America's Missing Nukes

We all love nukes, but what if one went missing?
Who has it? where it go? why'd it go? and How?
In this award-seeking documentary, we explore the wonderful world of Broken Arrow Incidents and all the nuclear warheads that America has lost over the years that are still out there in the world just waiting to be found.
Sources from:
National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
& The Atomic Heritage Foundation
Big Thanks to:
The Free Creative Footage Library
/ channel
& Mauzer
/ mauzerr
for the footage used in this video.

[@lemonsponge5050]

So theoretically if a friend wanted to rent a submarine, a team of experienced deep sea divers, water proof power tools capable of cutting through high strength steel, and some rope how much would that cost? Ya know theoretically. For a friend.

[@michaelbatashov2468]

Imagine spending all that money just to have the divers fuck up and blow themselves up

[@alexanderblatt8653]

@@michaelbatashov2468 that's why you only pay them half up front, and pay the other half when (if) they get back.

[@archygrey9093]

If it was possible the US government would have already done it decades ago.

[@rodrames2462]

Glomar Explorer Beat you to it.

[@kameronjones7139]

It would cost you a bullet to the head from the government

[@dorsenator]

My late step-grandfather was a Colonel in the USAF, and one of the various aircraft he piloted were nuclear armed B-58 Hustlers. Seeing how he drove automobiles post retirement, I am absolutely not surprised that the USAF has completely lost nuclear arms

[@liammarra4003]

Would've been hard not to fly the Hustler like a hot rod.

[@legendary6790]

My grandfather too flew the hustler as a Colonel of the USAF, along with many other aircraft across his broad career. He was one of the most carful pilots however, so that's where the story differs XD. It was a different time though that the pilots would be running drills at getting their bombers up in the air and ready to deliver their nuclear payload, though they were never told it was a drill until after.

[@dashiellgillingham4579]

…Well, my late grandfather was USAF too. We don’t know what he did exactly, but he programmed computers, and we (the family) suspect he worked on spy satellites, given some of the insights he gave us. He kicked my dad out of a conspiracy hole at one point by explaining how much easier it was to just have a guy follow someone than to point one of the most expensive cameras on earth at them.

[@dorsenator]

To everyone replying: my late biological grandfather was, coincidentally, also in the Air Force (guess grandma had a type lol). Though he was a Staff Sergeant. He was in maintenance, and to my recollection worked mainly on P-40s.

[@soulman4292]

My grandfather was also in the Air-Force, and before that in the Army Air Corps specifically something to do with the strategic air command (this is only known because I have his uniforms, and flight suits with the patches on them) then in NASA. He also “painted buildings on the side” in D.C., Southern California, “somewhere in the Midwest”, and according to him some of the best times he ever had with his “painting crew” were in Las Vegas in the mid to late 50’s. He never told anyone what he actually did, and the painting crew was never actually met by anyone, even when my grandmother would go to visit him in some of these areas if he was gone for extended periods. He also weirdly flew for free on American Airlines his entire adult life, yet never actually worked there as far as anyone to include his wife could tell. He passed away quite a few years ago, and when he did “some really nice men came to the house, said they knew grandpa, and had many stories about him, and how incredible he was.” according to my grandmother. Again, I haven’t a fucking clue what he actually did. He was an exceedingly smart man, who insisted upon living modestly, fixing everything himself, and indeed did enjoy painting rooms interesting colors from time to time. Even in death he was an enigma, and even when he became severely demented never talked about work. Just kind of rambled about rockets. We think he had something to do with the development of ICBM’s but it is pure conjecture, and probably always will be pure conjecture considering we aren’t even sure what degrees he held, only that he attained them while in the Army Air Corps, and Air Force.

[@Franfran2424]

A little comment, of the two nukes dropped on Nort Carolina, the dangerous one wasn't the one that smashed into the ground and disintegrated into pieces. They were ground burst layoff weapons, so they were supposed to fall slowly with the parachute and on contact with the ground set off a timer and explode. So the one that got entangled with a tree was actually closer to nuclear explosion. God bless that tree

[@dasji2]

That tree must be pretty fucking sturdy by looking at the size of that bomb.

[@catc8927]

Give that tree a medal!

[@Spacey_key]

This only proves that we as a species have more luck than intelligence

[@WhatIsSanity]

Why would someone make such a dangerous and bizarre weapon?

[@vothbetilia4862]

@@Spacey_key not true, we have burgars

[@feraltrafficcone4483]

5:53 Yeah, they recovered the arming device in that second nuke. It was set to arm, and the only thing saving it from exploding was a single, simple, low voltage switch

[@nelzelpher7158]

The safety features working as intended.

[@UkraineJames2000]

What a gigachad switch

[@jacobmoriancumer7588]

So we almost nuked one of the Carolina's. Now I know why we have a spare.

[@jacknedry3925]

@@nelzelpher7158, That's the thing, They DIDN'T work as intended...

[@MntDewEyes]

@@jacknedry3925 I don't want to go into too much detail but yes the low voltage switch was part of the safety features. A link meant to fail and prevent a accidental explosion if conditions weren't met. In addition to this even bombs that old were already being developed to prevent accidental detonation and included anti-tamper design to deform the core so that it would not result in a nuclear explosion. So it's final safety device worked and had it failed theoretically it would still have not resulted in a nuclear explosion but would have "rapid disassembled" itself. Thankfully we didn't see that tested

[@thomasanderson440]

"Never be a world war 4" I spit out my coffee.

[@LazerPig]

rip coffee

[@coryfice1881]

Technically ww2 was ww3 if you count the seven years war as a world war.

