On 5 December 1965 , a Douglas A-4 Skyhawk was lost overboard while the aircraft carrier was from Kikai Island , Kagoshima Prefecture , Japan . The aircraft was being rolled from a hangar bay onto an elevator . The aircraft had mounted on it a B43 nuclear bomb . The pilot , Lieutenant JG Douglas Webster , the A-4E Skyhawk , BuNo '' 151022 '' , of Attack Squadron VA-56 " Champions " , and the nuclear weapon were all lost . No public mention was made of the incident at the time and it would not come to light until a 1981 United States Department of Defense report revealed that a one-megaton bomb had been lost . Japan then asked for details of the incident
lost overboard
1965 Philippine Sea A-4 incident
USS Ticonderoga (CV-14)