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Show An Exclusive Interview: T "How We sjSjJn 1 "3 -- , a Recovp Missing H-Bom- --eJ m b" Adm. WiJJiam S. Guest teJJs the insicie story -- . of an amazing adventure in "inner space" our Navy's recovery of a lost nuclear weapon .more than half a mile beneath the sea a 1 ,r I By PETER HAWKINS "I the realized from tently sent out patrol planes over area. He gave us no a trouble, although I set up a? preventive patrol. He was there, we knew he was there, and we kept track of him." ; ,. Althou gh nated as search areas, one section given priority because of the for the call but guessed it had something to do with the collision of the bomber and tanker. , "It wasn't until I was briefed at n the Combat Control Center at true I learned the that be- ginning that I was look ing for a needle in a haystack. "The possibility faced me (and a bad and thought-fu- l gave me many " our target had" that moment) fallen into one of the underwater sloughs where there was water Tor-rejo- acrthafonljr Tnany-areasweree- three of the four nuclear weapons aboard the bomber had been recov-ered-asho- 7 never find it." Rear Adm. William f S. Guest, USN, deputy commander of Naval Striking and Support Forces, Southern Europe (NATO), is speaking. His "needle target" is an, lost following the tragic collision bomber Jan. 17 of an Air Force and its refueling KOI 35 tanker. His "haystack" is 120 square miles of the Mediterranean off Palomares, Spain, where the nuclear weapon probably fell. In an exclusive Family Weekly interview, Admiral Guest is telling about the frustrations which pre- cededheTJavy's eventual success. , His is a story of uwterwater equipment. But most of all.it is, a testimoniaOo,Jh(?-ln4i-- ,. vidual initiative and determination of the men he commanded. Here's how Admiral Guest recalls the adventure's beginning: """I was in my apartment in Naples Italy "with my wife and our two' boys, when about 9 :30 I got a message from the Fleet flagship 'Pack a bag and get on your way to Torrejon Spain Air Base.' I didn't know the reason B-- science-fictionli- ke Sunday-mornin- -- theJflrstof--two-opera-- -i tions. First, the growing Task Force 65 must search a vast area by.iionarlcontact.with metellie jth jects below. Second, the most promising of these underwater objects must be investigated by divers and, from craggy. depths of 500 to 3,000 feet, which rarely in history have given up their treasures. Admiral Guest had still another problem: "A Soviet trawler patrolled the area for several days. I knew it was headed for us because I intermit- Family Weekly, September S5.196S- lJearlywogcmizingmonths sig passed. At one point, the Admiral estimated the search might take 341daysJust4-CoverJrigh-priorit- Francisco Simo, who saw falling debris from his boat. "The fisherman," says Admiral Cues V "had seen several chutes chutes of the four surviving airmen (seven others died in 'the midair collision) and the weapons chute, although at the time we didn't tive danger to local residents or to our men there was no such danger. The danger was to our security. For a nonnuclear nation to have this weapon would accelerate its knowledge considerably. We had to recover the weapon or insure that nobody else did." Before dawn the next day, Admiral Guest was flying to Palo-mares to command Task Force 65 detTjp er reporkf-an-eyewitness(-fisher- man "I sensed immediately the significance of recovering the weapon as well as the magnitude of the search facing us. Not that I had great apprehension about radioac- 52 whether our sonar could detect it. . "Still, it was like looking for a bullet in a muddy Olympic-size pool and using only a pencil-siz- e flashlight except, of course, a pool hasn't nooks and crannies." 200-mi- le know that. "We took him out in one of my minesweepers, and he said, 'I saw a parachute with half a man or with a big object on it hit here!' The second time he came out with us, he gave us another position some 500 yards away. As it later . turned outhadwenot4akenthese positrons, plus sonar contacts inthe area, it might have been months jnore before wejocated the weapon We designated search areas as Al, ' un-nel- two-ma- -- A2, B, and C priority, being roughly the area of the fisher- man's estimate. "As we made further studies,-w-e were able to reduce our original search-are- a estimate of 120 square miles to about 27.33 square miles. We further reduced search efforts in this area by building a dummy of the lost weapon and learning y areas once. Sixteen Navy ships were called to the project, plus 2,500 sailors and 1,000 airmen. More than 100 civilian experts, both on the spot and in the U.S., f information to Task Force 65. n On March 16, the Alvin, a ot 6,000-fosubmarine of midget capable dives, hit target maybe. Admiral Guest recalls: "I was at lunch with the captain of the Boston, our control centerT when the code words were sent 'Instrument Panel.' - That meant-Alv- in had .sighted a parachute. I left immediately for the mine- eperr-AftMtft- rr t-we; lad the weapon" but didn't want td tell the world until we were sure." showed only an object attached to a grayish parachute canopy and lyslo'pe. ing on a precarious The chute was tangled with the ob-- Al,-to- ee -- ject, preventing identification. Two preliminary plans to lift the object proved impractical. Three days of heavy weather further frustrated the' anxious crews. On March 25 a recovery plan was put into effectr-Pl- an .Poodle, full-sca- le |