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Did You Know a U.S. Hydrogen Bomb Is Still Lying on the Ocean Floor About 80 Miles from Japan?

 

On December 5, 1965, a U.S. Navy A-4E Skyhawk carrying a B43 thermonuclear bomb accidentally rolled off an elevator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga. The aircraft, its pilot—Lieutenant Douglas Webster—and the nuclear weapon sank approximately 16,000 feet into the Philippine Sea.

 

The accident occurred roughly 68–80 miles from Kikai Island in Kagoshima Prefecture. Neither the aircraft nor the bomb was ever recovered. The United States did not disclose the bomb’s proximity to Japan until 1989, causing controversy because of Japan’s non-nuclear policy.

 

The A-4E was technically a carrier-based attack aircraft, rather than a bomber or fighter. The incident is classified as a nuclear-weapons accident known as a “Broken Arrow.”