[@cauyawolfe4724]

@@LazerPig Excuse me sir, I'm guessing you haven't heard of this guy; kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJizZpibjKhshKs

[@goodknightcarolina]

Lol same. Then it made me switch to whiskey. 😅😅😭😭

[@sebastianharris-aldred8057]

@@coryfice1881 Korea was kind of like a world war too

[@booradley6832]

You wanna talk about a missing huge bomb? At the battle of Paschendale 20 tunnels were dug under enemy lines. A few were detected and destroyed in an underground war where miners (called sappers) would try to find each other and destroy their tunnels. Of the remaining 17, each was packed with 100 tons of explosive. 13 of them were detonated simultaneously vaporizing an estimated 10,000 german troops and created huge craters that are lakes today. Okay great trivia, whats the point? Well the point is...4 of those tunnels, fully loaded, are lost. We dont know where they are. Well, we dont know where 3 are. One blew up after a lightning strike in the 1950's and killed a few cows (aw, feels bad man)but three are out there just waiting to create some waterfront property somewhere outside of Ypres.

[@williamchamberlain2263]

Extreme gardening

[@hedgeearthridge6807]

That is actually terrifying, hope it rots away becomes inert soon enough!

[@booradley6832]

​@@hedgeearthridge6807 Seems unlikely though I dont know a lot about the water table of Belgium, I do know the tunnels were dug far enough down to try and avoid countersappers and listening detection. So between being sealed up in wooden crates lined with drying material (getting the stuff into the trenches in Belgium dry was already a tremendous challenge) and placed in underground tunnels that are beam- reinforced, I would say they have an unusually long lifespan ahead of them. However, it isnt impossible that rats will get down there and start eating the packaging/wood/drying material, and their burrow holes will create water channels. So its all a guessing game as to who is going to win out. Just be sure to keep up on your homeowners insurance premiums if you're anywhere near Belgium.

[@verozety4040]

@@booradley6832 that doesn’t ad up, you say they dug 20 tunnels but 13 were detonated that leaves 7 tunnels remaining not 4. So either they dug fewer then 20 tunnels or there are a lot more tunnels left or they detonated more than 13.

[@booradley6832]

They dug 20 but several were detected and destroyed by counter sappers before they were finalized. I'll have to edit the initial comment for people who need that to be clear.

[@petersmythe6462]

"No country has come forth" US has recently confirmed that the Vela incident was a joint Apartheid South African - Israeli nuclear test.

[@erer270]

My dad just got to Germany in US heavy artillery unit, when the Vela incident happened. HE had to stay the middle of a forest on his gun for a month, waiting for the soviets to attack.

[@kilianortmann9979]

B-36 suffering an engine failure, that's not exactly specific. Also right there with you on the B-47.

[@Betrix5060]

"two turning, two burning, two smoking, two choking and two more unaccounted for".

[@alphaplayzz1381]

I'm on team vulcan

[@felonfrost3268]

B 36 making an emergency ‘9 engine recovery’ 😒🤪

[@ShadowFalcon]

@@alphaplayzz1381 Team Victor here.

[@jamesharding3459]

@@felonfrost3268 What can a B-36 do that an whole flight of F-16's can't? Turn off 5 engines and fly just fine.

[@WyanoPenna]

Bro, the whole “terrorists nuking the Super Bowl” is literally a Tom Clancy book. They use a bomb from an Israeli Broken Arrow off an A-4 Skyhawk

[@cheezitz6730]

It's not just a book, it's a movie. Forgot which one tho

[@johnwood4030]

@@cheezitz6730 sum of all fears (2002 or 03)

[@liammarra4003]

@@johnwood4030 yeah, its also the title of the prior book. Lmao

[@ebnertra0004]

The Sum of All Fears is a great book. There's even an entire chapter devoted to the sixty nanoseconds after a nuke detonates. But it also made me realize that nuclear terrorism isn't quite as far-fetched as I'd like. When he said that, my thought was "hmm...wonder where _that_ idea came from..."

[@spence8920]

@@ebnertra0004yeah that ending card by Clancy has lived in my head ever since I first read that book… it’s terrifying that it’s not nearly as hard to build a multi stage fusion device if you’re able to procure U235, and there’s dozens of missing nukes. Terrifying.

[@blurglide]

Those suitcase nukes must be hidden all over the US. Fortunately, the tritium has decayed by now and it's unlikely something so small could produce much yield without it.

[@Attaxalotl]

The nuclear cores in ICBMs, which are about the biggest objects of it's type and as such the longest-lasting; have an effective lifespan of about six months. Even if some of the 85 nuclear briefcases were reactivated, it wouldn't do much beyond give whoever set it off radiation poisoning.

[@GrandDawggy]

Dam Liberals trying to take away my personal recreational nuke

[@shivanshna7618]

But can it poison environment and cause cancer even if someone accidentally found them and tired to broke open one?

[@Attaxalotl]

@@GrandDawggy Yes, we liberals of the Hoover Dam want to stop private nuclear detonations due to environmental concerns

[@Factao]

@@shivanshna7618 it's not that bad considering it could have... you know... made a lot of people day brighter

[@reaperking2121]

Fun fact one of the Nukes America lost alerting an accident was a Titan II. The war Head on it was the largest ever built for the US arsenal. It was capable of dealing so much damage that if one went off in Washington there would be people dying in New York from it. How did we loose it ? Well the rocket the warhead was sitting on exploded and catapulted the warhead into a ditch in Arkansas. Just think about that. Let that sink in.

[@concept5631]

God imagine the stupid shit the USSR's done like that.

[@jackmio]

WHAT DOES THAT SINK WANT NOW

[@RoyalSap]

Oh fuck

[@boomanchu2]

1. It was a Titan II ICBM, not a UGM-133 Trident II D5 B. The payload was blown (along with the silo cover) about 100 yards away from the silo. III. The payload was recovered, not lost. See: Damascus Titan missile explosion, 1980. Other than those errors; riveting yarn, old chap

[@reaperking2121]

@@boomanchu2 thanks for the corrections. But yeah it’s a hilarious story. It’s unfortunate the ending is so bad. Just imagine had it gone off we could have been rid of Arkansas !

