Few People Know About The Missing Nuclear Bombs Hiding Somewhere Off The Coast Of New Jersey
The Cold War was a crazy time, with the world’s two largest superpowers at each other’s throats and in a constant battle for military supremacy. That led to the design of powerful nuclear weapons and delivery system – and it was often a game of high-stakes trial and error. Planes were transporting the most powerful weapons in the world, and there were a surprising number of early mishaps. Called “Broken Arrow” incidents, they referred to any incident where a nuclear bomb was accidentally fired, detonated, damaged – or just lost. And that last one is exactly what happened off the New Jersey seashore in 1957, resulting in two missing nuclear bombs off New Jersey. And almost seventy years later, their whereabouts are still unknown.
The year was 1957, and an Air Force C-124 Globemaster took off from a base in Delaware on a routine flight to Europe. But its cargo was anything but ordinary.
It was carrying three Mark 5 nuclear bombs, along with one radioactive core. These small nuclear devices were used in the early days of the Cold War as one of the most transportable weapons in the US arsenal.
But the Globemaster, nicknamed "Old Shaky" ran into trouble as it flew over New Jersey. The cause of the mechanical failure is unknown, but the plane lost two of its four engines - and its cargo was too heavy to maintain altitude at reduced power.
Fortunately, the bombs were not fully armed. During this period, the bombs had removable radioactive cores and would be assembled before deployment. So with the plane losing altitude, it was determined the bombs needed to be jettisoned.
While the bombs weren't fully armed, they were still packed with high explosives needed to set off the nuclear reaction. And it was decided to drop two of the three bombs off the coast of Cape May in the Atlantic Ocean.
The bombs were never recovered, and it's unknown what happened to them in the deep. Their exact location has not been found, and it's possible that they were destroyed or found by salvagers over the years.
Did you know about the missing nuclear bombs off New Jersey? Let us know the strangest New Jersey historical fact you’re aware of in the comments section. If you want to learn more about the Garden State’s involvement in the biggest conflicts of the 20th century, you can visit New Jersey’s last World War 2 lookout tower.
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