TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. – Off the coast of Georgia, a massive bomb potentially sits in the water after having been flown out from Florida decades prior.
According to NPR, the whole incident began in 1958 when a B-47 bomber plane took off from Homestead AFB in Florida with the 7,600-pound nuclear bomb in tow, heading out to meet up with another bomber for a training exercise.
HOW DID IT HAPPEN?
The plan was to reportedly simulate an attack on the Soviet Union as part of the exercise, and everything was going well — until another training mission mistakenly crashed into the B-47 carrying the bomb.
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As a result, the pilot chose to let loose the bomb over the water off Tybee Island in Georgia before making an emergency landing in a nearby swamp.
The bomb didn’t go off even after dropping into the ocean below, though that could be because the nuclear material needed to set such bombs off was typically kept separate from the weapon until it was needed, the BBC reports.
DID THEY FIND IT?
Federal officials spent over two weeks searching for the bomb in the aftermath, but it was ultimately determined to be irretrievable.
While a receipt written by the pilot shows that the necessary capsule wasn’t added to the bomb before the training exercise — meaning it wouldn’t be at a huge risk of detonation — other federal officials have claimed otherwise, such as a former Assistant Secretary of Defense W.J. Howard, who claimed that the bomb was “complete.”
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“He concluded that despite our best efforts, the possibility of an accidental nuclear explosion still existed,” a declassified report reads.
Nowadays, the bomb is thought to be covered by several feet of silt on the seabed, but if the explosives within are still intact, it could pose a major hazard to the environment. As such, federal officials have determined that it should be left undisturbed — even by further recovery attempts.
CAN AN ATOMIC BOMB GO OFF UNDERWATER?
If it’s actually off the coast of Tybee Island, then yes: the bomb can still detonate, even underwater.
In 1946, the U.S. tested an atomic bomb at the Bikini Atoll — in the Pacific Ocean far southwest of Hawaii — by suspending it below several ships filled with pigs and rats.
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After it was set off underwater, nearly all of the animals died, either thanks to the initial explosion or from the radiation poisoning afterward. And the area is still irradiated to this day.
WHAT HAPPENS IF IT DETONATES?
For starters: it doesn’t appear as likely that the bomb will explode.
While Howard initially claimed the bomb was complete, a military spokesman told The Atlantic in 2001 that they’d spoken with him, and “he agreed that his memo was in error.”
But if the bomb did manage to get outfitted with a plutonium trigger and detonated, it would erupt into an explosion with a mile-wide radius — and thermal radiation reaching 10 times that distance, according to the Savannah Morning News.
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That would no doubt cause havoc within the immediate proximity, but on the bright side, Tybee Island is well over 100 miles (roughly a two-hour drive) from Florida’s border. This means Florida residents have little to fear from the direct impacts of such an explosion.
So you can sleep tight knowing you’re not likely to find yourself on the worse end of a nuclear weapon.
That being said, there are still plenty of other scary things in Florida to keep you up at night.
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Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care As South Florida won the Hawaii Bowl by a hair.
As much of the nation’s children were sleeping with dreams of Santa, the Bulls were winning one of the wildest games of bowl season, a five-overtime, 41-39 thriller over San José State in the Hawaii Bowl. It was the NCAA’s first bowl or postseason game to go more than three overtimes.
The game nearly ended in a back-and-forth regulation, however, as South Florida got the ball back with less than a minute left and down by three points. A good punt return and pair of first downs got them into field goal territory, at which point kicker John Cannon got a charitable bounce to tie the game.
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Overtime then developed into a classic college football shootout, with the teams exchanging touchdowns, then field goals, then two-point conversions, then failed two-point conversions. With each set of plays, the game inched toward midnight ET, until it was finally Christmas for much of the country.
The game ended a half-hour later, when USF converted its two-point attempt and got the stop it needed.
USF got the win despite being outgained 441-291 and gaining only 1.6 yards per rush. Its biggest plays came on special teams and defense, including a 93-yard kick return touchdown by Ta’Ron Keith. USF quarterback Bryce Archie finished 24-of-34 with 235 passing yards and an interception.
It was the kind of game designed for the people who want to spend the final hours of Christmas Eve cheering for a tug-of-war between two Group of 5 programs. The win gives South Florida back-to-back winning seasons and bowl wins, having gone 7-6 last year with a win in the Boca Raton Bowl.
1 killed, several injured in Florida boat explosion – CBS News
At least one person was killed and six others injured when a boat exploded in a marina in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Three people suffered traumatic injuries. Cristian Benavides reports.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A boat explosion at a South Florida marina has left one person dead and five others injured, officials said.
The explosion occurred Monday night at the Lauderdale Marina, Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue said in a social media post.
Rescue workers transported five people to local hospitals, three with traumatic injuries, officials said. A sixth person was found dead in the water several hours later by the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
Fire rescue officials said they didn’t immediately know what caused the explosion.
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