[@KafkaExMachina]

Thankfully, a nuke's core has a viable lifespan of something around three to six months. This is one of the main reasons why keeping a nuclear arsenal is incredibly expensive - the nuclear cores expire via radioactive decay and must be constantly replenished/replaced. Not to mention how much neutron damage occurs to all materials around the core. So basically every broken arrow becomes non-viable with a year of loss. Of course, the radioactive core is still deadly and secrets can be gleaned from the wreckage, so recovery or isolation is definitely on the playbooks. The real danger is if a malevolent actor gets the leftovers... and decide to do something other than attempting to turn it into a nuclear bomb.

[@ptonpc]

From what I remember reading (New Scientist in the early 1990s), the UK came up with a 'fun' device called "The Fountain" while it was researching how to build nuclear weapons. It was a dirty bomb dialled up to 11. It could launch what was essentially a cloud of nuclear material that was light enough to drift with the wind and contaminate a massive area down wind. How much material was launched and how high it would go into the air was all selectable. For a time it was considered as an alternative to a traditional nuke but it was not 'sexy' enough.

[@novat9731]

Yeah, but you can just stash it in a truck filled with explosives and detonate it in a major city. You won't get fission, but almost as bad, now you have nuclear materials literally everywhere.

[@jsn1252]

@@ptonpc The thing about dirty bombs is that don't actually work, not unless fear is your only objective. The area and potency of the contamination are inversely proportional. Also, the radiation dosage required for detectable negative health effects to even show up in epidemiological studies is fairly significant, i.e more than an entire decade's worth of background radiation exposure in a single incident.

[@ptonpc]

@@jsn1252 I know. As I said, it was something the UK considered at the time.

[@jsn1252]

@@ptonpc Ah. That definitely didn't come across in what you wrote, and I've become so used to people thinking radiation is some kind of magical boogeyman.

[@fetchingcarpet8748]

I actually live close to the 1958 incident location near Savannah. Where it supposedly dropped is very close to a popular beach. It’s become a local legend and some people are still trying to find it, though most people just like the story.

[@hedgeearthridge6807]

I live close too. It's already neat that we live near 2 nuclear power plants and the "Savannah River Site", where Tritium is made and Nobel Prizes were won for things like discovering Neutrinos (and lots of weapons grade plutonium was made too I think). But we have a missing nuke somewhere off the coast just a few counties over? That's actually really fucking cool.

[@geordansnipes9991]

I live in savannah and its only a 10 minute boat ride from the boat ramp literally down the street from my house to the Wassaw Sound where the bomb was dropped. Ive SCUBA dived in that sound looking for it because im an idiot lol.

[@lucashurley7612]

​@@hedgeearthridge6807 Please refer to my comment on NeoGeo for an interesting local question.

[@jamesbuckner4791]

Always weird to run into another localchancer. There was a B 52 that broke up over Aiken county(where Savnnah river site is located) It was unloaded supposedly.

[@jamesbuckner4791]

@@lucashurley7612 Hell if you can ping me on that question as well I might be able to help.

[@lucashurley7612]

My father was stationed at Minot North Dakota back in the days of S.A.C Once upon a time they were moving a missile via truck during the winter, they had not accounted for the extra height that the snow on the ground would add to the truck. The top (of the truck of the missile I forget) Struck the top of the bridge and got stuck. they then sat there in the snow for hours looking like idiots guarding the doomsday device they had wedged into an overpass. (also the truck carrying the missile once caught fire and they rushed to put it out, Also they were once harassed for miles by an idiot police officer saying he wanted to search them and their cargo, they responded by showing him the end of the M16 barrels, and likely made an "If I showed you id have to kill you" joke.)

[@bravodelta6980]

That’s so unbelievable that it’s probably true, if you don’t mind me asking, what branch? Cause that’s the most marines thing ever

[@that_llama_in_a_tuxedo4584]

@@bravodelta6980 the Air Force are the ones who control and guard the nuclear silos

[@ladywaffle2210]

God, that cop following a military convoy probably had a far-too-inflated ego...

[@lucashurley7612]

@@bravodelta6980 This was back in the good old days. SAC AF security police.

[@BeKindToBirds]

I knew a driver who was working at boeing for the last few years, delivering their wings around the country. He had previously had experience moving (unarmed) ballistic missiles to silos and had this story to share with me: He had been driving through up to Montana or wyoming or something and met a weigh station. The protocol he had been given was to pull into weigh stations, present his courier orders to get his stamp or whatever and then drive on. No weighing, no inspection, nothing. Iirc he also was being gps tracked which at the time was very high tech for a semi truck. So this weigh station was populated by some typically american mini tyrant who took absolute offense to the fact that this man thought that he didn't have to get weighted. The guy comes out ranting and raving and says he is going to inspect the truck to which my mate replies "no you aren't and if you try and stop my vehicle you will be arrested." Well the guy hated that, blew up ranting and then called the police. About the time the man was walking away to go make that call the driver had a call of his own. This was a question from whomever was assigned to watch him, why had he stopped so long? The driver explained the weigh station attendant was calling the police to which the voice on the phone replied "drive away now." The driver complied, curious as to what was going to happen as the police were arriving and talking with the attendant. The driver relayed to me that by the time the attendant and police officer noticed he was going back to the freeway there was already a helicopter approaching the weigh station. What happened after that the story never told but the driver went on to continue as a contracted driver for the MIC and presumably that small town attendant and highway patrol officer had their testicles reduced by several sizes and then permanently stapled to their legs. I can't imagine the effort it took to have a helicopter of guys literally minutes away from any random spot on the route but for a modern icbm and the terrorist 80's I can certainly understand why it happened as it did.

