A Nuclear Broken Arrow - An unexpected and unplanned event, involving nuclear weapons, such as: accidents in launching, firing, detonating, theft and loss of the weapon.
The Swan primary of Operation Plumbbob: Diablo, on July 15, 1957, at the Nevada Test Site, Area 2 b, was fired in a full-sized structural model of the thermonuclear system. Boken Arrow: Diablo misfired. The discussion and investigation lasted over a day, trying to understand what could have gone wrong, and more importantly who was going to disarm and inspect a faulty nuke. Finally the crew of 3 engineers who were the last on the tower was assigned to this dangerous task. Eventually it ended up good, and the device was successfully disarmed. Though disarming a nuclear bomb that didn't go off after firing and potentially could've detonated at any second was more than a tough job.
~CrazyHorse BrokenArrow :: “Calling an airstrike near a friendly position, overrun by foe, creating high probability of 'Blue-on-Blue'” :: ApacheTom ~If each human family were dependent only on its own resources; if the children of improvident parents starved to death; if thus, over breeding brought its own "punishment" to the germ line -- then there would be no public interest in controlling the breeding of families. But our society is deeply committed to the welfare state, and hence is confronted with another aspect of the tragedy of the commons.
In a welfare state, how shall we deal with the family, the religion, the race, or the class that adopts over breeding as a policy to secure its own aggrandizement? To couple the concept of freedom to breed with the belief that everyone born has an equal right to the commons is to lock the world into a tragic course of action.
The most important aspect of necessity that we must now recognize, is the necessity of abandoning the commons in breeding. No technical solution can rescue us from the misery of overpopulation. Freedom to breed will bring ruin to all.
~ RRR Zhivago Hunter :: “Nuclear Freedom is the Recognition of Mutual Coercion, Mutually Agreed Upon Procreation Values Necessity” :: Buffalo Bill DMW ~"It is important to understand the distinction between information and intelligence. Information is an assimilation of data that has been gathered, but not fully correlated, analyzed, or interpreted. Intelligence, on the other hand, is the transformation of information into knowledge and insight." -- Admiral Jeremy Boorda, Joint Military Intelligence College
~ Santa Clausiwitz NSA PsyOps :: How Will World War IV (We Need to 'Cull' the Surplus Population) be fought? :: Slamdunk Tzu CIA PsyOps ~
Crazy Horse BrokenArrow ApacheTom
General Omar Bradley recalled that his column was attacked by American A-36s in Sicily. The tanks lit yellow smoke flares to identify themselves to their own aircraft, but the attacks continued, so the tanks were forced to fire and downed an aircraft. The parachuting pilot was brought before Bradley. 'You stupid sonofabitch!' Bradley fumed. 'Didn't you see our yellow recognition signals?' The pilot replied 'Oh, is that what that was?'
On May 11, 1969, during the Battle of Hamburger Hill, Lt. Col. Weldon Honeycutt directed Cobra helicopter gunships, known as Aerial Rocket Artillery (ARA), to support an infantry assault. In the heavy jungle, the Cobras mistook the command post of the 3/187th battalion for a Vietnamese unit and attacked, killing two and wounding thirty-five, including Honeycutt. This incident disrupted battalion command and control and forced 3/187th to withdraw into night defensive positions.
8 June 1967 - During the Six-Day War conflict between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq, the U.S. Navy signals intelligence ship, USS Liberty was attacked by Israeli fighter planes and torpedo boats in international waters about 12.5 nautical miles (23 km) from the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, north of the Egyptian town of El Arish.
Did you see them, did you see them?
Did you see them in the river?
They were there to wave to you.
Could you tell that the empty quiver,
Brown skinned Indian on the banks
That were crowded and narrow,
Held a broken arrow?
Pre-Emptive Nuclear Strikes Military Gospel Doctrine
It’s going to get much worse. It is going to continue to get worse as you continue to believe what cannot be true. As long as you pull the comforter of delusion over your head the nightmares are going to get worse. They breed in that environment. They like it there.
When it is time to wake up and you do not wake up, then the means applied to wake you up are going to intensify and intensify until you do wake up. Your real enemies are the people who are pointing your attention in the direction of an imaginary enemy. Your primary, real enemy is your ignorance and obstinacy. Your secondary enemy is the one manipulating both for their profit and entertainment.
