Post by torpedo on Sept 14, 2019 23:35:31 GMT
Blue Peacock nuclear mine.
The Blue Peacock was a 1950's 10 kilotons tactical nuke. What made it special is that it was supposed to be buried in case of a Soviet push into Western Europe. Several of those would have been placed into the path of Soviet armies in the North German plain and armed with an 8 days fuse. The bomb was also equipped with an anti tampering device that would detonate it if the bomb was moved or the casing opened once the device was armed.
The whole point of those mines would have been to cover the retreat of allied armies, as well as vaporising several thousands Soviet troops and create a dirty no man's land unfit for occupation... A radioactive buffer zone, if you like.
One of the problems encountered was that the bomb's batteries and electronics might not last 8 days buried underground subjected to the cold German winter... Several insulation solutions were tried but failed. At some point, somebody suggested putting several live chickens inside the bomb casing, alongside enough food and water to sustain them for 8 days. The chicken would produce heat that would have been sufficient to keep the bomb at operating temperature... The only modification needed was to install chicken wire around the bomb components in order to avoid the critters pecking at stuff that should not be pecked...
The project was abandoned in 1958 when the political dimension of potentialy contaminating an ally's country with nuclear fallout was finally taken into account. Especially considering that the Germans themselves had not been told about this plan: They had been told those big containers were nuclear powered electric generators!!
IF THIS IS YOUR FAVOURIT FORUM TOO! Post your opinion below PLS. Your gun friends in here like to know!
The Brits are well known for thinking outside of the box in all sort of engineering fields, including weapon design and manufacture. But with the Blue Peacock, they might have strayed a little too far from said box!
The Blue Peacock was a 1950's 10 kilotons tactical nuke. What made it special is that it was supposed to be buried in case of a Soviet push into Western Europe. Several of those would have been placed into the path of Soviet armies in the North German plain and armed with an 8 days fuse. The bomb was also equipped with an anti tampering device that would detonate it if the bomb was moved or the casing opened once the device was armed.
The whole point of those mines would have been to cover the retreat of allied armies, as well as vaporising several thousands Soviet troops and create a dirty no man's land unfit for occupation... A radioactive buffer zone, if you like.
One of the problems encountered was that the bomb's batteries and electronics might not last 8 days buried underground subjected to the cold German winter... Several insulation solutions were tried but failed. At some point, somebody suggested putting several live chickens inside the bomb casing, alongside enough food and water to sustain them for 8 days. The chicken would produce heat that would have been sufficient to keep the bomb at operating temperature... The only modification needed was to install chicken wire around the bomb components in order to avoid the critters pecking at stuff that should not be pecked...
The project was abandoned in 1958 when the political dimension of potentialy contaminating an ally's country with nuclear fallout was finally taken into account. Especially considering that the Germans themselves had not been told about this plan: They had been told those big containers were nuclear powered electric generators!!
IF THIS IS YOUR FAVOURIT FORUM TOO! Post your opinion below PLS. Your gun friends in here like to know!