70th anniversary of atomic bombing of Hiroshima
 

August 6th, 1945, 8:15 local time, a atomic bomb was dropped from the B-29 bomber Enola Gay on the city of Hiroshima, killing thousands. This date ushered in the nuclear age as both a weapon and as a means of propulsion and peaceful use of generating electricity.

People of Japan marked the solemn 70th anniversary along with delegates of 100 countries. opinions are still divided over whether its deadly destruction was justified.


Let us hope atomic / nuclear weapons are never used in anger again.

Aye, let's hope that will never happen again.

^^
Yes never again....

Let the nuclear weapons be perfect weapons - the weapons so terrifying that they are never used.

ikalugin;2334378]Let the nuclear weapons be perfect weapons - the weapons so terrifying that they are never used.[/QUOTE]

Our sides came within a breath a few times. 1983 was extremely close closer than the Cuban Missile Crisis. I can't recall the Soviet missile commanders name who revived the launch alerts but felt certain that they where incorrect and did not send the alert further. He was right it was not Minute Man missiles but the sun rays fooling the satellite. He based his choice on the fact that he felt the US would launch a full strike and not a handful and on the fact that he had previously seen the detection glitch before.

Lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_S...alarm_incident

Yes that's him he got fired for not not accidentally nuking everyone. Some jobs sheesh.
On some TV interview he said "I was the little bird getting ..... on by the big bird."

Meanwhile, French discuss if they should keep their nuclear deterent, British one escaped possible cuts, USN SSBN program is in the funding bind, everyone else is expanding their nuclear forces as much as they could.

Did I miss anything?

It is sad that those weapons even needed to be created but, a stubborn foe kind of forces the issue.

sigh..
.alas, sometimes the only way to deal with a bully is to punch his lights out.:/\\!!

I suppose it could be claimed MAD has prevented a WWIII....thus far.

Well, a direct confrontation between two nuclear possessing superpowers, although India and Pakistan have had their clashes.

In regards to WWIII, I'd say that we're in one right now in a manner of speaking.

I wouldn't have thought so. A worldwide confrontation with full nuke release would probably lead to the end of mankind.

I don't fancy coming back as a cockroach either :)

What if your hometown were hit by the Hiroshima atomic bomb?

http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-08-0...ma-atomic-bomb

Yes, that's a better map you can choose which weapon and everything: http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

I chose the nearest target 150 miles away and lived through the first blast, but I will need more water of course. :o

Interesting application. The bomb used at Hiroshima was estimated in the 15 kiloton range. The 2nd one used at Nagasaki was estimated to be larger in the 20 kiloton range. According to the model it does significant damage.

Modern thermonuclear or 2 stage devices are approx. at the 150 kiloton range at their smallest if you exclude tactical weapons. These weapons can range in size up to 50 megatons. The former USSR, created the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated, with a yield of 50 megatons, (50 million tons of tnt).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon_yield


Scary thought

Scary, but very impractical. The Tsar Bomba was essentially a 'we can build one bigger than you' exercise. Most of the energy of the explosion was vented into the atmosphere rather than out as destructive lateral force, plus it had to be carried in a specially modified Tu-95.
Made a helluva mess of Novaya Zemlya though, and broke windows in Norway and Finland thanks to atmospheric focusing, and the seismic shockwave travelled around the Earth at least three times...and this was the dialed back explosion, the original design called for 100MT, but it was decided that the fallout would be too excessive and the delivery aircraft would probably have been destroyed by its own bomb.

Thanks Oberon. I knew the Tsar bomb was tested but didn't know where or if it had been fielded. I also had no idea the shockwave was as prolific as that either.

One of the most necessary evils to have ever been used in war. Most likely saved the Japanese from extinction give what was planned for the Invasion.

That's the thing about War.
Your in it to win it.