You need to realize that what is victimizing you is not just doing it to keep you in fear and to bleed you dry. These agencies and entities enjoy the spectacle of what they are putting you through. When you suffer and place the blame on something that never existed or is long dead, they laugh. You amuse the hell out of them. You had better wake up.
~ Santa Clausiwitz NSA PsyOps :: The fact is one cannot begin to search for a solution to a 'Hell Hath No Fury....' problem that has yet to be accurately defined.. :: Slamdunk Tzu CIA PsyOps~
WORLD WAR II
LITTLE BOYTest: Little Boy;
Date: August 6, 1945;
Operation: Unknown;
Site: Hiroshima, Japan;
Detonation: Air Delivered;
Yield: 15.00kt;
Type: Fission,U235
Significant and historic as the first combat use of an atomic weapon ever, over Hiroshima, Japan at exactly 08:16:02 a.m., at an altitude of 1900 ft, and at a position of 34°23'44''N, 132°27'13''E, approx 150m from the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall.
Upon detonation, the bomb released the equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT (15kT), and created a mushroom cloud that rose to 45,000 feet. In an instant 80,000 to 140,000 people were killed and 100,000 more were seriously injured, mortally burned, or fatally irradiated. Of the 90,000 buildings in Hiroshima 60,000 were totally destroyed. Little Boy was based upon simpler, but less efficient gun-type design than the Gadget evice used in Trinity test, which was an implosion bomb. Originally the gun-type scheme has been proposed for the Plutonium bomb, but later when the more efficient, but risky implosion design has been chosen for the Plutonium bomb, serious attention returned to uranium one. The uranium gun program, lead by A. Francis Birch faced a difficult task. They had to build the bomb, without testing, yet be absolutely sure that it would work. There simply was not enough Uranium to both test and drop in anger, and sufficient amount of enriched Uranium was only available by mid 1945. The actual device has been ready for combat use by May 1945.
Little boy used 64.1kg Uranium. 50kg 89% enriched and the rest was 50% enriched. U235 has been separated into two parts, the bullet which weighted approx. 26kg and the target weighting 38kg. The barrel has been borrowed from the anti-aircraft gun. The bore was modified to accommodated the new Uranium bullet. Conventional artillery smokeless powder would drive the bullet at 300 m/sec velocity once ignited.
USS Indianapolis (CA-35) delivered Little boy components to Tinian base on July 26, apart from the target assembly, which was delivered two days later. Originally the plan was to deliver the bomb on Aug. 1, but due to the weather conditions the operation plan has been altered, and on Aug. 6. at 00:00 Col. Tibbets received final debriefing. Hiroshima was the primary target, with Kokura and Nagasaki being alternative targets.
Little Boy - delivered by B29 Bomber Enola Gay, crew: Colonel Paul Tibbets - Commander; Captain Robert Lewis - Co-Pilot; Captain Theodore Van Kirk - Navigator; Major Thomas Ferebee - Bombardier; Lieutenant Jacob Beser - Electronic Countermeasures; Sergeant Joseph Stiborik - Radar Operator; Private Richard Nelson - Radar Operator; Staff Sergeant Wyatt Duzenbury - Flight Engineer; Staff Sergeant Robert Caron - Tail Gunner; Captain Deke Parson - Weaponeer; 2nd Lieutenant Morris Jeppson - Ordinance Expert;
Few minutes after the explosion, seeing what has happened, Robert Lewis wrote in his journal:My God, what have we done?
FAT MAN
Name: Fat Man;
Date: August 9, 1945;
Site: Nagasaki, Japan;
Operation: Unknown;
Detonation: Air Delivered;
Yield: 21.00kt;
Type: Fission, Pu239;
US detonated second nuclear bomb during the WW II, at this time over Nagasaki, Japan. The bomb named Fat-Man was detonated at 11:02 am. at an altitude of 1500 ft. Yield 21Kt. Of the 286,000 people living in Nagasaki at the time of the blast, 74,000 were killed in an instant, and another 75,000 sustained severe injuries.
Fat Man was identical to the Gadget device used in the Trinity test, except it was encased in steel. Ostensibly, Fat-Man used Pu239 instead U235 and more efficient, implosion type design. It measured 60 inches in diameter, was 12 feet long, and weighed 10,300 lb. All the parts for the Fat Man assembly finally arrived at Tinian by Aug. 2, 1945.
