Mark 21 nuclear bomb
The Mark 21 nuclear bomb was a United States nuclear gravity bomb first produced in 1955. It was based on the TX-21 "Shrimp" prototype that had been detonated during the Castle Bravo test in March 1954. While most of the Operation Castle tests were intended to evaluate weapons intended for immediate stockpile, or which were already available for use as part of the Emergency Capability Program, Castle Bravo was intended to test a design which would drastically reduce the size and costs of the first generation of air-droppable atomic weapons (the Mk 14, Mk 17 & Mk 24).
At 12 feet 4 inches (3.76 m) long, 58.5 inches (1.49 m) in diameter, and weighing 17,600 pounds (8,000 kg), the Mk-21 was half the length and one-third the weight of the Mk-17/24 weapons it replaced. The Mk-21 Y1 had a yield of 15 to 18 megatons. The Mk-21 Y2 (later designated TX-26) was specified at about four megatons. All 275 Mk-21 weapons stockpiled were the Y1 version. [1][2]
Quantity production of the Mk-21 started in December 1955 and ran until July 1956. The Mk-21C (Mk-21 Y2) was proof tested as the Operation Redwing Navajo shot, with a yield of 4.5 megatons. Starting in June 1957 all Mk-21 bombs were converted to the more powerful Mk-36, which was removed from service in 1962.[3]
References
- ^ Goetz, Peter. "A Technical History of America's Nuclear Arms Volume 1," 2020 ISBN 9781719831963
- ^ https://www.scribd.com/document/59537319/Strategic-Air-Command-History-Development-of-Atomic-Weapons-1956 page 29
- ^ Nuclear Weapon Archive: List of All U.S. Nuclear Weapons
- Hansen, Chuck. U.S. Nuclear Weapons," Arlington, Texas, Areofax, Inc., 1988. ISBN 0-517-56740-7.
- O'Keefe, Bernard J. "Nuclear Hostages," Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983, ISBN 0-395-34072-1.
 | This article related to nuclear weaponry is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This United States military article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |