A TECHNICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA'S NUCLEAR ARMS: VOLUME I - INTRODUCTION AND WEAPON SYSTEMS THROUGH 1960
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A TECHNICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA'S NUCLEAR ARMS: VOLUME I - INTRODUCTION AND WEAPON SYSTEMS THROUGH 1960
Nuclear publications prior to the recently published e-book, A Technical History of America’s Nuclear Weapons – Their Design, Operation, Deployment, and Delivery, have concentrated mostly on specific topics such as weapon physics, testing, warheads, delivery systems, deployments, or doctrine. The e-book was intended to provide “one stop shopping†with a broad treatment of the subject. In providing a wide scope, some depth was sacrificed in order to produce a volume of manageable size. In republishing the A Technical History of America’s Nuclear Weapons – Their Design, Operation, Deployment and Delivery e-book as a paperback, it was necessary to divide it into two volumes due to limitations of the printing process. While unfortunate that the book had to be published in two volumes, it allowed the author to lavishly illustrate each chapter of the book.For the convenience of the Reader, A History of America’s Nuclear Weapons: Volume I – Introduction and Weapon Systems Through 1960 has a leading section that places the American nuclear arsenal into its historical context and provides the basic technical background needed to understand the weapon’s mechanisms. Included are chapters on weapon design, the military-industrial complex, and stockpile logistics. These are followed by a discussion intended to clearly convey what would have happened if nuclear weapons were ever put to use. The introduction closes with a review of early warning and targeting, nuclear war plans, the deployment of nuclear forces, and the evolution of strategic doctrine during the period of the Cold War. It also includes sections on non-proliferation and the current management of the US Nuclear Stockpile. This story is told in a straightforward easy to understand manner. The use of equations is avoided like the plague. Albert Einstein declared that if you can’t tell a story without the use of mathematics, you really didn’t understand your subject matter.The main body of this book examines American nuclear weapons and delivery systems in a rough chronological order. It treats some weapons individually, whereas it presents others in functional or family groupings. It also combines development histories with engineering descriptions to illustrate the performance characteristics of the weapons and the design challenges that faced their developers. Basic data about weapon operation, delivery systems, and deployments are also included. Volume I:•Has about 1,000 technical references, grouped into related categories•Uses official Military Characteristic (parts) Numbers for components where available, a very useful tool for internet searches•Provides detailed information on the recovery of plutonium from spent fuel rods and the casting of plutonium cores•Outlines the evolution of nuclear pits: solid, composite, levitated, hollow, boosted, linear and linear boosted.•Provides information on the explosives and methods used to compress plutonium cores on a weapon by weapon basis, especially the plastic bonded explosives (PBX) produced at the Holston Army Ammunition Plant, Kingsport, Tennessee •Outlines the development of the batteries and the arming, fuzing and firing (X-Unit) systems used in various nuclear MARKs and MODs•Outlines the internal and external electronic neutron initiation systems used in various nuclear MARKs and MODs•Follows the race to develop hydrogen bombs and investigates the first generation of multi-megaton bombs and their delivery aircraft.Preprints of this paperback were sent to the NNSA, DOE, and DOD for review, thus, the Author can guarantee that the men-in-black will never come to your home if you purchase this book. He cannot guarantee, however, that the ballistic missile submarine that a Reader constructs in a backyard pool will not implode before it reaches its specified collapse depth or that a thermonuclear bomb reverse engineered will be a dud.