The delivery date has been shifted several times due to changing weather conditions. Finally the date was set, Aug. 9. 1945. Primary target for the bombing has been an arsenal in the city of Kokura. B-29 arrived at the target zone around 10:44 am. However clouds, flaks and fighters prevented it from precise bombing and it had to rout towards the secondary target. One more problem was the malfunctioning fuel pump, which rendered a 600 gallon auxilary tank useless. That in turn limited the choice of the secondary target, so B-29 set the course towards Nagasaki. When the bomber arrived at Nagasaki the remaining fuel would only allow it one pass over the city for bombing, even with emergency landing at Okinawa.
The only gap over the area permitted a drop, which missed the original aimpoint by several miles. The detonation occurred near the city perimeter, close to Mitsubishi arms plant. Despite the fact that Fat Man fell closer to an unpopulated area the casualties were immense, 42,000 died in an instant and 40,000 more were injured. 39% of the city buildings were destroyed.
Delivered by B29 Bomber Bock's Car, crew: Major Charles Sweeney - Commander; First Lieutenant Charles Albury - Co-Pilot; Captain James Van Pelt, Jr. - Navigator; Captain Kermit Beahan - Bombardier; Lieutenant Jacob Beser - Electronic Countermeasures; Staff Sergeant Ed Buckly - Radar Operator; Sergeant Abe Spitzer - Radar Operator; Master Sergeant John Kuharek - Flight Engineer; Sergeant Raymond Gallagher Asst. Flight Engineer; Staff Sergeant Albert Dehart - Tail Gunner; Commander Frederick Ashworth - Weaponeer; 2nd Lieutenant Fred Olivi - Third Pilot
MANHATTAN PROJECT:
TRINITY
Test Name: Trinity;
Date: July 16, 1945;
Operation: Trinity;
Site: Alamagordo, New Mexico;
Detonation: Tower;
Yield: 19.00kt;
Type: Implosion, Fission, Pu239;
The end of $20 billion worth Manhattan project and beginning of the atomic era. The device used in the Trinity test had code name - Gadget. It was an experimental design of the implosion type bomb, used later in Fat Man. Later on, the same design(obtained via espionage) has been used by USSR in their first nuclear bomb Joe I.
The core of the gadget was enriched Pu sphere. 9cm in diameter and weighted approximately 6.2kg(13.5lb). The whole device itself was a 1.5m diameter sphere. When everything was ready it took 5 days to finally assemble the Gadget and make it operational. Some of the final tasks were performed at ground Zero.
The first atomic explosion in mankind history was conducted at the Alamagordo Bombing Range in New Mexico. The name of the place, trail called the Jornada del Muerto(Jorney of Death) was apparently somewhat appropriate. The whole test operation was code-named Trinity.
Gadget was detonated on July 16, 1945, 5:29:45 a.m. (Mountain War Time). The explosion yielded 19-22kt, according to various sources. Though later estimates refer to the numbers close to 22kt. THe blast instantly rised the temperature to 10 000 000 degrees. The light was so intense that it was sufficient to cause temporary blindness to an observer 10 miles away. The immense temperature of the blast fuzed te desert sand into glass, which after 50 years still contains the traces of radioactivity.
The explosion resulting crater was 6.5ft(2m) deep and had 260ft(80m) radius. Originally the yield was estimated anywhere between 5-10kt. Since the practical yield was several times more a lot of test equipment and recording devices have been simply destroyed. After the explosion when Gen. Groves was informed about the destroyed equipment, noted: Good at least we know it was that powerful.
OPERATION CROSSROADS:
BAKER
Test: Baker;
Date: July 24 1946;
Operation: Crossroads;
Site: Bikini Atoll lagoon, Marshall Islands;
Detonation: Underwater, depth - 90ft(27.5m);
Yield:23kt;
Type:Fission
Second test in the Crossroads operation and the 5th nuclear explosion in the mankind's history. Baker was the continuation of the study of the nuclear weapon effects on the naval vessels and personnel. At this time the Mk 3A fission bomb ("Model 1561", basically the Fat Man) bomb has been detonated underwater. The bomb has been encased in a watertight shell and placed beneath the landing ship LSM-60. LSM-60 itself has been placed approximately in the center of the target fleet which consisted of 71 vessels. Closest to the device was the aircraft Carrier USS Saratoga. To study the effects of the heat, blast and radiation numerous lab. animals, plants and even biological warfare agents were brought in and placed on the target ships.
