Little Feller (nuclear tests)

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Little Feller II and Little Feller I were codenames for a set of nuclear tests undertaken by the United States at the Nevada Test Site on July 7 and July 17, 1962 as part of Operation Sunbeam. They were both tests of stockpiled W54 warheads, the smallest nuclear warheads ever produced by the United States, used in both the Davy Crockett warhead and the Special Atomic Demolition Munition.

In Little Feller II (July 7), the warhead was suspended only three feet above the ground and had a yield equivalent to only 22 tons of TNT. In Little Feller I (July 17), the warhead was launched as Davy Crockett device from a stationary 155 millimeter launcher and set to detonate between 20 and 40 feet above the ground around 1.7 miles from the launch point, with a yield of 18 tons. This test was performed in conjunction with Operation IVY FLATS, a simulated military environment, and was observed by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and presidential adviser General Maxwell D. Taylor.

Little Feller I has the additional distinction of being the last atmospheric nuclear test conducted at the Nevada Test Site. Though testing continued for many years after, all further tests were conducted underground in accordance with the Partial Test Ban Treaty.

[edit] External links

• "The Davy Crockett and the W54 warhead" from the Brookings Institution
• "Operation Storax" from Carey Sublette's NuclearWeaponArchive.org