The Mark 65 one thousand-pound (450 kg) general-purpose bomb was developed for the U.S. military in 1939. The designation was AN-M65.

Design

The M65 design was specialized to contain a higher portion of explosive weight in a lighter casing. Up until this period a typical general-purpose bomb was 50% casing weight and 50% explosive material. The AN series of designs used a lighter-weight higher-strength steel casing with the goal of having up to 65% of the finished bomb weight be explosive material. Book OP 1280 Aircraft Bombs by Bureau of Ordinance United States Navy

Operational history

The Mark 65 entered production in 1939 and was used extensively in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. As more bombing roles were shifted to light jet aircraft that carried bombs externally rather than inside an internal bomb bay, the shape of bomb casings was studied. In the early 1950s this research caused production to shift from the AN series bombs to the Mark 80 series streamlined designs still in use today. During the height of the American bombing campaign in Vietnam during 1967, the Mark 80 series bombs were being used faster than they were being manufactured, leading to a shortage in the Mark 83 one thousand-pound bomb that had replaced the Mark 65 in naval service. To fill the shortage until new Mark 83 bombs could be delivered, the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

used the remaining Mark 65 bombs it had left over from the Korean War. An indeterminate number of these stored Mark 65 weapons were used until the supply was exhausted. This weapon was involved in the 1967 USS ''Forrestal'' fire, which killed 134 sailors and injured 161.

References

Cold War aerial bombs of the United States World War II aerial bombs of the United States