For the reference, the first test in this series, Able was an Airburst at the altitude of 520ft (160 m). Even though the devices used in the two consecutive explosions were identical the results were significantly different. Baker dished out a tremendous punishment, even compared to Able.
Eight ships were sunk or capsized: USS Saratoga, USS Arkansas, the submarines USS Apogon and USS Pilotfish, the Nagato, LSM-60, the concrete dry dock ARDC-13, and the barge YO-160. Eight more vessels were severely damaged.
The explosion lifted several million tons of water in the air. In its apogee the water column was 2000ft(600m) high with walls 300ft(100m) thick. Obviously the explosion generated huge waves in the ocean. Aircraft carrier USS Saratoga's stern was rising 43ft(13.5m)! above the surface, on the crest of the first wave.
The entire lagoon has been contaminated with radioactive particles. Matter of fact, for the first 24 hours after Baker detonation the radiation levels were lethal, and remained very dangerous for the next week. This effect has not been anticipated, and eventually President Truman called off the third deep underwater test codenamed Charlie.
OPERATION SANDSTONE
X-RAY
Test: X-Ray;
Date: April 14 1948;
Operation: Sandstone;
Site: Enwetak Atoll, Island Engebi ("Janet");
Detonation: 200ft.
Tower Yield: 37kt;
Type: Fission
RUSSIA
FIRST LIGHTNING
Name: First Lightning (Joe 1);
Date: August 29, 1949;
Site: Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan;
Detonation: Tower;
Yield: 22kt;
Type: Implosion, Fission, Pu239
Some of the ground work for the future Soviet nuclear program has been performed as early as in 1939-41. It was in 1943 when it has actually begun under the leadership of physicist Igor Kurchatov. Obviously soviet intelligence wouldn't miss all the nuclear activities in the US Los-Alamos, and the weak security there was a big help to USSR nuclear developments. Immediately after WW II and US nuclear bombardments of Japan, Soviet Nuclear Program has been made the top priority by J.l Stalin himself. A man appointed to head the entire project was no less than Lavrenti Beria himself. The head of MGB(former NKVD, later transformed to KGB). Everyone involved in the project understood very well where they may end up in case of failure, and very unlikely that Beria would survive himself, should the project fail.
Probably the most important help provided by Beria's spies to the program, were the detailed design schemes of the US Fat Man bomb, which they in turn obtained from Klaus Fuchs, who played very important role in US nuclear weapons development. David Greenglass also provided important information to the Soviet intelligence.
Because of all those details, pressure and fear(which was very real) of the failure RDS-1 was basically an exact copy of the US design. The production system was very hazardous and inefficient, It took 2 years and enormous efforts to transform it to something more suitable for the serial production and produce second bomb.
OPERATION RANGER
FOX
Test: Fox;
Date: February 6 1951;
Site: Frenchman Flat (NTS), Nevada;
Detonation: Airdrop, altitude - 1435ft (445m);
Yield: 22kt;
Type:Fission
Fox was a concept proof test. Test device code named Freddie used composite core in D type core. Predicted yield was 34 kt. As you can see the actual yield fell quite short of the prediction. At the time of this test the cores used in Freddie wre already being delpoyed in US armed forces.
OPERATION BUSTER JANGLE
CHARLIE
Test: Charlie;
Date: October 30 1951;
Operation: Buster-Jangle;
Site: Nevada Test Site (NTS), Area 7;
Detonation: Airdrop from B-50, altitude - 1132ft;
Yield: 14kt;
Type: Fission
During the Charlie shot the test device named "PC" was fired. Predicted yield was in the 12-15kt range. Apparently that was the new weapons research test. To be more precise it was an effort to improve existing nuclear weapons performance, as well as reduce the costs of the nuclear armament. PC basically was the standard MK-4 bomb, except the core was Uranium/Plutonium assembly.
EASY
Test: Easy;
Date: November 05 1951;
Operation: Buster-Jangle;
Site: Nevada Test Site (NTS), Area 7;
Detonation: Airdrop from B-45, altitude - 1314ft;
Yield: 31kt;
Type: Fission
Easy shot was a test of the Mk-7 nuclear bomb prototype. The test device code named TX-7E weighted only 1800 lb which was remarkably low for its time. TX-7E measured 30 inches in diameter, and this in turn was yet another dramatic improvement, in terms of size reduction. Overall TX weighted over 5 times less than the Fat-Man design and was twice as small (Fat-Man weighted 10 000 lb and was 60 inches in diameter). The device used composite uranium-plutonium core and its high explosive (75% Octol) lens assembly weighted 800 lb. The predicted yield was 22-35 kt.
