shortened name, especially outside the US (I know that may be hard to imagine), but it is one that is used. And I often hear "American," "Americas" used to refer to the continents.
Anyway, I'm not being pedantic. I'm making a sly comment about Palin being criticized for calling Africa a country, when that's very similar to calling US "America." The problem here is that no one has a sense of humour. Damn uptight Usonians!
Re:Greenland eh? (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, I dunno. Don't you think she wore this outfit both then and now? [Somewhat adult URL below]
http://www.topcosales.us/product_detail.asp?PID=0231-7 [topcosales.us]