The Day We Lost the H-Bomb

^{To retrieve the bomb, Red Moody helped construct POODL. One Navy man called it a “kludge.”}

^{U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph}

^{CURV, a torpedo-recovery device, used a specially designed grapnel to attach lines to the parachute.}

^{Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories}

^{CURV twists a grapnel into the parachute.}

^{U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph}

^{April 7, 1966. The log of the USS Petrel reads, “0846: Weapon on deck with parachute.”}

^{U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph}

^{An EOD technician begins to render the bomb safe. Everything went smoothly until the team reached the battery. U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph General Wilson (left, hands on knees), Red Moody (center), Cliff Page, and Admiral Guest examine bomb number four. Lieutenant Walter Funston, who safed the bomb, is in the foreground. CURV is in the background.}

^{U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph}

^{Aerial shot of the USS Petrel during the press review. The bomb and CURV are visible on the fantail as Alvin and Aluminaut pass by. This was the first time that the United States displayed a nuclear weapon in public.}

^{Courtesy of Brad Mooney}

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABBREVIATIONS

AFHRA Air Force Historical Research Agency

DOD US Department of Defense

DOE US Department of Energy

DOS US Department of State

Duke Duke University Rare Book, Manuscripts and Special Collections Library FOIA Freedom of Information Act (denotes a document obtained through a FOIA request) LBJ Lyndon B. Johnson Library

LANL Los Alamos National Laboratory

NARA National Archives and Records Administration

NHC Naval Historical Center

NNSA National Nuclear Security Agency

SMV Science Museum of Virginia

SNL Sandia National Laboratories

WHOI Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

PRINT MATERIAL

“Addendum to SAT Study of 7 February 1966.” March 4, 1966. Document no. SAC200118190000.

Secret. (NNSA, FOIA.)

Aircraft Salvage Operation Mediterranean (Aircraft Salvops Med). Lessons and Implications for the Navy. U.S. Department of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, April 7, 1967. (FOIA.) Aircraft Salvage Operation Mediterranean (Aircraft Salvops Med). Sea Search and Recovery of an Unarmed Nuclear Weapon by Task Force 65, Interim Report. U.S. Department of the Navy, Naval Ship Systems Command. Reston, Va.: Ocean Systems, July 15, 1966. (NHC, FOIA.) Aircraft Salvage Operation Mediterranean (Aircraft Salvops Med). Sea Search and Recovery of an Unarmed Nuclear Weapon by Task Force 65, Sixth Fleet, 17 January–7 April, 1966, vols. 1–4. U.S.

Department of the Navy, Naval Ship Systems Command. Reston, Va.: Ocean Systems, February 15, 1967. (NHC, FOIA.)

Allen, Everett S. “Research Submarine Alvin.” US. Naval Institute Proceedings, April 1964.

“The Aluminaut Story.” March 6, 1986. (SMV.)

Anderton, David A. Strategic Air Command: Two-Thirds of the Triad. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1951.

Andrews, Frank A. “Searching for the Thresher.” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, May 1964

—. “Search Operations in the Thresher Area—1964, Section I.” Naval Engineers Journal, August 1965.

—. “Search Operations in the Thresher Area—1964, Section II.” Naval Engineers Journal, October 1965.

Arnold, H. H. Third Report of the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces to the Secretary of War. Washington, D.C.: Army Orientation Branch, Information and Education Division, War Department, November 12, 1945.

Asselin, S. V. B-52/KC-135 Collision near Palomares, Spain. SC-DR-66-397. Albuquerque, N.M.: Sandia Corporation, August 1966. Secret. (FOIA.)

—. Notes on the EOD Render Safe Procedure of Weapon #4 (W28 #45345) near Palomares Spain, March 15, 1966. Document no. SAC200118480000. Confidential. (NNSA, FOIA.)

“Background for War: Man in the First Plane.” Time, September 4, 1950.

Baker, Russell. “Madrid Provides Warm ‘Saludos.’” The New York Times, December 22, 1959.

Baldwin, Hanson W. “Ready or Not? President Upheld on Plan Not to Keep Bombers Constantly in Air on Alert.” The New York Times, March 8, 1959.

—. “Strategy and Politics Shape Defense Debate: U.S. Concern over Soviet Bombers Gives Impetus to Congress’ Study.” The New York Times, May 13, 1956.

Ballard, Robert D. The Eternal Darkness: A Personal History of Deep-Sea Exploration. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000.

Bartholomew, C. A. Mud, Muscle and Miracles: Marine Salvage in the United States Navy.

Washington, D.C.: Department of the Navy, 1990.

Biography: Major General Delmar Wilson. U.S. Department of the Air Force;