Mark 13 nuclear bomb
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The Mark 13 nuclear bomb and variant W-13 nuclear warhead were an experimental and prototype nuclear weapon developed by the United States from 1951 to 1954. The Mark 13 design was based on the earlier Mark 6 nuclear bomb design, which was in turn based on the Mark 4 nuclear bomb and the Fat Man or Mark 3 nuclear bomb used in World War 2.
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[edit] Description
The Mark 13 bomb was roughly the same size as the Mark 6 nuclear bomb it was developed from: 61 inches in diameter and 128 inches long (150 cm by 320 cm), with a weight of 7,400 lb (3,300 kg). The W13 warhead was somewhat smaller, about 58 inches in diameter and 100 inches long, with a 6,000 to 6,500 lb weight (145 cm by 250 cm, 2,700 kg to 2,900 kg). [1]
The Mark 13 design used a 92-point nuclear implosion system (see Nuclear weapon design#implosion method). A similar 92-point system was used in later variants of the Mark 6 weapon.
[edit] Testing
The Mark 13 nuclear bomb design was tested at least once, in the Operation Upshot-Knothole Harry test shot on May 19, 1953. Yield of this test shot was 32 kilotons.
[edit] Deployment
Before the Mark 13 design was ready for production, advances in thermonuclear weapon design, particularly the Ivy Mike thermonuclear test in October 1952, made the Mark 13 essentially obsolete. It continued for research purposes (the Upshot-Knothole Harry test shot came months after the first thermonuclear test in Ivy Mike), and in two variant designs, but the Mark 13 proper was never deployed. The Mark 13 bomb version was cancelled in August 1953, and the W-13 warhead version in September 1953.
[edit] Variants
[edit] Mark 18
The Mark 18 nuclear bomb also known a the Super Oralloy Bomb (or its initials SOB) utilized the 92-point Mark 13 implosion system, but a different fissile core with around 60 kilograms of highly enriched uranium. This was the largest pure fission nuclear bomb ever tested, with a yield of roughly 500 kilotons. The Mark 18 was produced in moderate quantities (90 units) and in service from 1953 to 1956.
[edit] Mark 20
The Mark 20 nuclear bomb was a planned Mark 13 followon design, with further advances. Its design effort was cancelled in August 1954, at the same time as the Mark 13 was cancelled.
The Mark 20 was the same size as the Mark 13, 61 inch diameter and 128 inches long, but weighed slightly less, only 6,400 lb.
[edit] References
- ^ Complete list of all US nuclear weapons, Carey Sublette, at the nuclearweaponarchive.org website. Accessed April 17, 2007.
