Customer Reviews

The Day We Lost the H-Bomb: Cold War, Hot Nukes, and the Worst Nuclear Weapons Disaster in History

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I loved this book. I really didn't know much about the Palomares accident until I read this book - now I feel like I have a very good understanding of what happened. It was really fun to read - just a great story!

Barbara Moran has crafted a rip-roaring tale of Cold War intrigue, military mishaps, underwater adventures and H-Bomb Science. When the Air Force loses a nuclear bomb in a 1966 mid-air jet collision (described in mesmerizing detail), the search is on. Who will find the bomb? The Air Force? The Navy? The Soviets? Oh my!

The book is very readable, fast paced, and filled with fascinating tidbits and engaging characters-especially a surprisingly lovable US diplomat with the wonderful name of Angier Biddle Duke (known to all as Angie). It opens a window on a forgotten piece of Cold War history, and helps us appreciate the vast and sometimes bewildering array of resources the US military can bring to bear in a crisis.

The paranoia that fueled in SAC's Airborne Alert program (we had airborne nukes at all times in case the Commies got the drop on us) has obvious parallels today. But this book isn't about that--it's about diving into a great story and following every twist to see how it turns out. Moran is a wonderful storyteller who can't resist regaling us with humorous anecdotes (a suitcase full of gin, an ambassador's swim) while never losing site of the main story. A highly enjoyable read.

Barbara Moran's story of the H-bomb search in Palomares, Spain in 1966 is an outstanding account of a serious crisis during the cold war. She brings the events and participants to life while at the same time sticking close to the facts. As someone who was there, I can vouch for the accuracy of her description. This book should be enjoyable to anyone that has an interest in military matters or, more generally, in recent U.S. history.

An interesting story and an entertaining read but who else has noticed that the author has a somewhat casual way of dealing with known (or so you'd think) facts? Take chapter 1 alone: first Mrs. Moran says that each of the 1.45 MT hydrogen bombs in Captain Wendorf's B-52 has 70 times the destructive power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima (not quite correct seeing that the explosive energy of the Hiroshima bomb is generally accepted as 15 KT, at the most 18 KT, which doesn't quite add up), then she seems to confuse which bomb was dropped on which city, quote "dropped Fat Man and Little Boy on Hiroshima and Nagasaki" (Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki, not Hiroshima, which would explain why her 70 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb doesn't add up: Fat Man was a 21 KT device, times 70 is almost exactly 1.45 MT).

A few pages later she drops the bomb on Hiroshima on the 7th of August (it was the 6th), then the second bomb on Nagasaki 9 days later (it was 3 days later) with Japan surrendering in the evening of the same day (Japan surrendered on the 15th of August, 6 days after Nagasaki). Where did a science writer like Mrs. Moran get this "history" from?

Such seemingly "small" errors always make me wonder what else in the book is incorrect in areas I don't happen to know much or anything about (which is why I'm reading a nonfiction book to begin with!).

I'm not in the book business, but in the course of the editing process don't publishers employ someone like a fact checker to make sure that the authors get at least their dates and numbers right!? If they don't, they should!

Anyway, it is an informative and entertaining read with lots of information you don't read in the papers about, so if you're interested in the Cold War, the Air Force or the nuclear defense program, by all means read it, just don't quote it in a million dollar game show!

(This review relates to the Kindle edition.)

It's the spring of 1966. In movie theatres around the world, audiences thrill to the exploits of debonair British spy James Bond (played, with a perfection no other actor has ever matched, by Sean Connery) as he tries to recover two stolen H-bombs from a nefarious villain. The movie is "Thunderball," and there's no question that Agent 007 will prevail in the end. But at the same time, in real-life, another missing nuclear weapon drama is also in progress--and its outcome is not nearly so certain.

On January 17, 1966, a U.S. Strategic Air Command B-52 "Stratofortress" bomber prepared for a routine aerial refueling from a KC-135 "Stratotanker" over the coast of Spain. Something went horribly wrong; the exact cause is still disputed. The two aircraft collided in mid-air, raining debris down onto the tiny Mediterranean fishing and farming village of Palomares. Among the items that fell to earth that day were four Mark 28 thermonuclear weapons. Each hydrogen bomb was designed to explode with a yield of up to 1.45 megatons--almost 100 times more powerful than the bombs that had devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki and brought an end to World War II. Three of the Mark 28s fell on land near the village. These were quickly recovered. Two of them had experienced low-order detonations of some of their high-explosive "lenses" on impact, scattering poisonous, radioactive plutonium over many acres of farmland. The intensive hunt for the fourth weapon proved fruitless until the U.S. recovery team listened to a local Spanish fisherman, who had seen it descend into the Mediterranean under its parachute. The ultimately successful search for this fourth weapon in 2,500 feet of murky water was an extraordinary scientific and technological detective story.

In "The Day We Lost the H-Bomb," author Barbara Moran tells the whole story of this "Broken Arrow" accident in great detail and in a dynamic, highly readable style. She does an excellent job of covering all aspects of the "worst nuclear weapons disaster in history," buttressing the story with 83 pages of bibliography and notes (many sources recently declassified under the Freedom of Information Act). She delivers a detailed chronological description of the accident and the recovery and cleanup operations, and she also covers the diplomatic flap that erupted when the Spanish government learned that the U.S. was flying nuclear weapons over its territory. "The Day We Lost the H-Bomb" is the full, spellbinding story of a forgotten Cold War event--an event that changed public perceptions of the safety of nuclear weapons and shaped American deterrent policy for years afterwards. The accident deserves to be widely known, if for no other reason than for the warning it provides about the unavoidable risks and imperfect security of nuclear weapons, and the book deserves to be widely read. I recommend it highly.

Moran is clearly a serious scholar and impeccable researcher. However, unlike many historians, she is also a dynamic writer who can take a potentially inaccessible topic (in this case, a military incident during the cold war) and make it entertaining for a broad spectrum of readers. This is rare gift.

In this book, Moran does not disappoint. The book focuses on an incident during the cold war where the US military accidentally dropped four H-bombs on Spain. What sets this book apart are Moran's rich diction and delicious sidebars. In describing the incident, Moran introduces us to flamboyant Ambassadors, arrogant Military officers, cold war paranoia, in-flight refueling techniques, deep sea research, Spanish politics and media frenzy. At no point, however does Moran let the book become frivolous or unprofessional.

A great suggestion for that military or history buff in your life, or for anyone who wants an interesting read.

Moran is a fantastic storyteller -- I started reading this book on my Kindle on the train, and I didn't put it down until I was finished. As noted in the Washington Post review, there are other accounts of this incident that describe its historical significance in more detail, but I would venture that none of them are this fun to read.

Armed with only a fuzzy, high school history class recollection of the H-bomb accident over Palomares, Barbara Moran crystallized the story for me in a fast-paced, compelling and stunningly detailed narrative. The interplay of personalities with the politics of the time makes the story almost movie-like, and it was impossible for me to put down. I walked away not only with a solid understanding of cold war politics and the nascent nuclear age, but a sense of the very strange times it was on the ground when The U.S.'s sophisticated defense system of the sky collided with the simple lives of the fishermen and farmers in remote Palomares.

This is an excellent book detailing how the US lost four hydrogen bombs, what the military went through to find and retrieve them, and the impact of such a disaster.

Ms. Moran takes a very serious incident and recounts it in such a way that the average person, even one with little to no interest in military operations, can't help but be drawn into the story. In the midst of chaos there is always comedy and I especially liked the fact that this book shows not only the gravity of the situation, but also the inevitable humor.

Don't hesitate to get this book.

Great book! A fast read and a really interesting story. I can't believe I had never heard about this incident before - it's surprising how some very important events can get lost over time. Great to see this one brought back to life.