1965 Philippine Sea A-4 incident

The 1965 Philippine Sea A-4 crash was a Broken Arrow incident in which a United States Navy Douglas A-4E Skyhawk attack aircraft carrying a nuclear weapon fell into the sea from the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga (CV-14).

The accident
On 5 December 1965, 31 days after Ticonderoga's departure from U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines, the attack jet fell over the side during a training exercise while being rolled from the number 2 hangar bay to the number 2 elevator. The pilot, Lieutenant (junior grade) Douglas M. Webster; the aircraft, Douglas A-4E BuNo 151022 of Attack Squadron 56; and the B43 nuclear bomb were never recovered from the 16000 ft depth. The accident occurred 80 mi from Okinawa.

Ticonderoga had aboard Carrier Air Wing Five during this cruise, with two squadrons of Skyhawks, the other being VA-144.

Revelation
It was not until the 1980s that the Pentagon revealed the loss of the one-megaton bomb. The revelation inspired a diplomatic inquiry from Japan requesting details.