The Weirdest Nuke Ever Made?

This is real footage of the world's most powerful nuke, the tsar bomba.

But how about the world’s smallest nuke? Well this is it, the Davy Crockett and yes Fallout’s Fatman and mini nuke is real.

It’s only 11 inches in diameter and 31 inches in length. For context, here’s an american football next to it.

It had a tiny yield of just 20 tonnes of TNT and was fired using one of two recoilless rifles. The M28 could fire the nuke 2km whilst the m29 could propel it 4km. You could also choose to detonate the device at 2 feet or a 40 feet airburst.

But just how deadly was this thing?

Well it provided a guaranteed lethal dose of radiation in a 150m radius producing 100SV and a probably lethal does in a 400m radius producing 60SV. For context, being exposed to 8SV for a short period of time is almost guaranteed to kill you.

But what was the point of it? Well it was invented during the Cold War as a way of slowing down potential Soviet invasions of europe. It’s small design allowed it to be easily transported and used by a 3 man crew.

So what happened to it?

In the end it never saw combat, it was only tested twice in nevada as part of little feller I and II and only one of those used the launcher whilst the other suspended the nuke above the ground.

It’s short range and inaccuracy meant it had the potential for devastating friendly casualties, the use of nukes, no matter how small risked escalating conflicts, other military options such as artillery, air support and anti tank weapons had improved during its development and the program itself was very costly at over $200M in today's money whilst it also created a plethora of logistical complexities. So for all of these reasons the program was shut officially shut down in 1971.

[robx.]

When you realize that the payload of a modern MLRS launcher can flatten a square kilometer, this seems like to much risk for too little gain.

[Dimapur]

The real reason behind the shut down was to prevent triggering a nuclear war by a hotheaded corporal because his authority is all that's needed to fire that weapon.

[LobsterDado]

would hate to get a 'letahl dose' of radiation

[TheNewOrder-DaysOfConflict]

"Here comes the sun doo doo dooh doo" bomb

[victorvandecavey]

kleine brogel airbase has no nukes 1 garage: filled with these things

[andrasneadam]

Yeah, lets add a double barrel mg that fires Davy crocketts

*-Fallout*

[Its_Me_Romano]

Can you do history of Dutch Service rifles?

[NPCguy.]

What was the service rifles of Brazil?

[raymondwilliams]

It was designed to light multiple cigarettes in one pass....

[Eh-Mungu-Nguvu-Yetu-qp]

This is the worst idea they came up with making small nukes essentially mean they will be easy to use in a battlefield. If I had the power id make the use of small nukes a warcrime

[joey-hbbt]

ain't you the guy that makes shorts about dayz

[tillmanscott]

The tsar bomba is a hydrogen bomb therefore not technically a nuke

[Monk-lbhm]

You sound like that one fresh spawns guy he talks about dayz

[hayleywilliams]

Could youbdo the standard issue rifle of both the soviet union and the Russian federation

[mrcharlemagne]

Use American measurements lmao I’m too stupid