The U.S. has officially recognized 32 Broken Arrow incidents from 1950 to 1980, and sources note that Bent Spear incidents were far more numerous but not given a single widely cited official total in the material I found.

What that means

  • Broken Arrow = a serious nuclear weapon accident, and the commonly cited official count is 32.
  • Bent Spear = a significant nuclear-related incident, but the sources here do not give one clean overall count for all U.S. recorded cases.
  • One source notes the Navy alone reported 266 minor Bent Spear incidents from 1965 to 1985, and another Navy component reported 379 between 1965 and 1977, which shows how large the category can be.

Practical reading

If your question is asking for the headline number people usually quote, it is 32 Broken Arrow incidents. For Bent Spear , the better answer is that the U.S. recorded many such events, but the public sources I found do not support a single universal total across all services.

Quick takeaway

  • Broken Arrow: 32 official U.S. incidents.
  • Bent Spear: no single official total readily cited in the public sources I found; at least hundreds are referenced in Navy reporting alone.