TODAY • October 21, 2000
Bomb lost off coast may hold plutonium
Air Force claims no threat posed to Georgians, but old documents voiced
worries about safety.
http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/epaper/editions/today/local_news_931f93ae86aa81b600cb.html
Melanie Eversley - Staff
Saturday, October 21, 2000

An undetonated bomb hidden for more than four decades in the waters off Savannah could contain nuclear material

And despite recent Air Force assurances that there is no danger to residents and tourists, a document obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows the government worried about public safety when the bomb sank in 1958.

"There exists a possibility of accidental discovery of the unrecovered weapon through dredging or construction in the probable impact area," warned an October 1958 letter from the Atomic Energy Commission to a joint congressional committee. "Accordingly, the Department of Defense has been requested to monitor all dredging and construction activities in the probable impact area."

The Air Force did not respond to repeated telephone calls in recent days about the status of the bomb saga.

Experts, however, gave assurances the Mark 15 that drifted to the bottom of Wassaw Sound near Tybee Island probably would not blow up unless jarred by a strong force. They also said the plutonium that could be inside the device would not cause a nuclear explosion. Instead, they said, the biggest threats are the potential blast from an estimated 400 pounds of TNT and radiation leakage into the water or air.

The bottom line appears to be that Georgians should not worry about the area becoming the next Hiroshima, but they might want to keep on top of what ultimately happens with the device.

The Air Force, meanwhile, is expected to announce within days whether it will try to remove the bomb, according to Brian Moore, legislative assistant for military affairs to U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Savannah). The congressman has pressed the Air Force for answers since August, when a man who works for an ocean salvage company began raising questions with Kingston's office.

"We're going to monitor it but let the military make the decision because they know bombs; they're the experts," Kingston said. "I've said, 'Y'all better be damn right if you decide not to look.' "

The explosive splashed into the water on a cold February night after two U.S. military planes collided while engaging in exercises. The pilot of the B-47 that was struck had to jettison the bomb because it was too heavy for the wounded aircraft and he wanted to do it over water.

Accounts of the bomb's resting place vary from one to 10 miles off Tybee Island. At the time, the Air Force tried to locate the device, but gave up after two months.

The situation also adds another chapter to the eccentric culture of Savannah, portrayed in a 1994 book and later movie, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."

This latest quirky tale involving Georgia's oldest city unfolded during a sensitive time in American history, with high-level officials obsessed with the nation's ability to keep up in the Cold War. The Strategic Air Command was practicing maneuvers to destroy entire cities overseas, which included the exercise that led to the Savannah accident.

In fact, the military experienced seven accidents involving B-47s and nuclear bombs.

"There were always things crashing --- incidents," said Clark Rumrill of Reston, Va., a retired Air Force lieutenant who worked out of Hunter Air Force Base near Savannah at the time of the accident. Rumrill put the resting site two miles off Tybee.

"Moving so fast is one of the themes you can see through the Cold War," said Doug Keeney, a military historian who lives in Louisville, Ky. "After eight weeks of looking for the bomb in Savannah, they had to move on," he said. It is Keeney who says aircraft accidentally discharged bombs seven times.

Now, 42 years after dropping that search, the Air Force may have to revisit the case.

Research indicates there might be nuclear material inside the device dropped in Wassaw Sound.

The Air Force and Howard Richardson, the pilot who flew the B-47, say the bomb was made of at least two parts, a casing to hold the explosive and a capsule containing the nuclear material. But they also say the Savannah bomb had only its casing in place, and not the nuclear capsule. The Air Force has said this proves that the device could not create a nuclear explosion.

But other people and documents pose questions about that claim.

In an April 1966 memo to U.S. Rep. Chet Holifield, then-chairman of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Jack Howard, then-assistant to the secretary of defense, referred to the device as a "complete weapon." The reference means the weapon did contain the nuclear capsule.

Howard, reached at his home in Albuquerque, N.M., said he could not remember details of what he might have written because it was so long ago.

A book written by military expert Chuck Hansen describes the Mark 15, the type lost in the Savannah accident, as one of the few "double fission" bombs made by the government. In these bombs, there are usually two such compartments containing nuclear material, as opposed to one. One is used to set off the other.

In other words, even if the main nuclear capsule was never placed inside the device in Wassaw Sound, the other compartment also would contain nuclear material, Keeney said.

In fact, the author, who is writing a book on lost military bombs, believes the Savannah bomb presents the most cause for concern.

"Savannah is clearly the most dangerous of the lost bombs," Keeney said.

Dangerous or not, the Savannah bomb helped touch off an era of embarrassment for the United States, whom other countries questioned for a seeming ineptitude with explosives. What did not help was that in March 1958, the Air Force accidentally dropped another bomb in neighboring South Carolina.

This one exploded near a Florence, S.C., farmhouse, slashing a hole in the earth and injuring six people.

By 1966, the military ended the bomb practice missions, in part because of the number of accidents.

SUNKEN SAVANNAH BOMB
A MARK 15, the first lightweight-type thermonuclear bomb manufactured, is lying on the bottom
of Wassaw Sound. It may be more dangerous than the public has been led to believe.
Width: 34 inches
Length: 11.3 feet
Weight: 7,600 pounds
Produced: April 1955-February 1957
Number made: 1,200
Last one retired: August 1961
Sources: Center for Defense Information, Federation of American Scientists
ELIZABETH LANDT and CHUCK BLEVINS / Staff