[@jaredisley-oliver389]

If I Recall the Scorpion was found by Dr Ballard. The same man who found the Titanic decades after it sank. He was also an officer In The Navy. The search for the Titanic was funded by the U.S. Navy and was essentially a smoke screen for the search for the Scorpion and another submarine that was lost. Once he found them he had free reign to look for the Titanic as much as he wanted.

[@williammagoffin9324]

Scorpion was lost not on sea trials but an operational deployment with two MK 45 nuclear torpedoes. Your talking about the Thresher which (to my knowledge didn't have any nuclear weapons on board) which had the electrical failure. The reason for Scorpion's loss isn't officially know but it was likely an internal explosion from a malfunctioning torpedo, or a jettisoned torpedo that was malfunctioning.

[@dosvidanyagaming4123]

He also failed to mention K-219, which took somewhere between 36 and 48 warheads with it to the bottom. The reason for the uncertainty is that while Project 667AU boats like K-219 had 16 tubes, each carrying a triple MIRV:ed missile, they'd sometimes go on alert patrol with as few as 12 of the 16 silos actually occupied. Lovely stuff, makes the sinking of the Komsomolets or Scorpion look trivial in terms of liberally sprinkling the seabed with warheads

[@mrspeigle1]

Yep the wreck is also absurdly deep. Like 3000 meters down, gonna need specialized equipment to get to it.

[@4T3hM4kr0n]

or a malfunctioning jettisoned torpedo that was jettisoned

[@Geek-A-Hertz8707]

From what I've read the USS Thresher sank due to a flooding casualty not an electrical failure

[@andrewtaylor940]

@@Geek-A-Hertz8707 If I remember correctly a weld or connection point in a seawater line failed during a deep dive test causing catastrophic flooding of Thresher leading to an uncontrolled loss of buoyancy and the sub going below crush depth.

[@CoobyPls]

"Why did I choose this song what is wrong with me" I am partially to blame for this and I both know I am and fucking love it. I'm also formally requesting that LazerPig sing WAP at my Wedding Reception.

[@KenRomero]

That shit made me cry I laughed so hard!

[@starsiegeRoks]

I come back to this video just for that ending lmao

[@syauqilintang4970]

far better than the original

[@theduke7539]

I'm curious if anyone has ever actually successfully cataloged how much soviet equipment was lost or stolen or destroyed falling the collapse and how much equipment simply can't be accounted for

[@callidusvulpes5556]

I’m sure it’s a functionally incalculable amount lmao.

[@jillvalentinefan77]

Considering the level of soviet gear out on the market. Indescribable.

[@kurvitaschthedictator]

Soviet logistics and organization is a force to be reckoned with

[@angrydragonslayer]

We still find jeeps from the USSR frequently And i recently bought two of the massive lathes they built while trying to show off against the west

[@scowler7200]

Abandoned nuclear batteries littered Georgia in the 90's...

[@AgentHurley]

Lazerpig is my new favourite military enthusiast KZbinr. Keep it up man!

[@ethangellman4563]

The Vela incident is generally credited to South Africa possibly with support from Israel. Another less likely explanation put forward is a meteor impact with unusual properties causing it to closely resemble a nuclear blast.

[@dermottmcsorley8641]

I remember an interview with the South African minister of defence where he was asked if South Africa had any nukes. The answer was not anymore.

[@2Links]

@@dermottmcsorley8641 yeah - South Africa had nukes and chose to dismantle them during the Cold War. I'd say Israel are probably the ones who got the most use out of the test.

[@gimzod76]

@@dermottmcsorley8641 Thank fuck for that. The current Marxist window lickers running it off a cliff would be selling them to anyone if they still had them.

[@mr.whitechristmas280]

@@gimzod76 If I recall correctly, one of the major reasons the South African government got rid of them during the transition from apartheid was because they didn't trust the new government with nukes

[@Andrewza1]

@@gimzod76 you do know they still have all the parts. It not even a secret they kept at Pelindaba. USA asks every few years for south Africa to get rid of the weapons' grade fuel and SA all ways says no.

[@shoktan]

When I was attempting to earn my physics degree I had a (very unhealthy) obsession with nuclear weapons. Just in my university library there were literally dozens of books that directly or indirectly gave the reader more than enough information on how to build a nuke. Where to find uranium, how to mine it, how to refine and store it, best/most commonly used means of enrichment, using lithium-deuteride for hydrogen bombs, what type of light-weight low-density materials are easily vaporized by x-rays produced by the secondary detonation to form high-energy plasma to compress and detonate the primary warhead. I learned a lot more than I think I should have. This lead me to the following conclusions: 1). The nuclear proliferation argument is 100% bullshit. At least in terms of giving away nuclear secrets. Why? Because... 2). A nuclear program does not have to start with a Manhattan project or Operation Ivy. All of the science has been completed already and much of it is published (at least enough to start a program and figure the rest out). This is purely an engineering challenge and not a scientific one. 3). If a globally ostracized and condemned nation that can barely feed its people is capable of building a nuclear weapon (North Korea), then all that is ostensibly required to make a nuclear weapon is several billion dollars, a large team of engineers and some physicists, and the backing of a small but determined government. Granted, most terrorist organizations lack most (or all) of these prerequisites, but the scope and scale of a nuclear program is only getting smaller. If one has access to a modest industrial capability and a motivated workforce, it is only a matter of time.

[@concept5631]

So the only restrictions to the biblical-proportions of the power of the atom are shrinking as time goes by. That's a nice thought.

[@kevinhenrique4256]

Thanks for The Existential Crisis Man

[@Scarletraven87]

Well yes. North Korea could probably land a nuclear weapon on a westcoast beach via boat and van. But why? What for?

[@starbladesfury2195]

The delivery system is one of the hardest things to create on a nuclear weapon. (Not an expert whatsoever)

[@concept5631]

@@starbladesfury2195 A nuclear deterrent is useless without its delivery system.

