The B46 nuclear bomb (or Mk-46) was a tested but never deployed American high-yield thermonuclear bomb which was designed and tested in the late 1950s. Though originally intended to be a production design, the B46 ended up being only an intermediate prototype which was test fired several times. The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ...

The B46 design roughly weighed 6,150 pounds and was about 37 inches in diameter. It was intended to have a 9 megaton yield. A megaton or megatonne is a unit of mass equal to 1,000,000 metric tons, i. ...

The design history of the B46 apparently derives most immediately from the older, larger Mark 21 nuclear bomb design, which was a design derivative of the Shrimp design which was the first US solid fueled thermonuclear bomb test fired in the Castle Bravo test. A black and white photograph of the Castle Bravo mushroom cloud. ...

The B46 was test fired in Operation Hardtack in 1958; the fission primary (see Teller-Ulam design) was test fired by itself in Hardtack Butternut with 81 kiloton estimated yield, the full weapon test fired in Hardtack Yellowwood and fizzled with only 330 kiloton yield, and was fired again in Hardtack Oak to full 8.9 megaton yield. Hardtack Oak mushroom cloud Hardtack Sorocco mushroom cloud An RB-57 Canberra observes Juniper. ... The basics of the Teller-Ulam configuration: a fission bomb uses radiation to compress and heat a separate section of fusion fuel. ... A megaton or megatonne is a unit of mass equal to 1,000,000 metric tons, i. ... A megaton or megatonne is a unit of mass equal to 1,000,000 metric tons, i. ... A megaton or megatonne is a unit of mass equal to 1,000,000 metric tons, i. ...

The B46 design concepts were taken forwards into a new weapon design in 1959, the TX-53, which was redesignated the B53 nuclear bomb and W53 warhead. 50 B53 bombs are still in US inactive reserves today, though none are actively deployed. The B53 was one of the most powerful nuclear weapons built by the United States, and one of the last very high-yield thermonuclear bombs in U.S. service. ...

See also

• B53 nuclear bomb
• Mark 21 nuclear bomb
• Castle Bravo
• Operation Hardtack tests including Butternut, Yellowwood, and Oak
• List of nuclear weapons

The B53 was one of the most powerful nuclear weapons built by the United States, and one of the last very high-yield thermonuclear bombs in U.S. service. ... A black and white photograph of the Castle Bravo mushroom cloud. ... Hardtack Oak mushroom cloud Hardtack Sorocco mushroom cloud An RB-57 Canberra observes Juniper. ... This is a list of nuclear weapons ordered by state and then type within the states. ...

External links

• B53 design and design history including B46 at [nuclearweaponarchive.org]
• Allbombs.html list of all US nuclear weapon designs at [nuclearweaponarchive.org]