Firewall,
There's no evidence that I've seen that shows recovery of the Jax bomb.
Navy EOD officer Art Arsenault states that during the search, they never located the weapon. Not surprising, since a SUBROC test unit (with W55 mockup warhead) is also missing off the Florida coast. The Tybee Island, Georgia bomb, lost under similar circumstance to the Jax weapon, has also not been located.
My co-author Jim Oskins did the prep for ship of the Mark 17 weapon that was later accidentally jettisoned 4 miles SW of the runway at Kirtland (Albuquerque, NM).
The nuclear capsule is a separate fission component in early "open pit" nuclear weapons (for safety reasons). It was manually inserted by an aircrew member, or by electro-mechanical means in later weapons by the bombadier using an "in-flight insertion" mechanism. Modern weapons are "sealed pit" requiring no cleaning or maintenance of the pit.
Yours, Mike
Retired U.S. Air Force nuclear weapons tech
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