Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubblehead Nuke
Thank you.. I forgot about the ASTOR. Yet ANOTHER great design in the use of atomic weapontry. You had to hold position, maintain positive control of the weapon, and had to signal detonate the warhead. Like the other guy was not going to shoot at you in the meantime. The only thing I liked about it was that it was electric so it was not quite as noisy.
About the lethal radius, in a typical air burst you are correct, however, in a subsurface burst, the shock wave would have resulted in an overpressure wave that would have crushed a submarine. That was one of the design criteria of the thing. You did not have to land on the bad guy, you only had to get close. You get it in the general area, detonate it deep, and let the water hammer do the rest for you.
I remember reading about the SUBROC on the boat. They said that a 688 MIGHT be able to survive a max range attack if they did a 180, STOOD on the power and had a minimal cross section while at the same time going shallow rapidly just prior to detonation. Going shallow was to minimize the effect of the shock wave by decreasing the intial pressure on the hull. The variables involved were many and they did not give more than a 50/50 chance.
The older sailors who served on the 594/637 class boats said that they knew it was a suicide shot. They KNEW they could not go fast enough to get out of the danger zone. But, they were willing to take it if it would prevent the other guy from launching his missles.
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Interesting factoid:
The USS
Dentuda SS-335
survived a ~20 kt subsurface nuclear blast while dived at a range of about 1250 yards. This is Test Baker during Operation Crossroads.
Following the test she was returned to service for a while before being scrapped.