What about the nuclear depth charge that was accidentally dropped and never found?
They no longer make nuclear depth charges, but that one was never found.
September 25, 1959
A U.S. Navy P-5M aircraft carrying an unarmed nuclear depth charge without its fissile core crashed into Puget Sound near Whidbey Island, Washington. The weapon was never recovered
Well, it’s not fused, so it won’t go boom, but it could still be a radiological hazard probably.
I think you misread the quote:
Emphasis added (for emphasis)
The depth charge (a Mark 90 nuclear depth bomb , using a 10-kiloton Mark 7 warhead ) had everything except its nuclear package (“pit” or “core”) so a radiologic risk is the main thing that cannot happen. (At least, if we assume the May 1981 revelations as reported in the New York Times are accurate.)
Ohh, OK, so the only thing to worry about is the fuse, basically, which is the part that does go boom. :smack:
SCAdian
October 6, 2017, 12:15am
45
Elendil_s_Heir:
In the final months of the war, the U.S. also used naval gunfire against the Japanese home islands. The battleships Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and South Dakota all shelled Japanese shore targets.
And one submarine, USS Barb (SS 220):
Upon completion of her 11th patrol, Barb was sent to the U.S. for a yard overhaul and alterations, which included the installation of 5 in (130 mm) rocket launchers at the Captain’s request. Returning to the Pacific, she commenced her 12th and final patrol on 8 June. This patrol was conducted along the coasts of the Sea of Okhotsk. For the first time in U.S. submarine warfare, Barb successfully employed rockets, against the towns of Shari, Hokkaido; Shikuka, Kashiho; and Shiritoru on Karafuto. She also bombarded the town of Kaihyo To with her regular armament, destroying 60 percent of the town. She next landed a party of carefully selected crew members who blew up a railroad train. During the night of 22–23 July 1945 these men went ashore at Karafuto, Japan, and planted an explosive charge that subsequently wrecked a train.