DOG
Test: Dog;
Date: November 01 1951;
Operation: Buster-Jangle;
Site: Nevada Test Site (NTS), Area 7;
Detonation: Airdrop from B-50, altitude - 1417ft;
Yield: 21kt;
Type: Fission
The test device used in the Dog shot has been codenamed "NF". Basically ti was a standard Mk-4 bomb, with a composite uranium-plutonium core. The expected yield was in the 18-25kt range. The actual yield was within the predicted range, 21kt.
During the Dog shot, US conducted its first nuclear field excercise on the land. The operation has been codenamed "Desert Dog". The goal of the operation was the simulation of the defensive deployment and consequtive maneuvers. Weeks before the Dog shot the assembled troops (including 188th Airborne, 127th Engineer Battalion, and the 546th Field Artillery Battalion) dug field tranches and other emplacements southwest of the actual shot location. Then, first, troops observed the shot from a point six miles from ground zero from the defensive emplacements to view the weapon effecte. After that maneuvers were conducted in the area. Because the Dog shot was an airburst there was no local fallout. However that didnt' exclude some amount of neutron-induced radioactivity.
OPERATION GREENHOUSE
EASY
Test: Easy;
Date: April 20 1951;
Operation: Greenhouse;
Site: Island Enjebi ("Janet"), Enewetak Atoll;
Detonation: Tower Shot, altitude - 300ft;
Yield: 47kt;
Type: Fission
The goal of the Easy shot during the Greenhouse operation was the proof testing of the TX-5D bomb. Basically it was a major advance in weight reduction for implosion bombs. TX-5d weighted 2700 lb compared to Fat-Man's 10 000 lb and it's diameter was significantly reduced as well, 40 inch diameter in TX and 60 inch diameter for Fat-Man. TX used a lens implosion that utilized 92 points the core used in its design was a composite (plutonium/oralloy). Interestingly, later on this design was used as the primary in the first thermonuclear bomb test, Ivy Mike.
One more goal of the Easy shot was to test the effects of the nuclear weapons on various military structures. For several weeks military was building various structures on Enjebi and Mijakadrek Islands. Trinity and beyond has a footage of this shot and it sure looks more than impressive.
GEORGE
Test: George;
Date: 8 May June 1951;
Operation: Greenhouse;
Site: Island Eberiru ("Ruby"), Enwetak atoll;
Detonation: Tower;
Yield: 225kt;
Type: Fission/Fusion
George shot of the operation Greenhouse was remarkable in many aspects. For one it was the first successful fusion reaction in the field. Also, George was the largest nuclear detonation to the date, and held that record up until Mike shot of the operation Ivy. Nevertheless, George was not a weapon in essence. It was an experimental device to test several design concepts.
Device used during this test was named simply Cylinder. In fact it rather was a disk, 8ft diameter, and 2ft thick. Cylinder was an implosion type device. The addition was Deuterium capsule, which provided the fuel for the fusion. The device has been based on George Gamow's design, while the thermonuclear part has been designed by Edward Teller himself.
The resulting data of George test proved to be highly useful. It had significant impact on the future weapons design, including boosted devics, and more importantly on radiation implosion, which was one of the key details of the Teller-Ulam design for the thermonuclear devices.
The yield was 225kt, and it left a large, shallow crater on the island, 1140 feet across and 10 feet deep. This type of crater is typical for tower detonations.
UNITED KINGDOM
HURRICANE
Test: Hurricane;
Date: October 03 1952;
Site: Trimouille Island, in the Monte Bello Islands, Australia;
Detonation: Ship;
Yield: 25kt;
Type: Fission
Hurricane was the first nuclear detonation, and resembled the US design Fatman, i.e. it was an implosion type bomb, using Plutonium as the fissionable material, but obviously incorporating certain improvements. To meet the production and test deadline the UK used external help from Canada to acquire the required amount of Plutonium.
The test objective (besides the obvious one) was also to study the effects of the detonation of a nuclear device on a ship. The concern that such a device could be smuggled on board was apparently a great concern to the British at a time. Therefore, the test device was located 8.7ft (2.7m) below the water line, in the hull of the River-class frigate Plym.