[@dfmrcv862]

My introduction to the Davy Crockett came *not* from Fallout or its many, many videos of people talking about it... but the Jack Reacher prequel novel "Night School", where a younger Reacher is assigned to a task force that has to locate several of them that were apparently misplaced and might have propped up in a recently reunified Germany. Solid read.

[@emjaaaay]

I though it was a fewer dream Kojima had when he made MGS3, then I googled it and just shook my head.

[@JoshSweetvale]

Ah yes, Jackoff Reacharound.

[@BeKindToBirds]

The 101st Airborne was briefly a nuclear unit of some kind and I ran through the old nuclear bunker line all the time when was stationed there. Pretty neat miniature fortifications all along the service roads, the bunkers were quite small so I assume there were only a few shells in each for artillery or the recoilless rifle or whatever was assigned at the time. I remember a sergeant convincing a bunch of us young un's that we had to be cautious on the run or we could get irradiated. Never fell for the blinker fluid or grid square but I admit I was leery until I'd been at the unit a bit longer and realized I was getting my chain pulled. Bloody beautiful area back there. We definitely had the best training area for daily PT on the base imo. Now I'm all homesick for ft campbell

[@AliasAlias-nm9df]

I would like to add that the nth nation experiment only concerned the design of a weapon not it's construction. Experiments were designed by the post graduates and sent to the test coordinators who would respond with results from Los alamos. No weapon was actually built. The purpose was to establish if technology or engineering would be the limiting factor for an nth nation to develop a weapon. The result was the discovery that any nation with access to enriched material could rapidly develop a weapon and so control of fissile material was the only way to limit nuclear proliferation.

[@zaper2904]

pretty much this. any half competent university physics department could design a nuke, its WW2 era knowledge. the hard part is actually making it.

[@Big_Red_Dork]

And if you start developing rogue enrichment programs, the US designs a groundbreaking piece of malware that makes your centrifuges blow themselves up

[@Kumquat_Lord]

@@zaper2904 and THAT is a VERY good thing

[@peterjensen9468]

Whenever someone points out how many nukes the US has lost, I can't help but think how many the Russians lost comparatively...

[@dasji2]

And heres something that probably wont let you sleep at night. They dont usually report them. Besides the few he mentioned Im sure there ALOT MORE out there.

[@concept5631]

@@dasji2 It wouldn't surprise me if the Soviets lost hundreds of nuclear weapons.

[@questionmaker5666]

Considering how terrible Russia is at waging war, I don't want to think about it.

[@MeepChangeling]

It's irrelevant. Nukes decay. Unless they lost one in the last 10 years or so, there are no active nuclear weapons out in the wild waiting to be found, or in terrorist hands.

[@concept5631]

@@MeepChangeling This is true.

[@neal1231]

I recommend the book "Command and Control" for anyone interested in broken arrow incidents and how SAC was running non stop flights armed with nukes. It's pretty long, around 800 pages, but it's amazing.

[@hypersonicfalcon6802]

"Everyone loves nukes" Belka of Ace Combat fame: *chuckling*

[@MeepChangeling]

Fortunately, as all Broken Arrows I know of are over 10 years old, the nukes we've lost have decayed too much to work anymore :D They have a shelf life, folks. Or more accurately, a halflife. A short one at that.

[@concept5631]

You are correct.

[@houjisaifeddine5524]

yeah but they can still be used as dirty bombs, no? P.S : i'm an amateur with no knowledge. i'm just assuming based on what i'd do if i found an expired nuke that still had radioactive material

[@MeepChangeling]

@@houjisaifeddine5524 Nope. Not enough rads left my dude. Radioactive elements we energise into weapons decay SUPER FAST. If those were reactor fuel rods, then yes. Those last much longer. Also dirty bombs are just not that dangerous. All hype, no bite. The area would be perfectly safe after a mere 90 days. And that's with FRESH nuclear material.

[@houjisaifeddine5524]

@@MeepChangeling so you're saying if i HYPOTHETICALLY can get my hands on fresh nuclear material, and HYPOTHETICALLY make a bomb out of it and HYPOTHETICALLY set it off in a really densely populated area, then i could probably cause some damage for up to 90 days? again, speaking hypothetically of course. it's not like i already prepared all that and just double checking before the zero hour

[@DanielsPolitics1]

What isotope is it that you think has a half-life such that after 10 years the weapon won’t function? I only know if Tritium. Firstly, less tritium will give a smaller fusion boosted, not no fusion boost. Secondly, the fission primary will still make a very big bang, a full blown nuclear yield in its own right.

[@HairTrigger223]

Second time you said 'A-4 Phantom' when you mean A-4 Skyhawk. The F-4 is the Phantom I know, names are confusing, was less of an issue when the Scooter was the A4D. But yes, a Scooter got yeeted off the Ticonderoga with a live hydrogen bomb

[@jillvalentinefan77]

If I was on board that ship I would have shit a brick as soon as that plane fell off.

[@deltafoxtrot5969]

my grandfather was there and he made eye contact with the pilot Douglas Webster as the plane began to go overboard

[@joshuahadams]

At least it’s not an M1 There’s the M1 tank, M1 armoured car, M1 combat car, M1 light tractor, M1 medium tractor, M1 heavy tractor, M1 helmet, M1 Bayonet, M1 Garand, M1 carbine, M1 flamethrower, M1 chemical mine, M1 mortar, M1 Thompson, and finally the M1 rocket launcher.

[@yeetyeet3522]

@@deltafoxtrot5969 Did your grandpa say anything else about what happened that day? Like, for example, did he shit a brick when he realized that jet was carrying an H bomb

[@manoflego123]

Fun fact: the hunt for the Thresher and Scorpion submarines was given a cover story to prevent the Soviets from tailing search efforts. That cover story? The search for the wreck of the Titanic. This was only declassified less than 15 years ago.

