Davy Crockett
The wild frontier of tactical nuclear weapons
Weapon Specifications
Note that the relationship between explosive power and destruction is not linear—a weapon’s destructive effects grow far more slowly than its explosive power.
Explosive Power
Estimated 0.01 to 0.02 kt.
Hiroshima Equivalent Factor
1/750th x
Dimensions
2 ft, 6 inches x 11 inches (projectile only)
Weight
76 lbs. (projectile only)
Range
Up to 2.5 miles
Year(s)
1961–1971
Purpose
Close-in nuclear artillery.
NukeMap
Simulated destruction of a Davey Crockett’s M388 nuclear projectile at Fulda, Germany. Click on the map to change parameters.
Videos
These curated videos provide additional context for this weapon — showing test footage, deployment scenes, technical explanations, interviews, or other historical material, allowing viewers to go deeper into the weapon’s design, use, and place in nuclear history.
Further Reading
- Wikipedia
- You couldn’t ask for a better write-up on the Davy Crockett than this one by Alan Bellows: “Davy Crockett: King of the Atomic Frontier.”
- See the photographs of deployed Davy Crocketts in this Brookings Institution overview.
- Learn how to load a Davy Crockett with its nuclear shell.
- The Army Historical Foundation offers a straight description of the weapon. They have another description, too. Also, see this profile at Task and Purpose.
- As the author of one my recommended technical books on nuclear weapons, Peter Goetz’s “Military Weapons: The Davy Crockett Mobile Missile Launcher” goes a little deeper into the Davy Crockett’s development history and capabilities.
- “Museum Pieces: The Davy Crockett Nuclear Weapon” has a few details I didn’t see elsewhere. For example, though the Davy Crockett was fired by a “recoilless rifle” the gun was not in fact a rifle since its barrel did not have rifling.
- Alex Wellerstein has a typically excellent post on the Davy Crockett with many photographs and details he gleaned from the instruction manual that he was able to obtain. Really worthwhile. Note that several of the images will appear to be bad links–you will see a small question mark icon. Nevertheless, click and the linked, full-sized photograph will appear.
- American Nukes often links to historical documents collected and made available by Martin Pfeiffer. He has a blog, too, and in this post attempts to estimate the yield of the (still classified) nuclear blast of the Davy Crockett. He also apprears to have a cat that looks a lot like my cat.
- If you prefer graphic novels to boring, old-fashioned text, give “The Davy Crockett nuclear launcher would’ve blown up the bad guys — and the good guys” by Steve Weintz and Blue Delliquanti a try.