The Hurricane explosion left a crater about 20ft deep and 1000ft across. The mushroom didn't grow all that big due to the extremely hot and dry weather, rising to only 15 000ft. Hurricane yielded 25kt.
OPERATION IVY
MIKE
Test: Mike;
Date: October 31, 1952;
Operation: Ivy;
Site: Elugelab Island, Enwetak atoll;
Detonation: Surface;
Yield: 10.400 Mgt;
Type: Fission/Fusion
The device called Sausage, detonated in the Mike test was the first true thermonuclear bomb ever tested. However, the Sausage was not a deliverable weapon. It was an enormous, complex device, 80 inches wide and 244 inches long. The entire assembly weighted 82 metric tons. Sausage was built using Teller-Ulam principles of staged radiation implosion. Interestingly Teller himself didn't participate in development. Los Alamos Panda Committee, directed by J. Carson Mark did the job.
TX-5 fission bomb was used as a fuse(primary stage). Super cooled, liquid hydrogen was used as a thermonuclear fuel. The Cab, building which was housing the device was located on the zero island. A plywood tube was assembled from the Cab to the furthest island, where the detection station was, some 2 miles away. The tube was filled with Helium, to allow radiation rays travel faster before it was consumed by the fireball.
The explosion yielded 10.4 Mgt. Mike's fireball measured 3 miles. The cloud formed by Mike shot was immense. Stabilized, it reached 135 000 ft high, and stretched 60 miles in diameter, which eventually spread over 1000 miles.
Mike destroyed the entire Elugelab island. The crater formed as a result of the explosion measured 6240ft(1.5Km) across and 164ft(53m) deep. Following the test, high levels of radiation covered most of the Enwetak atoll.
This was 4th largest test ever conducted by US, (the largest at that time). For comparison, this is more then all allied bombs dropped during WW II together.
KING
Test: King;
Date: October 31, 1952;
Operation: Ivy;
Site: Runit ("Yvonne") Island, Enewetak Atoll;
Detonation: Airburst from the B36 Bomber;
Yield: 500kt;
Type: Fission
King was the second and the last detonation during the operation Ivy. It also was one of the largest pure fission bombs ever detonated or produced. The test device itself was a prototype for the later Mk 18 bomb. The name King indicated that the yield was still in Kilotons, not megatons as Ivy-Mike. The prototype and the actual weapon used Super Oralloy as a fissile material. The rest of the test device mainly was based standard weapon components. Base was the Mk-6D bomb, the 92 point implosion system came from the Mk-13 bomb, etc. Total mass of the complete assembly was 8600 lb.
Safety devices and measurements were one of the most important aspects of this test. Considering that the test device itself contained more than 4 critical masses of fissile material it was really on the edge of the safety. For that matter, the core was filled with Boron and Aluminum chains. Those would absorb neutrons and prevent the pit collapse in case of the accidental detonation of the implosion lens high explosives, or severe impact. The safety chains were removed before detonations, in this case right before the airdrop. The bombing was commenced from the B36 bomber, at the altitude of 1480ft, wihch was 20 ft lower than planned.
OPERATION UPSHOT/KNOTHOLE
ANNIE
Test: Annie;
Date: March 17 1953;
Operation: Upshot/Knothole;
Site: Nevada Test Site (NTS), Area 3;
Detonation: Tower, altitude - 300ft;
Yield: 16kt;
Type: Fission
NANCY
Test: Nancy;
Date: March 24 1953;
Operation: Upshot/Knothole;
Site: Nevada Test Site (NTS), Area 4;
Detonation: Tower, altitude - 300ft;
Yield: 24kt;
Type: Fission
BADGER
Test: Badger;
Date: April 18 1953;
Operation: Upshot/Knothole;
Site: Nevada Test Site (NTS), Area 2;
Detonation: Tower, altitude - 300ft;
Yield: 23kt;
Type: Fission;
SIMON
Test: Simon;
Date: April 25 1953;
Operation: Upshot/Knothole;
Site: Nevada Test Site (NTS), Area 3;
Detonation: Tower, altitude - 300ft;
Yield: 43kt;
Type: Fission
HARRY
Test: Harry;
Date: May 19 1953;
Operation: Upshot/Knothole;
Site: Nevada Test Site (NTS), Area 3;
Detonation: Tower, altitude - 300ft;
Yield: 32kt;
Type:Fission
GRABLE
Test: Grable;
Date: May 25 1953;
Operation: Upshot/Knothole;
Site: Nevada Test Site (NTS), Area 5;
Detonation: Artillery shell airburst, altitude - 500;
Yield: 15kt;
Type: Fission
Grable detonation was an unique test in many aspects. For one is was the first test of a nuclear artillery shell. Also, the test results provided very useful data for nuclear weapons use and tactics. The shell used in Grable test was Mk-9 11.02"(280mm) AFAP(Artillery Fired Atomic Projectile). 54.4" inches long, it weighted 803lb. Mk-9 employed Gun-Type design, and matter of fact, it was the first weapon after Little Boy to use Gun-Type scheme. Fissile material - Oralloy. The cannon that fired Mk-9 was an enormous artillery piece, weighting 85 tons. It's muzzle velocity of 2060ft/sec allowed up to 20 miles shooting range.
