The Day We Lost the H-Bomb

1966 (LBJ).

160 “How happy I was”: Letter, Jacqueline Kennedy to Angier Biddle Duke, March 12, 1966 (Duke).

160 “I trust that excessive swimming”: Letter, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., to Angier Biddle Duke, March 15, 1966 (Duke).

160 “I can understand our Government’s desire”: Letter, Nathan Arrow to Angier Biddle Duke, March 11, 1966 (Duke).

161 “Feel safer already?”: “Swimming Party,” p. 59.

161 “Supposing a bomb is reported missing”: Quoted in Szulc, The Bombs of Palomares, p. 212.

161 The Moscow publication Izvestia: SAC Historical Study #109, p. 361.

161 “For many years”: “The Missing H-Bomb,” The Boston Globe, March 4, 1966, p. 14.

161 Curtis LeMay added his two cents: “Air Force Gen. Curtis LeMay on Missing Bomb,” CBS News, March 12, 1966.

162 The Navy requested: SAC Historical Study #109, pp. 184– 185. 162 “in line with the spirit”: Ibid., p. 185.

162 Wilson apologized: Delmar E. Wilson, speech to residents of Palomares and Villaricos, March 20, 1966 (USAF, FOIA).

163 On March 24, men moved: SAC Historical Study #109, p. 188. 163 A second team of ballistics experts: Ibid., p. 50.

163 “By 1 March”: Ibid.

163 With regard to the water search: “Addendum to SAT Study of 7 February 1966,” March 4, 1966 (NNSA); SAC Historical Study #109, pp. 51–53.

163 The Sandia engineer Bill Barton: Memo, Maydew and Barton to Fowler, “Chronological Summary,” March 29, 1966, p. 3.

163 the secretary of defense authorized: Aircraft Salvops Med, Final Report, vol. 1, part I, chap. 2, p. 55.

163 Cyrus Vance created a “Search Evaluation Board”: The background on the Search Evaluation Board is from ibid., pp. 55–56, and author’s interview with Robert Sproull, May 11, 2007. The Sproull quotes are from this interview.

164 In anticipation of the next meeting: Aircraft Salvops Med, Final Report, vol. 1, part I, chap. 2, p. 56.

CHAPTER 14: THE PHOTOGRAPH

165 On the morning of March 1: The story of Alvin’s move to search area C4 is from Marvin J.McCamis, “‘Captain Hook’s’ Hunt for the H-Bomb,” Oceanus 31, no. 4 (Winter 1988–89), p. 24.

There is some dispute about whether McCamis sneaked Alvin into C4, as he contends, or was assigned to dive there. Navy Captain Lewis Melson said that he and others met with Guest on February 28 and proposed sending Alvin into C4, and Guest agreed to the plan (see memo from Lewis Melson, “WHOI’s OCEANUS WINTER 1988/1989 issue extract for 1 March 1966” [author’s collection]). However, the deck logs of the Fort Snelling for March 1 say that Alvin was launched to search area B29, lending credence to McCamis’s version of events. Also, such an antiauthoritarian scheme seems in character for McCamis. Long time Alvin pilot Barrie Walden said, “McCamis, in my opinion, would be more likely to try something that was a little more outrageous than another pilot, in order to get the job done during the dive.” (Author’s interview with Barrie Walden, July 25, 2006.)

165 Bill Rainnie and Val Wilson: Alvin dive log, Dive 119, March 1, 1966. Alvin’s dive logs are available at www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=11039.

165 Andrews had asked Earl Hays: Frank Andrews interview, November 10, 2006.

166 Rainnie and Wilson vented Alvin’s ballast: The description of Alvin diving comes from the author’s visit to Alvin and interviews with Robert Brown and Bruce Strickrott, July 2, 2007.

166 the visibility near the bottom: Victoria Kaharl, Water Baby: The Story of Alvin (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), p. 66; William O. Rainnie, “How We Found the Missing H-Bomb,” Popular Mechanics, August 1966, pp. 75–76.

166 In order to steer a straight line: Marvin McCamis intervew, January 31, 2003.

166 “a straight line in a snowstorm”: Ibid.

166 the bottom stretched before them: Rainnie, “How We Found the Missing H-Bomb,” p. 76.

166 Alvin was “flying a contour”: Frank Andrews interview, November 10, 2006.

167 Mac McCamis, however, had lost patience: McCamis, “‘Captain Hook’s’ Hunt,” p. 24.

167 “Wait a minute, I see something”: Rainnie and Wilson’s dialogue is quoted in Kaharl, Water Baby, p. 69. The Alvin pilots regularly recorded their dives on reel-to-reel audiotape. However, the tapes of certain critical dives, including this one, are missing from the WHOI archives.

167 the pilots handed off their film: McCamis, “‘Captain Hook’s’ Hunt,” p. 24.

167 “like a barrel had been dragged”: Marvin McCamis interview, January 31, 2003.

167 “To me, it looked like”: Brad Mooney interview, March 30, 2007.

167 the Alvin crew returned: McCamis, “‘Captain Hook’s’ Hunt,” p. 24; deck logs of the USS Fort Snelling, March 3–7, 1966 (NARA).

167 the task force suddenly yanked: McCamis, “‘Captain Hook’s’ Hunt,” p. 24; Tony Richardson interview, October 31, 2007; Memo, W. O. Rainnie to Office of Naval Research, “Quarterly Informal Letter,” June 10, 1966, p. 8; Alvin dive logs, Dive 124, March 8, 1966, and Dive 125, March 9, 1966; Deck Logs of the USS Fort Snelling, March 8–9, 1966 (NARA).

168 “My turn at surface control”: McCamis, “‘Captain Hook’s’ Hunt,” p. 24.

168 made nine runs over a dummy: Aircraft Salvops Med, Final Report, vol. 1, part I, chap. 2, p. 44.

168 On March 12, an OBSS: Ibid.

168 The divers had wrapped up: Red Moody interview, November 7, 2006; e-mail, Moody to author, December 19, 2007.

168 Duke wrote to Jack Valenti: Letter, Angier Biddle Duke to Jack Valenti, March 14, 1966 (LBJ).

169 Tony Richardson, the baby-faced mathematician: The details of Richardson’s actions on March 15, 1966, come from Tony Richardson, diary, March 15 to April 7, 1966 (author’s collection), and Tony Richardson interview, October 31, 2007.

169 “Paco de la Bomba”: Lewis, One of Our H-Bombs, p. 194.

170 His response to the Cyrus Vance committee: Aircraft Salvops Med, Final Report, February 15, 1967, vol. 1, part I, chap. 2, pp. 56–59.

170 They were supposed to get a new transponder: Ibid., pp. 53–54; author’s interview with Brad Mooney, March 30, 2007.

170 That day Mac McCamis: McCamis, “‘Captain Hook’s’ Hunt,” p. 25.

170 because today was his son’s birthday: Ibid.