Lost Nukes of the Cold War (Full Episode) | Drain the Oceans

Lost Ships

• The USS Independence, an aircraft carrier that fought in World War II, was found in an unmarked location off the coast of Northern California.
• The USS Thresher, a nuclear-powered submarine, went missing during sea trials off the coast of New Hampshire in 1963.
• Deep-sea explorer Dr. Bob Ballard discovered the wreck of the Thresher in 1985.
• A Soviet submarine, K-129, armed with three nuclear missiles, went missing in the North Pacific in 1968.
• Recently acquired images from a source in America show parts of the wreck of the K-129.

Lost Nuclear Weapons

• The Independence was used in a top-secret research project to study the effects of nuclear weapons on ships.
• In the 1960s, a US B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs exploded over Spain.
• Three of the bombs were found, but the fourth one was lost in the Mediterranean Sea.
• Spanish oceanographers have mapped the Mediterranean seafloor and located the lost nuke 2500 ft down.
• A hydrogen bomb, 100 times more powerful than the one that destroyed Hiroshima, was lost off the coast of Spain in 1966.
• After an extensive search, the US Navy located the bomb but failed to retrieve it due to a snapped rope.
• The bomb was eventually recovered using a cable-controlled robot.
• The cause of the explosion that destroyed the Soviet submarine K-129 is still unknown.
• The remains of K-129 and its nuclear missiles are still on the ocean floor, along with an unknown number of other Soviet warheads.

Potential for Future Nuclear Conflicts

• The US and Russia are currently rearming with new nuclear missiles, raising concerns about the potential for future nuclear conflicts.