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The Mark 15 nuclear bomb, or Mk-15, was a 1950s American
Operation Redwing
a
nuclearweaponarchive.org
Accessed 2005-05-06 The Mod 3 also appears to have had a yield.
Allbombs.html
list of all US nuclear warheads a
nuclearweaponarchive.org
{{United States nuclear devices Cold War aerial bombs of the United States Nuclear bombs of the United States Military equipment introduced in the 1950s
The Mark 15 nuclear bomb, or Mk-15, was a 1950s American 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 ...
, the first relatively lightweight () thermonuclear bomb created by the United States.
A total of 1,200 Mark 15 bombs were produced from 1955 to 1957. There were three production variants: Mod 1, Mod 2, and Mod 3. The design was in service from 1955 to 1965.
Specifications
All three models were generally physically similar; weight of around , diameter of , length of .Models
The Mod 1 corresponds to the Castle Nectar test of the Zombie weapon prototype. This test had a yield of . The Mod 2 corresponds to the Redwing Cherokee nuclear test of the TX-15-X1 test model, and had a yield of . Redwing Cherokee was the first US thermonuclear bomb airdrop test.a
nuclearweaponarchive.org
Accessed 2005-05-06 The Mod 3 also appears to have had a yield.
W15
A missile warhead variant of the Mark 15, the W15 Warhead, was an ongoing project in the mid 1950s. It was canceled in early 1957. Before cancellation, it had been intended for use on theSM-62 Snark
The Northrop SM-62 Snark is an early-model intercontinental range ground-launched cruise missile that could carry a W39 thermonuclear warhead. The Snark was deployed by the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command from 1958 through 1961 ...
missile. Instead, the Snark ended up using the W39 (see below).
Derivatives
The W39 nuclear warhead and B39 nuclear bomb used a common nuclear '' physics package'' which was derived from the Mark 15. The experimental W39 devices were initially tested as the TX-15-X3 (which is identical to the W39 Mod 0 design).Dropped and lost
On February 5, 1958, during a training mission flown by aB-47
The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long- range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircr ...
, a Mk 15 nuclear bomb was lost off the coast of Tybee Island, Georgia near Savannah.
See also
*List of nuclear weapons
This is a list of nuclear weapons listed according to country of origin, and then by type within the states.
United States
US nuclear weapons of all types – bombs, warheads, shells, and others – are numbered in the same sequence starting wi ...
* 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 ...
* Operation Redwing
Operation Redwing was a United States series of 17 nuclear test detonations from May to July 1956. They were conducted at Bikini and Enewetak atolls by Joint Task Force 7 (JTF7).Blumenson, Martin and Hugh D. Hexamer (1956). ''A History of ...
References
External links
Allbombs.html
list of all US nuclear warheads a
nuclearweaponarchive.org
{{United States nuclear devices Cold War aerial bombs of the United States Nuclear bombs of the United States Military equipment introduced in the 1950s