[@samuelhumphries169]

I live in South Carolina, and a nuke was dropped on a farm in Florence, S.C. Which damaged a farm house and hurt a girl playing outside. the payload didn't detonate. You can find articles on it, but its kinda faded from memory. I only heard about it from my Grandfather.

[@morganlowder4532]

I also live in south carolina and like 30 minutes from Florence. How did I not know about this

[@Jaydee-wd7wr]

How did it hurt them if it never detonated? Was it big enough to cause a shockwave? I can only assume a direct hit would be instant death.

[@sjs9698]

@@Jaydee-wd7wr if it hit the house then there'd be bits of house flying about?

[@ronniehopper2726]

I don't know what's more terrifying the fact that we've lost a nuclear weapon or the fact that it happened so often that we have a name for it broken arrow to be precise

[@loganb7059]

Thankfully, it’s not really a big problem. At least, the idea of someone recovering one of these and using them as a nuclear weapon. The core expires after about 6 months to a year, so you can’t have a “sum of all fears” scenario happen.

[@ronniehopper2726]

@@loganb7059 but you can still have a dirty bomb

[@loganb7059]

@@ronniehopper2726 yes, however the effectiveness of a dirty bomb is inversely proportional to the size of the affected area. It’s more about causing panic than it is actually causing damage. A dirty bomb that spreads the nuclear material across a football field area will cause far less health problems than a dirty bomb that spreads the material in the area of a small room. And even then you’re playing dice with whether it causes any serious and measurable casualties. So really from the perspective of a terrorist organization, a dirty bomb is far less efficient than, say, a mass wave of pipe bombs being mailed everywhere. Yes, there is the “we have nuclear material” part of the threat, but you’d probably get a lot more bang out of something more easily sourced.

[@karlbark]

@@loganb7059 I think you may be downplaying it's effectiveness. -Dont diss fear, man 😱 😜 You would have the population going ape sh* ❗ And the military would have to deal with that. (Diminihing it's own effectiveness)....

[@loganb7059]

@@karlbark which would the public go apeshit more over? A dirty bomb goes off, kills a couple people by the blast, makes 200 people sick, but overall is rather small impact due to the low dispersal. Of those 200, 20 get seriously ill. OR A mass wave of pipe bombs sent randomly with dummy pipe bombs also put out and also dummy parcels with a “you lucked out” postcard inside. The bombs are spread randomly, double blind to prevent compromise. Shit’s just blowing up all over the place at random, bomb squads are running ragged, people are posting online how they dodged a bullet with this foreboding fake bomb package left on their door. There’s more interaction in the second one. Someone was at your door, delivering what could have been a bomb. _That would make the public loose their fucking minds._ Disclaimer, I’m not a terrorist, in fact I’m probably the chillest person you’d ever meet. I’m just an engineer.

[@Taverius]

Once when I was in the USA for a period there was an older gentleman we were hanging out with regularly. Said gentleman was former special forces, and once part of SF1, the guys stationed in West Germany with the Davy Crockett Device, aka the backpack nukes. Apparently you had to be quite the stout lad to carry the actual "thing" around, while the rest of the squad who got to carry bits of the constructible mortar launch thing had a much easier time of it. Anyway, he was very fond of telling the story of how one said backpack nukes was lost during an exercise in the black forest, and frantic (failed) search for said missing item once that was discovered.

[@im_derpy_ftw4135]

6:24 you switched the 2 bombs. The opening of the parachute was apart of the detonation process, which gives the pilot time to go away from ground zero. The nuke that lost in the mudd was mostly recovered except for one of the uranium rods

[@thulsadoon]

No no no, they're not "lost" merely..."missed placed" is the term.

[@wingshad0w00982]

“Someone couldn’t smack a nuclear reactor together in their backyard” *nuclear boyscout intensifies*

[@andreatomasi3755]

"the fact that I can't won't stop me from trying". *Put together enough cesium to make a pseudo neutron gun*(just enough radioactive material to FUCK up severiosly yourself) still a fuckton away from nuclear reactor......still a boy scout managed it and nobody said:"aren't you a little too young to build a nuclear reactor?" Phineas and Ferb stile

[@MicahBurginGTVPO]

Nuclear depth charge. Anyone want to go fishing? I'll bring the "dynamite"

[@stuglife5514]

What are you fishing for? The kraken? Hahaha

[@MicahBurginGTVPO]

@@stuglife5514 everything, all at once. Great whites? Whales? Crab? Whatever we get it'll be fun!

[@devendoffing7004]

Lazerpig’s ability to both praise and dis America in the same sentence is comedically amazing

[@ianshaver8954]

When you take into consideration the difficulty of maintaining nukes, you have to wonder how many of Russia’s nukes have decayed into mere environmental hazards.

[@Mountain8ear]

They recovered the compressive explosives around the core of the second bomb in North Carolina. They didn't recover the core, but it can't go critical anymore. It buried itself so deeply in the ground, they figured it's just better to leave it there, and leave the area cordoned off.

[@zalankarpati4387]

Stellar work as always! If you take suggestions, I think the modern anti-super aircraft-carrier/pro-battleship crowd would be an entertaining topic.

[@jackhenderson1039]

We should bring back the battleship because it would be cool. I need no further justification.

[@dubspool]

I don’t care how impractical they are, let’s build a super battleship.

[@rwaitt14153]

You got your USS Scorpion and USS Thresher a bit mixed up. Thresher was the one lost on sea trials. Scorpion was on patrol.

