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.Operation Redwing
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 the

SM-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 The Mark 39 nuclear bomb and W39 nuclear warhead were versions of an American thermonuclear weapon, which were in service from 1957 to 1966. The Mark 39 design was a thermonuclear bomb (see Teller-Ulam design) and had a yield of 3.8 megatons. ...

used a common nuclear ''

physics package Nuclear weapon designs are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate. There are three existing basic design types: * pure fission weapons, the simplest and least technically ...

'' 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 a

B-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 Tybee Island is a city and a barrier island located in Chatham County, Georgia, 18 miles (29 km) east of Savannah, United States. Though the name "Tybee Island" is used for both the island and the city, geographically they are not identical ...

near

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

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