Mk 41

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The Mk-41 was one of the largest thermonuclear weapons in the nuclear weapon arsenal of the United States during the U. S. & Soviet Cold War with an estimated yield of 24 megatons. The weapons were in place until 1975 when they were taken out of service (the largest yield currently deployed is around 1.8 megatons). The theoretical blast radius of the Mk-41 is around 29 miles with a fire damage radius of 158 miles.

[edit] Basic construction

The Mk-41 was of the usual long cylindrical shape and weighed 10,670 lb (4,840 kg). The nuclear fusion warhead was of the Teller-Ulam type and used a 40-100 kiloton Implosion type nuclear fission primary fueled by HEU to trigger the Lithium 6 Deuteride fusion fuel. Between 500 and 1000kg of Lithium 6 Deuteride was used and was contained in a cylinder of natural Uranium with an inner casing of U-238.

The Mk-41 was an example of a fission-fusion-fission type thermonuclear weapon, known by the term "thermonuclear triple threat". Such devices were so called "dirty" H-bombs because when detonated they produce very large amounts of intensely radioactive fallout that often caused illness or death to those with whom it came into contact.

[edit] Deployment

The Mk-41 was deployed by SAC on B-52s and also on ICBMs such as the US Atlas ICBMs that were decommissioned in 1975.

[edit] Efficiency

During its operation, the Mk-41 was the most efficient known thermonuclear weapon in terms of yield to actual weight, with a 5.2 Megaton/ton ratio (based on a 25 megaton yield).

Note: all nuclear weapon yields and weights use the metric ton (1,000 kg), not the short ton (2,000 lb).