[@Minecraftian2345432]

They designed a nuke in two years. They didn't make a nuke. Enriching uranium is the only real hold up from preventing even relatively wealthy individuals from making a simple nuclear bomb, let alone nations. It's not that difficult to design a bomb like Little Boy. You can also use plutonium, but that requires an implosion style nuke which is harder to design and make, even if it's easier to secretly get the material as you can make it in a nuclear reactor from U-238 (the common uranium isotope). Hydrogen bombs are even more difficult to make, so the rogue agent's nukes should be more city killers than nation killers. Basically, to make any nuke you need weapons grade fissile material for which you need to steal it, buy it, refine it using massive centrifuges or other large expensive machines, or transmute it using a nuclear reactor.

[@GTgaming69]

Sidenote: the b-47 is indeed beautiful. One of my favorites since ive been a kid, just looks so cool.

[@bieberbutzeman5663]

Hold on... David Chase Taylor thought he was onto an islamic terrorist attack on the Superbowl ? He might have read to much Clancy smh (although that book is quite good). Excellent Video!

[@geordansnipes9991]

Ayy, the savannah nuke. I live very close (10 minute boat ride) to the Wassaw Sound where the bomb was dropped. The Corps of Engineers searched for that thing for for like 8 months and many civilians have to over the years.

[@randomspacemonster6796]

I NEED A FULL LAZERPIG MUSIC ALBUM

[@coltenW1]

The world of Wikipedia betrayed you. I was in a career that guarded nukes, specifically the minute man 3. A Broken Arrow is actually the phrase used for a malfunction or accident of a nuclear asset, weapon, or critical component. The phrase Broken arrow has been popular though because of a movie named broken arrow where a nuclear weapon was stolen and lost.. the real technical phrase for a lost nuclear weapon is Empty Quiver, granted a Broken arrow situation can turn into a Empty Quiver or other way around.. One is an incident or accident that cannot create the risk of war. One is the thing is missing or has been taken.

[@florinivan6907]

I hate to be that guy but on wikipedia the term broken arrow is defined correctly. Same with Empty quiver. Maybe you should have said 'you only saw the movie since the general meaning of these terms is easily accesible online'.

[@coltenW1]

@florinivan6907 oh I know what Wikipedia says, that's why it's not a great source

[@skittlyscooter1779]

Do one on the Soviet ones, that one would be interesting

[@bobtank6318]

Soviet Union never loses nukes comrade! No, our nuclear incidents are much worse then puny capitalist "Broken Arrows".

[@dashiellgillingham4579]

After Russia locked the old Soviet records again when Putin took over, we lost our chance to find out much about those.

[@bloodyplebs]

Did you watch the fucking video

[@williamchamberlain2263]

A series in 5 parts, maybe 6

[@filmandfirearms]

As if the Soviets would've kept records of that for someone to find

[@sigmar2331]

I was expecting lazerpig would sing senbozakura at the end

[@davididiart5934]

"There will never be a World War Four." Well. Still accurate. Just concerningly topical.

[@peteraningaaqsgaard4845]

I love the early soviet cold war submarines, liquid oxygen and diesel in a confined space, this was before nuclear powered submarines, to give them an edge in speed over battery powered subs, but their nicknames are sad, widowmakers...

[@highjumpstudios2384]

I can't believe I missed this by a whole damned week. This is what I get for attending the Gothic line.

[@dantem4119]

4:26 finally someone speaks the truth. Also yeah there’s that one time a b36 dropped a nuke with a core onto my city so that’s something.

[@Friddle]

why do i feel like im being put on a watchlist just by hearing roughly where nukes were sealed away in subs

[@MrMrrome]

Can't find the article now, but a guy in the US was arrested in the late 90s in possession of a missing nuclear warhead. He had apparently been using to provide free electricity to his house for almost 20 years at that point.

[@vojtechhoracek7704]

This was the plot of a novel by David Langford called The Leaky Establishment, only it was set in the UK, the guy was a scientist and he smuggled not just one but IIRC eight live "pits" from Polaris missile tests to his backyard shelter where he built a rudimentary underground cooling tank - he just used them to heat the water and his house. The whole book is absolutely hilarious btw.

[@Professional_Foaming]

Bro how u gonna post during school now I gotta skip to watch it

[@LazerPig]

I am more important than school, I'll teach you all the things is fine.

[@donnerflieger3770]

After this video I hope this channel will blow up

[@DAS_k1ishEe]

Greetings from Germany Back in school, 12th grade english lessons, true story: My very young but competant female english teacher had an idea. "Let's all discuss the first thing that comes to mind thinking about America." Everyone was having a great time, gushing about the the music, the movies, fast food, even cool american cars. Finally she turned to me, asking what my first association with America is. I said in a very deep tone: "Nuclear Bombs" Everybody started laughing, how I was able to kill the mood in that room using just two words.

[@brilsraist]

Ugh, you lose a few nukes on home soil and no one ever let's you hear the end of it!

[@sparetime2475]

W-missing A-nuclear P-warheads

[@alan-sk7ky]

P.O.E.

[@verax6613]

Damn, calling out my mum like that. 😓

hmmm, it would explain that blue hue emminated by that paper weight orb I bought back in the nineties on that east german flea market.

[@HumphreyHorsehead]

Broken Arrow is also used as an emergency call sign when a ground force is at risk of being overwhelmed and needs every available unit of air support in the area immediately. Source: We Were Soldiers.

[@thenecromorpher]

They changed the definition fairly recently (noticed the change like 5 - 10 years ago, though I don't know when specifically; remember some comment under one of the MW2 DC radio chatter vids (really great imho, one of the few modern takes where BA is used like it was in "We Were Soldiers") where someone mentioning that the BA callsign means something different).

[@WillMauz]

"Would take billions to make a nuke work" Me, staring at some certain world businessmen, recalling Bond movies and how we are basically living in Tomorrow Never Dies mixed with Contagion..... smh

[@therealjirosomer876]

Yeh you know I didn't even like sleep anyways

[@bananadane]

omg I knew a few of these but this list is HUGE. you're amazing, great video

[@leemoore3974]

You are always proclaiming how everyone should question other historians because they fall into historical traps, regurgitate stale narratives and feed off each-others nonsense... and yet you proudly, and unironically, present a screen capture of a Wikipedia page in your video. Quality with a capital K, you are such a hero.

