The davy Crockett portable nuke

[BHuang]

"Davy Crockett Nuke launcher appears"

Germany: *I'll buy your entire stocks*

[eazy]

Fun Fact: The reason given to congress as to why the weapon was retired was, and I quote “There was some fear that a Sergeant would lose his temper and end up starting a nuclear conflict.”

[Neoentrophy]

I like the way this made it to the actual production before someone thought 'maybe this isn't such a good idea'

[mmwultsch]

My favorite part is the name. Davy Crockett is famous for killing a bear when he was only 3, and the USSR was symbolized by the bear.

[maxdanielj]

FYI: it had a yield of 20 tons (not kilotons or megatons) of TNT
The GBU-43/B "mother of all bombs" has a yield of 11 tons

[saladiniv]

a couple fun facts and a small correction:

1. it was a recoilless rifle, not a mortar.

2. the minimum safe distance from it's explosion was bigger than it's maximum range.

3. the organisational level of it's deployment would have meant, that it's launch command and authorisation would have been on the level of sargent. or with other words, it would have given an nco the authority to start a nuclear war.

[mageover]

Yeah this what caused all the trouble in Metal Gear Solid 3

[IceRanger]

Germany: Give us ze Nukes Amerika… ve von’t hurt anyvone…
America: on second thought, no.

[donovanvang]

Hey, it's the shoulder-fired nuke launcher, the fatman. Yes, I am fallout dork.

[charlesbrooks]

Germany be getting all hot and bothered when they see “Wunderwaffes” 😂

[shadow]

As a MGS fan i thought this thing was a work of fiction. Knowing it was real and made by us and NOT used is surprising to say the least.

[John.McMillan]

"Germany, please, calm down" - All of German history

[jblockman_nunyabidnis]

Honestly the thing that upsets me the most about this gun is the fact that nobody ever mentions the theater it was meant to be deployed in:

The Moon. It was meant to be orbital defense for the lunar base the United States military planned on building on the moon.

The Pentagon figured that if they ever built a base on the moon the Russians would probably launch some kind of an assault Force to take it, so rather than arm everyone on the station they chose to send a recoilless rifle with a few nukes instead, as it would be more economical, guns and ammunition for 250 people weigh more than one Davy Crockett and a few warheads.

When you understand where this thing was meant to be used all of the "flaws" suddenly makes sense:

It's safe range for the explosion being larger than its maximum range: not on the moon.

Nuclear deployment in the hands all of a sergeant: well one that's already a thing (my old man was in charge of handling, and potentially using if the need arose, nuclear codes in Korea he was only a sergeant), and two yeah an NCO who was handpicked for a lunar deployment...

[MKempICI]

The Davy Crockett made perfect sense for defending the Fulda Gap. The Fulda Gap is a lowland by Frankfurt that sits very near several important bridges over the Rhine. In the even of war with the Soviet Union, NATO expected thousands of tanks to come rolling through the Fulda Gap to capture both Frankfurt and those bridges. The NATO countries needed a way to stop a surprise Soviet tank column without turning Germany into New Vegas. Set up the jeep/weapon in defilade on a hill, fire the weapon, and scoot backwards a few feet. You are protected from the blast and the radiation, and there is now a barbecued tank column in the gap. More importantly, Frankfurt only glows at night when they turn the lights on. This weapon was a lot safer and saner than anybody seems to believe, but only when you look at the actual context in which it was meant to be used.

[The_trees_have_ears]

Generals were terrified that a sergeant would start WW3 with the spicy stick on the back of his jeep

[thomcarey]

My stepdad was a fresh Ist LT when he got sent to Germany to command a platoon of Davy Crocket mortar men. This was in the early ‘60s. Nothing like fielding a weapon platform that is pretty much guaranteed to end your life.

[kogarashi]

I'm so happy this is getting the attention it deserves. One of my favorite "terrible weapons".

[SamlSchulze]

How about this scenario.

Leader:
READY TEAM?
FULL REVERSE!
LAUNCH!
BRAKE!
FULL THROTTLE!

[WEKM]

Much in history can be broken down to telling Germany, "Please calm down."

[Manfromthenorth]

It's also the original inspiration for the Fat Man launcher in the Fallout games.