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This Week in EUCOM History: March 11-17, 1966

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March 11, 2012
EUCOM History Office

March 17, 1966 -- DSV Alvin locates lost hydrogen bomb

On March 17, 1966, DSV Alvin was used to locate a submerged 1.45-megaton hydrogen bomb lost in a United States Air Force midair accident over Palomares, Spain. The bomb, found resting nearly 910 meters (2,990 ft) deep, was raised intact.

The 1966 Palomares B-52 crash or Palomares incident occurred in the EUCOM AOR on Jan. 17, 1966, when a B-52G bomber of the USAF Strategic Air Command collided with a KC-135 tanker from Ramstein Air Force Base during mid-air refueling at 31,000 feet (9,450 m) over the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Spain. The KC-135 was completely destroyed when its fuel load ignited, killing all four crew members. The B-52G broke apart, killing three of the seven crew members aboard.

Of the four Mk28 type hydrogen bombs the B-52G carried, three were found on land near the small fishing village of Palomares in the municipality of Cuevas del Almanzora, Almería, Spain. The non-nuclear explosives in two of the weapons detonated upon impact with the ground, resulting in the contamination of a 2-square-kilometer (490-acre) (0.78 square mile) area by radioactive plutonium. The fourth, which fell into the Mediterranean Sea, was recovered intact after a 2½-month-long search

Alvin (DSV-2) is a manned deep-ocean research submersible owned by the United States Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The vehicle was built by General Mills' Electronics Group in the same factory used to manufacture breakfast cereal-producing machinery in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Alvin was commissioned on June 5, 1964. The submersible is launched from the deep submergence support vessel R/V Atlantis (AGOR-25), which is also owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by WHOI.

The vessel weighs 17 tons. It allows for two scientists and one pilot to dive for up to nine hours at 4,500 meters (14,800 ft). The submersible features two robotic arms and can be fitted with mission-specific sampling and experimental gear.

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