[@Idahoguy10157]

“Tactical nuclear weapons” were/are surprisingly common. And widely distributed. For use on aircraft, ships, submarines, land mines, surface too surface and surface too air missiles.

[@trolleriffic]

45,000 of them deployed at the height of the Cold War.

[@jmjedi923]

Wait...how did the skeleton crew of that submarine crew die when it went below its depth? They were skeletons, they don't need air

[@Palemagpie]

"insuring there will never be a world war 4" now that was a clever throwaway line. I tip my hat to you sir.

[@lulabyte]

Your voice, cadence, and general delivery of information is some of my favorite on the Internet. I don't care about guns and weapons and stuff but my husband does and we have been listening to you nonstop for days. I would love love love love if you made more general history videos. I know you have very niche content and it's clearly working awesome for you, but I just want to hear your voice and jokes talk about everything. I'll keep watching even if you don't though. Thank you so much for the quality uploads. I can tell you work very hard on them!

[@thalia5382]

Year: 4069 Alien palaeontologists search the remains of humanity’s civilisations Dr Bleep-Bloorp hits away with his little hammer 🔨 *bonk *BOOOM Humanity laughs in hell

[@arushreddi5419]

Lol

[@dieselelectricrazor377]

Boy's we're going Nuke hunting!

[@claytonno2571]

its like a even scarier cryptids hunt! yippeeee!

[@additivent]

Love the narration, very informative and funny and just well-rounded in general

[@masterfletcher8942]

I’m a university student in Savannah…. Never knew a KZbin vid could keep me up at night

[@mrmacguff1n]

My dad was a Missile Man in Minot during the late 80s. He was one of the guys ready to turn the key and launch the nukes if the order was sent. He and his partner played a lot of Nintendo according to my mum

[@Captain1nsaneo]

Through a government friend I heard an interesting story about an underwater recovery operation. The recovery vehicle was just buoyant enough to lift itself and the object.

[@sagecolvard9644]

"Secure in the knowledge that there will never be a WWIV". Damn, that line hits harder than the nukes in question.

[@Samonie67]

thing you overlooked is the maintnence required for nukes, if not properly stored like idk in a mudpit or deep under the ocean, the nuclear material very quickly starts oxidizing and degrading and if not the warhead itself the detonators used to set off the warhead would degrade and if not that then the sparkplug used to create a source of neutrons for the reaction will decay, etc. etc. nuclear warhead degradation is still a major issue for the US to this day since they can't just set one off to test it

[@daltonbruce2053]

Glad you used footage of the missile sites in North Dakota, USA. I live about 100 miles from some of those silos. I just found your channel, I love this stuff and please keep up the good work 😁

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

I suppose NTH is meant to be "N-th" (enn-th) as in, "which will be the country number N to achieve nuclear capabilities?".

[@killobot2388]

came back to watch this video love it love your videos el piggo

[@T33K3SS3LCH3N]

I don't know what we did to deserve Hatsune Pigku but I'm all for it.

[@haroldcarfrey4206]

The design of fatman and little boy is available to a limited extent in the Smithsonian gift shop, but its a nuke the size of a train car.

[@Chinahasbeengenerous]

A massively unknown nuclear weapon and to this day is something that was developed from the davey crocket system is the SNAP138 developed in the mid 60’s SNAP stands for small nuclear armed projectile according to some veterans of the time there are over 10k of them and they all vanished from service and the internet about a decade ago.

[@a24396]

You sir, create masterpieces! Thanks for posting!!!

[@jarozita2715]

30k of nukes in the US arsenal were the correct numbers in the late 80's. It's less than 6k nowdays. Not that it matters. What is the difference between a hundred nukes and a thousand nukes, really? I love your work, LaserPig. Keep it up!

[@thejason755]

It actually is horrifying how many nukes actually just straight-up disappear

[@daveroche6522]

6:55 Re. USS Scorpion, it wasn't undergoing sea trials (however, in 1963 USS Thresher was - she went below crush depth during a deep-dive test) - rather Scorpion (called USS Scrap Iron by the crew - it was in dire need of an urgent overhaul) was returning from MedOps (Operations in the Mediterranean Sea) - observing Soviet (naval) activity, if my information (i.e. various books - yes - BOOKS) is correct. Nonetheless, another crackerjack presentation Lazer P - thank you; keep 'em comin'.

[@TheSmileMile]

Technically, those PHD students only made the parts of the bomb that allowed the fission process to start, they didn't manufacture the Uranium core that would be needed to actually make the bomb active. The study basically told the American government that any country (and possibly some large companies) could theoretically obtain the bomb based off publicly available information, not any random person. It's why nuclear non-proliferation focuses on tracking Uranium mining/purifying/transportation, as actually getting the uranium is the hard part.

[@Sosig593]

just realized i'm watching this on it's exact one year birthday Happy Birthday to the video that arguably started your channel growth!!

[@bloodyplebs]

The Indian Ocean test was probably South Africa

[@gopniksaurolophus6354]

A-4 Phantom yes

[@LazerPig]

Yes

[@BartJBols]

Id love to use one as a coffee table.

[@domination_nat1708]

no seriously I did a whole speech and report on broken arrow incidents and their dangers 2 years ago for a class this subject is terrifying

[@skyethegoose]

Before anyone says it, Broken Arrow was created because they *knew* at some point it would happen

[@danwickson4634]

Now i'll always envision MikuPig singing WAP forever.

[@toaokimbo2960]

very good content, thanks for that

[@elfeiin]

Damn that ending song got me all excited- your singing skills are too good.