the nuclear days before we got mad. for a short four years after the united states dropped the only atomic bombs ever used in anger
on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. America enjoyed a monopoly on the destructive
power of splitting the atom. But on August 29 1949 America's former world war ii allies in the soviet
union conducted their own nuclear test at the semi-paladins test site in modern-day Kazakhstan.
While America's use of atomic weapons may have brought the world into the atomic age it was
truly the soviet test that hurled the world's two dominant superpowers into the decades-long-staring
contest we now know as the cold war. the massive destructive power of these new weapons forced a
strategic shift in military operations the world over. Today it's difficult to fully appreciate
the scope of the challenges nuclear weapons posed to military operations in those early
days.
Since the early 1960s, the nuclear powers of the world have operated under the concept of
mutually assured destruction or mad. the premise behind mad was as simple as laid out by President
Kennedy's defense secretary Robert Mcnamara. Any single soviet nuclear attack would be met with a
barrage of American nuclear weapons which would prompt a full-fledged launch of soviet nuclear
weapons in a deadly cascade.
The result everyone knew would be the end of life as we know it. Matt ensured there would be no winners in a nuclear conflict, effectively rendering
nuclear weapons moved on the battlefield. if any single nuclear attack could bring about the end
of the world it was in the best interest of all nations never to launch such an attack at all.
But prior to the advent of the mad doctrine nuclear weapons were largely seen like any
other weapon in a nation's arsenal because these weapons were so capable. Many military
leaders began devising entire strategies around their creative use from developing
what would become America's nuclear triad to fielding backpack nukes on skiing green berets.
Of course, not all military planning was based on finding new ways to use nuclear weapons. There was also a pressing need to develop strategies and technologies that would be able to
fight after the first few volleys of a nuclear exchange. One area of particular concern was
America's newfound air power. at the onset of World War II the united states maintained just 2,500
or so military aircraft but by the end of the war, America was an aviation powerhouse.
With more than
300,000 tactical aircraft and a fleet of the most advanced bombers on earth the B-29 Strato Fortress. America knew a potential world war 3 would be fought largely in the skies. But that posed a
problem, how do you launch aircraft after all your airfields have been erased by nuclear hellfire?.
launching winged cruise missiles from submarines. In the 1950s the united states were already hard
at work experimenting with the idea of launching large missiles from submarines. In the early stages
of what would become America's seaward leg of the nuclear triad.
In fact, the concept seemed
so promising that some navy officials began to wonder if they could launch small fighters from
the hull of a submarine, just like they could with missiles. After the grayback class sub's promising
performance the navy built a single halibut class vessel, a nuclear-powered submarine that could
carry five of these large missiles.
Unlike the submarine-launched ballistic missiles of today, these missiles were not fired while the sub was submerged. instead, it would surface and
launch the winged cruise missiles via a ramp that led down the bow of the ship.
The plan to build submarine aircraft carriers, world war ii had proven the value of aircraft
carriers to the u.s navy but after losing five such vessels and seven more escort carriers in
the conflict. The navy could see the value of an aircraft carrier that could submerge
after launching its fighters. using the halibut as a model the US Navy devised the in one submarine
aircraft carrier which would carry eight fighters stored within two hangars inside the ship's hull.
In order to launch the fighters, the submarine would surface and orient the fighters straight up
to be launched vertically. in order to manage the vertical launch separate boosters would be affixed
to the aircraft once they were on the launch rail. those boosters would then fire propelling
the fighter into the air with enough speed and altitude for the fighter's own engines to keep
it flying.
The challenges of flying a fighter from a submarine aircraft carrier. The proposed Boeing
fighters never received a formal designation but plans called for them to have an overall length of
70 feet with a height of 19.5 feet and a wingspan of just 21.1 feet. they were to use a right SE-105
jet engine that produced 23,000 pounds of thrust and was to be crewed by a single pilot.
The military landscape would shift dramatically again in the years that followed, as new ballistic missiles made it possible to launch nuclear weapons at far-flung targets
with a great deal of accuracy and the doctrine of mutually assured destruction reduced the
likelihood of an early nuclear exchange wiping out airfields. America would ultimately invest
heavily in massive supercarriers that, while unable to hide from enemy missiles offer a
great deal more capability and versatility than the in one submarine aircraft carrier ever could.
