There was abrief article in the newspaper yeaterday, about a guy who belives he knows where a missing aromic bomb is, in the ocean off georgia. This bomb was said to have been dropped by an air force bomber in 1958. I can’t seem to find any info on such an incident…is this loss officially acknowledged?
And, what happens to an a-bomb in slt water-would the plutonium eventually dissolve, and contaminate a large area?
I have heard nothing about a nuke off of Georgia; but considering the effort put forth to recover a hydrogen bomb off of Spain in the late-1950s (I think), it would seem unlikely that one off of the U.S. coast would have been A) unrecovered; and B) unknown to so many people.
It’s not unknown.
Especially on this Board.
There are several threads on this wandering firecracker.
Search for Savannah river device.
I stand corrected, then. I’ve never heard of it.
Here is a CNN article about it.
So if I were to come across this bomb, it would be legally mine?
Yeaaah… it’d be all yours! Make it into a tourist attraction! “Yeeehhhaaa! Ride the Bomb!”
You could re-enact the last scene of Dr. Strangelove… 
The bomb in question, a Mk-15 Mod 0, did not have the capsule installed when it was jettisoned. The capsule contains the plutonium pit that is used to initiate the fission reaction in the bomb. The bomb was a thermonuclear device (fission-fusion-fission) with a jacket of highly-enriched uranium. The bomb can’t be detonated unless a capsule is installed.
Plutonium corrodes very easily, producing plutonium oxide. This could produce a contamination problem if the bomb casing broke up on impact or if the high explosives in the bomb were accidentally detonated.
The highly-enriched uranium in the bomb jacket is a proliferation concern. It can be used to make fission weapons, either implosion or gun-assembly. With enough highly-enriched uranium, it is relatively easy to build a gun-assembly fission device like the “Little Boy” bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.
References:
I’ve seen news reports of peeps spending MILLIONS to look for a sunk Civil war era sub (U.S.S. Huntley, i believe) … why isn’t anyone looking for a Nuke?!
[Sets aside bag of Dorritos, wipes hand on shorts, looks for a T-shirt and grabs flipflops]
I’m going, I’m going, chill!
As most of the current news stories make clear, the current interest is the result of searches by a guy called Derek Duke. He was the subject of this article (subscription required) in The Atlantic back in 2001.
He doesn’t seem to have a website, but he has endorsed a rather scaremongering website about the missing bomb.
As for why the US government hasn’t been too bothered up to now, I’ll repeat what I said the last time the issue came up on the board: over the years governments have deliberately dumped plenty of dangerous old munitions at sea, often creating hazards in the process. The odd accidental loss isn’t something they’d greatly worry about if there’s no particular risk of it going off.
For about 30 seconds until the men in black helicopters show up, shoot you, and take the bomb.
http://archives.postandcourier.com/archive/arch04/0204/arc02081574705.shtml
http://archives.postandcourier.com/archive/arch04/0704/arc07211832205.shtml
Northern Piper on cell to his wife: “Honey, I can’t rake the leaves today, or do that grocery run you asked me to. I promised threemae I’d help him with that nuclear bomb thing, and he says he has to get it done today. … Yeah, I know, he’s put it off a while… Yeah, he could have given me a bit more warning that, but I promised him I’d help… okay, see you at six.”
It may, but don’t be surprised if a bunch of UN Weapon Inspectors come by one day to inspect your weapons of mass destruction.
I got yer Weapon Of Mass Destruction right here! 
Always available for the ladies to inspect, too!
Tuckerfan: I just read your sig. I caught it.
Caught what?