Found this link which tells of a scary Broken Arrow incident at the Bangor Submarine Base in Washington. In November, an offloading team was removing a Trident ICBM from a nuclear submarine and sliced a nine-inch hole in the nosecone, just inches from the warhead. Needless to say, the CO, XO and weapons officer immediately got their walking papers.

The handling crew took a break after making the bird in tube #16 ready for lift, leaving the access ladder in place. The sailors returned and began the hoist. The missile was lifted into the ladder slicing a large hole in the nosecone. The lift was stopped a instant before warhead impact.

Tell me again why having nuclear weapons is worth all this trouble?

Bonus link: Read about how the USAF nearly nuked Goldsboro, NC with a hydrogen bomb back in 1961. Interesingly, I didn’t know the H-bomb is still there.

Another wonderful Ibiblio-hosted collection!