17. A nuclear bomb fell off an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean and a nuclear submarine sunk in the Atlantic Ocean
On December 5, 1965, a U.S. Navy A-4E Skyhawk aircraft with one B43 nuclear bomb rolled whilst on an elevator and fell off the U.S. aircraft carrier Ticonderoga approximately 80 miles from the Ryukyu Islands and 200 miles from Okinawa. The plane, pilot, or the weapon were never successfully recovered, and because the bomb was lost at a depth of roughly 16,000 feet Pentagon officials feared the water pressure might trigger the hydrogen bomb to detonate. In fact, it remains unknown whether the device did indeed explode or not.
Similarly on May 22, 1968, the American nuclear submarine USS Scorpion sank while en route from Rota, Spain, to Norfolk, Virginia after a three month training exercise in the Mediterranean Sea, killing all 99 officers and seamen on board. The wreckage of the submarine, including its S5W nuclear reactor and two MK-45 torpedoes with W34 nuclear warheads, remain on the sea floor buried by almost 10,000 feet of water. Originally feared to be an act of Soviet sabotage, suspicions were allayed when a research vessel successfully photographed the wreckage and a Navy Court of Inquiry found “no evidence of any kind to suggest foul play or sabotage”, instead concluding the “certain cause of the loss of the Scorpion cannot be ascertained from evidence now available.”