The Mk-9 shell traveled 11,000 yards and was detonated 500 ft above the ground. The time fuze was employed to ensure precise bombing time. The actual yield of 15kt was very close to the predicted one - 14kt.
What was interesting with Grable was the result of the detonation. Preceding Grable, there was Encore shot, that yielded 27kt. Encore was detonated in the same test area at Nevada etst site, #5. Now, comparing the results of those two explosions, Grable inflicted a lot more damage than the Encore shot, even though the Encore shot was almost twice as powerful as that of produced by Grable. The difference was in the detonation altitude. Encore was detonated at 2423ft, i.e. relatively high above the ground. Basically it was an airdrop, delivered by B-50 bomber. Grable has been detonated at much lower altitude, 500ft. That produced a very abnormal waveform, referred as precursor. Basically precusor, or the precusor loads, are very strong dynamic winds, and when dragging through the target they produce very extensive damage. For instance the Jeep at a given level from the detonation point that successfully survived Ecnore blast, practically undamaged, was completely torn to pieces and thrown to the distance as much as 500ft during the Grable test.
CLIMAX
Test: Climax;
Date: June 4 1953;
Operation: Upshot/Knothole;
Site: Nevada Test Site (NTS), Area 7;
Detonation: Airburst from B-36 Bomber, altitude - 1334;
Yield: 61kt;
Type: Fission
RUSSIA
JOE 4 / SLOIKA
Name: Joe 4, the Sloika;
Date: August 12, 1953;
Site: Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan;
Detonation: Tower;
Yield: 400kt;
Type: Fission/Fusion, U235/Li6/Tritium
Although it was Soviet's fifth nuclear detonation, for some reasonon the west it was dubbed as Joe 4. I doubt US intelligence would miss an atomic explosion in USSR, so I guess it was something else. Anyway, the device codenamed RDS-6 was built upon Sakharov's Sloika design. It was not a true H-Bomb, as most of its yield came from fission. Nevertheless, it demonstrated fusion reaction in a deliverable weapon sized device. Obviously that bolstered up US determination to create a deliverable thermonuclear weapon and took nuclear arms race one step further.
RDS-6 employed both, fision and fusion rections. Fissile material - U235, which was layered with fusion fuel - Li6, and that in turn was mixed with Tritium. The practical yield limit for this type of device was below 1mgt. It was not widely deployed, as more successfull Teller-Ulam design appeared soon.
OPERATION TOTEM (UK)
T1
Test: T1;
Date: October 14 1953;
Operation: Totem;
Site: Emu Field, South Australia;
Detonation: Tower Shot, altitude - 100ft(31m);
Yield: 10kt;
Type: Fission
T2
Test: T2;
Date: October 14 1953;
Operation: Totem;
Site: Emu Field, South Australia;
Detonation: Tower Shot, altitude - 100ft(31m);
Yield: 8kt;
Type: Fission
This was the third nuclear test of UK. Max predicted yield 10Kt, min. predicted yield .02 kt, most likely eswtimate was 2-3 kt. T2 actually yielded 8 kt.
Part 2: ApacheTom BrokenArrow :: “Calling an airstrike near a friendly position, overrun by foe, creating high probability of 'Blue-on-Blue'” :: Crazy Horse
Source: Nuclear and Thermonuclear Weapons History; Mushroom Cloud Image Gallery
