Mark 36 nuclear bomb
Encyclopedia
The Mark 36 was a heavy high-yield United States nuclear bomb designed in the 1950s. It was a thermonuclear bomb, using a multi-stage fusion secondary
system to generate yields up to about 10 megatons
.
, which was a weaponized version of the "Shrimp" design, the first "dry" (lithium deuteride) fuel thermonuclear bomb the United States tested, in the Castle Bravo
thermonuclear test in 1954.
The Mark 21 bomb was developed and deployed immediately after Castle Bravo, in 1955. The Mark 21 design continued to be improved and the Mark 36 device started production in April 1956. In 1957, all older Mark 21 bombs were converted to Mark 36 Y1 Mod 1 bombs. A total of 920 Mark 36 bombs were produced as new build or converted from the 275 Mark 21 bombs produced earlier.
All Mark 36 nuclear bombs were retired between August 1961 and January 1962, replaced by the higher yield B41 nuclear bomb
Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force
in Dayton, Ohio
.
A Mark 36 casing can be found at the Strategic Air and Space Museum
near Ashland, Nebraska
.
There were 2 major variants, a "clean" and "dirty" variant. The clean variant used an inert fusion stage tamper-pusher assembly (see Teller-Ulam design#Tamper-pusher ablation ) such as lead or tungsten. The "dirty" variant used a Depleted Uranium
or U-238 tamper-pusher which would undergo fission during the second stage fusion burn, doubling the weapon yield. The 9-10 megaton yield listed is for the "dirty" version - the "clean" version would have been roughly half that.
Teller-Ulam design
The Teller–Ulam design is the nuclear weapon design concept used in most of the world's nuclear weapons. It is colloquially referred to as "the secret of the hydrogen bomb" because it employs hydrogen fusion, though in most applications the bulk of its destructive energy comes from uranium fission,...
system to generate yields up to about 10 megatons
TNT equivalent
TNT equivalent is a method of quantifying the energy released in explosions. The ton of TNT is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 gigajoules, which is approximately the amount of energy released in the detonation of one ton of TNT...
.
History
The Mark 36 was a more advanced version of the earlier Mark 21 nuclear bombMark 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...
, which was a weaponized version of the "Shrimp" design, the first "dry" (lithium deuteride) fuel thermonuclear bomb the United States tested, in the Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo
Castle Bravo was the code name given to the first U.S. test of a dry fuel thermonuclear hydrogen bomb device, detonated on March 1, 1954 at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, as the first test of Operation Castle. Castle Bravo was the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by the United States ,...
thermonuclear test in 1954.
The Mark 21 bomb was developed and deployed immediately after Castle Bravo, in 1955. The Mark 21 design continued to be improved and the Mark 36 device started production in April 1956. In 1957, all older Mark 21 bombs were converted to Mark 36 Y1 Mod 1 bombs. A total of 920 Mark 36 bombs were produced as new build or converted from the 275 Mark 21 bombs produced earlier.
All Mark 36 nuclear bombs were retired between August 1961 and January 1962, replaced by the higher yield B41 nuclear bomb
B41 nuclear bomb
The B41 was a thermonuclear weapon deployed by the United States Strategic Air Command in the early 1960s. It was the most powerful nuclear bomb ever developed by the United States with a theoretical maximum yield of 25 megatons...
Survivors
A Mark 36 casing is on display in the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force
National Museum of the United States Air Force
The National Museum of the United States Air Force is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the world's largest and oldest military aviation museum with more than 360 aircraft and missiles on display...
in Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
.
A Mark 36 casing can be found at the Strategic Air and Space Museum
Strategic Air and Space Museum
The Strategic Air and Space Museum is a museum focusing on United States Air Force military aircraft and nuclear missiles located near Ashland, Nebraska, along Interstate 80 southwest of Omaha, Nebraska. The objective of the museum is to preserve and display historic aircraft, missile, and space...
near Ashland, Nebraska
Ashland, Nebraska
Ashland is a city in Saunders County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 2,262 at the 2000 census.- History :Ashland is located at the site of a low-water limestone ledge along the bottom of Salt Creek, an otherwise mud-bottomed stream that was a formidable obstacle for wagon trains on the...
.
Specifications
The Mark 36 bomb was 56.2 to 59 inches in diameter, depending on version, and 150 inches long. It weighed 17,500 or 17,700 pounds depending on version.There were 2 major variants, a "clean" and "dirty" variant. The clean variant used an inert fusion stage tamper-pusher assembly (see Teller-Ulam design#Tamper-pusher ablation ) such as lead or tungsten. The "dirty" variant used a Depleted Uranium
Depleted uranium
Depleted uranium is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope U-235 than natural uranium . Uses of DU take advantage of its very high density of 19.1 g/cm3...
or U-238 tamper-pusher which would undergo fission during the second stage fusion burn, doubling the weapon yield. The 9-10 megaton yield listed is for the "dirty" version - the "clean" version would have been roughly half that.