On February 4, 1958, a mid-air collision between a B-47 bomber and an F-86 fighter jet forced the bomber crew to jettison a 7,600-pound Mark 15 nuclear bomb into Wassaw Sound off Tybee Island, Georgia. The U. S.
Navy and Air Force launched an immediate, massive search operation involving mine sweepers, divers, and specialized sonar craft to locate the lost weapon. However, the critical first weeks of the search were severely compromised by an obscure logistical disaster ashore. A local naval fuel depot had supplied the search vessels with diesel fuel heavily contaminated with water, rust, and microbial algae growth.
Within days of the search commencing, engine filters clogged across the fleet, causing total propulsion failures on key drag-net boats. Engineers spent priceless weeks flushing fuel systems and repairing ruined injection pumps instead of sweeping the bay. By the time the fleet was fully operational again, heavy ocean currents and storms had buried the bomb deep beneath feet of shifting silt, rendering it permanently unrecoverable.