Talos
NAVAL ANTI-Aircraft Missile
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
Up to 4.7 kilotons
Hiroshima Equivalent Factor
1/3rd x
Dimensions
32 ft. x 28 inches
Weight
7800 lbs.
Range
Up to 150 miles, Mach 3
Year(s)
1958–1979
Purpose
Ship defense
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, Weapons Systems. Missileryinfo, Designation Systems
- “Evolution of the Talos Missile,” by William Garten, Jr. and Frank A. Dean, walks you through the complicated development of this weapon.
- “The Talos Missile Had A Wonderfully Complex Shipboard Assembly Line Of A Launch System” tells all about that and more–essentially how a crew dealt with the weapons.
- A more formal article, “The Talos Ship System” by Elmer D. Robinson, lays out the ship-side part of the weapons system.
- Another detailed history of the Talos and links to even more detail. (the site, Oakieboat.com, is a one-topic website on the USS Oklahoma, on which the Talos system was deployed.)
- For additional histories, emphasizing one aspect or another, see “The Navy’s Ramjet Missile,” “U.S. Navy Missile Defense: The Three Ts – Talos, Terrier, and Tartar,” “History of the Talos Missile,” “https://www.navalgazing.net/The-3T-Missiles-Launch-Systems,” and “History of the Talos Missile Warhead.”