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Broken Arrow - How the U.S. Navy Lost a Nuclear Bomb (Hardcover)
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Broken Arrow - How the U.S. Navy Lost a Nuclear Bomb (Hardcover)
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On 5 December 1965, the giant American aircraft carrier Ticonderoga
was heading to Japan for rest and recreation for its 3,000 crew,
following a month on 'Yankee Station' launching missions against
targets in Vietnam. Whilst fighting a real conflict and losing men
in conventional warfare, Tico's primary mission was Cold War
nuclear combat with the Communist bloc. The cruise from the Yankee
Station to Japan was used to practice procedures for Armageddon.
Douglas Webster was a young pilot from Ohio, newly married and with
seventeen combat missions under his belt. On that day in 1965 he
strapped into an A-4 Skyhawk bomber for a routine weapons loading
drill and simulated mission. After mishandling the manoeuvre, the
plane and its pilot sunk to the bottom of the South China sea,
along with a live B43 one-megaton thermonuclear bomb. A cover-up
mission began. The crew was ordered to stay quiet, rumours
circulate of sabotage, a damaged weapon and a troublesome pilot who
needed 'disposing of'. The incident, a 'Broken Arrow' in the
parlance of the Pentagon, was kept under wraps until 25 years
later. The details that emerged caused a diplomatic incident,
revealing that the U.S. had violated agreements not to bring
nuclear weapons into Japan. Family members and the public only
learnt the truth when researchers discovered archived documents
that disclosed the true location of the carrier, hundreds of miles
closer to land than admitted. Broken Arrow tells the story of
Ticonderoga's sailors and airmen, the dangers of combat missions
and shipboard life, and the accident that threatened to wipe her
off the map and blow US-Japanese relations apart. For the first
time, through previously classified documents, never before
published photos of the accident aircraft and the recollections of
those who were there, the story of carrier aviation's only 'Broken
Arrow' is told in full.
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