The Mark 16 nuclear bomb was a large

thermonuclear bomb A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...

(hydrogen bomb), based on the design of the

Ivy Mike Ivy Mike was the codename given to the first full-scale test of a thermonuclear device, in which part of the explosive yield comes from nuclear fusion. Ivy Mike was detonated on November 1, 1952, by the United States on the island of Elugelab in ...

, the first thermonuclear device ever test fired. The Mark 16 is more properly designated TX-16/EC-16 as it only existed in Experimental/Emergency Capability (EC) versions. The TX-16 was the only deployed thermonuclear bomb which used a

cryogenic In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington DC in 1971) endorsed a universal definition of “cryogenics” and “cr ...

liquid

deuterium Deuterium (or hydrogen-2, symbol or deuterium, also known as heavy hydrogen) is one of two Stable isotope ratio, stable isotopes of hydrogen (the other being Hydrogen atom, protium, or hydrogen-1). The atomic nucleus, nucleus of a deuterium ato ...

fusion fuel, the same fuel used in the Ivy Mike test device. The TX-16 was a weaponized version of the Ivy Mike design. This required both a considerable reduction in weight of the explosive package and the replacement of the elaborate cryogenic system with

vacuum flask A vacuum flask (also known as a Dewar flask, Dewar bottle or thermos) is an insulating storage vessel that greatly lengthens the time over which its contents remain hotter or cooler than the flask's surroundings. Invented by Sir James Dewa ...

s for replenishing boiled-off deuterium. The carrier aircraft was to be the

B-36 The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber that was built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built. It had the longest win ...

as modified under Operation Barroom. Only one B-36 was so modified. The TX-16 shared common forward and aft casing sections with the TX-14 and TX-17/24 and in the emergency capability (EC-16) version was almost indistinguishable from the EC-14. A small number of EC-16s were produced to provide a stop-gap thermonuclear weapon capability in response to the Russian nuclear weapons program. The TX-16 was scheduled to be tested as the

Castle Yankee Castle Yankee was the code name given to one of the tests in the Operation Castle series of American tests of thermonuclear bombs. It was originally intended as a test of a TX-16/EC-16 ''Jughead'' bomb, but the design became obsolete after the ...

"Jughead" device until the overwhelming success of the

Castle Bravo Castle Bravo was the first in a series of high-yield thermonuclear weapon design tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as part of ''Operation Castle''. Detonated on March 1, 1954, the device was the most powerful ...

"Shrimp" test device rendered it obsolete.

Specifications

The TX-16 bomb was in diameter, in length, and weighed . Design yield was 6-8 megatons of TNT.Allbombs.html
at th
Nuclear Weapon Archive
accessed 2 October 2006
a
Globalsecurity.org
(see also Globalsecurity.org), accessed 2 October 2006

Manufacture and service

Five units were manufactured in January 1954, and deployed in an interim "emergency capability" role with the designation EC-16. By April 1954 they were all retired, as the alternative solid-fueled thermonuclear weapons had been tested successfully. These solid fuel thermonuclear bombs were far easier to handle, requiring no cryogenic temperature materials or cooling system. It was replaced with the five EC-14 weapons brought up to an acceptable standard as the

TX-14 Texas's 14th congressional district for the United States House of Representatives stretches from Freeport, Texas, Freeport to Beaumont, Texas, Beaumont. It formerly covered the area south and southwest of the Greater Houston region, including ...

and production

Mark 17 nuclear bomb The Mark 17 and Mark 24 were the first mass-produced hydrogen bombs deployed by the United States. The two differed in their "primary" stages. They entered service in 1954, and were phased out by 1957. Design and development Design and develop ...

s in mid-1954. The planned test of the TX-16 bomb in the

test of

Operation Castle Operation Castle was a United States series of high-yield (high-energy) nuclear tests by Joint Task Force 7 (JTF-7) at Bikini Atoll beginning in March 1954. It followed ''Operation Upshot–Knothole'' and preceded ''Operation Teapot''. Condu ...

was canceled due to the spectacular success of the "Shrimp" device in the

test.

References

* Hansen, Chuck,
Swords of Armageddon
U.S. Nuclear Weapons Development since 1945" (CD-ROM & download available). PDF-2.67 Mb. 2,600 pages, Sunnyvale, California, Chucklea Publications, 1995, 2007. (2nd Ed.) *O'Keefe, Bernard J. "Nuclear Hostages," Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983, . {{United States nuclear devices Cold War aerial bombs of the United States Nuclear bombs of the United States

Specifications

Manufacture and service

See also

References