There was an earlier thread hear about "lost" nukes. I researched the thread
and all the included references and discovered there is one nuke unaccounted
for.

In March 1961 U.S.S. Midway, with CAG-2 embarked, was conducting air
operations off Hawaii during the Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI). It
was common practice in those days for Navy Air Wings to prove that they
could safely load, fly, and land with an operational nuke aboard. That
included AD, A4, and A3 aircraft. The drill was for the nukes to be brought
up from the ship's magazines, carted to the aircraft, and loaded. Each phase
of the operation was observed and graded by qualified inspecters.

Lt. George Anderson III, son of the Chief of Naval Operations, was assigned
to VA-23 flying A4Ds. He was launched from Midway carrying a live war
reserve nuclear weapon. His flight plan had him landing at NAS Barber's
Point where it would be safely off-loaded and returned to Midway. Hey, it
was the cold war, remember?

Anyway, George got airborne and all went well until he attempted to land at
Barber's Point. His landing gear refused to extend. In those days, when a
nuke was carried by an A4 it was attached to the centerline station. No way
could that aircraft be allowed to land with a nuclear weapon hanging from
the centerline with no landing gear.

Lt. Anderson wad directed to a and area north and west of Ohau where he was
directed to jettison his nuclear weapn. From what I knew at the time, that
area was pre-designated for just that purpose and was an area where the sea
bed was below 10,000'. Problem is that the nuclear material is going to leak
into the sea eventually. I wonder if that's happened yet.

George Anderson, for whatever reason, tried to quit and turn in his wings
later on that deployment. Of course that sent shock waves through the chain
of command. Don Engen, C.O. of VF-21 (my C.O.) was tasked to talk Anderson
out of it.

Somewhere, way, way down in the depths of the Pacific Ocean just of Hawaiian
shores there is a nuclear weapon the nobody can get to. I have to wonder
what kind of damage it might be doing to the environment.