There was nothing funny about the XM-388, though. The device had an explosive yield the equivalent of 10 to 20 tons of TNT. This was far, far less than the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, which had a yield of about 16,000 tons, but Davy Crockett had a different purpose. It was designed to be used against enemy armored forces at bottlenecks such as valleys or mountain passes, where wrecked enemy armor and lingering, lethal radiation would create impassable areas.
The XM-388 projectile was launched from the XM-28 recoilless rifle. A small, man-portable recoilless rifle, the XM-28 had a range of just 1.24 miles. An improved launcher, the XM-29, had a range of 2.5 miles. Both were operated by a three-man crew and an a M151 jeep could carry the entire system.
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If memory serves, this, or one very like it, was to be issued to Special Forces A-Teams to be detonated in the enemy's rear areas.
The funny part was Bobby thought there'd be a big kaboom and was disappointed. Anybody who knew anything about the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki knew there was no sound, just a blinding light nobody who saw it ever forgot.
The Davy Crockett was replaced by nuclear 155mm howitzer rounds, which at least gave you a few more miles of buffer from the blast area. I was co-located with a 155 battalion in Germany along with a Pershing missile battalion. Rapid response and roll out was key, because we knew they'd be earlier targets for Soviet strikes.
Their faces are all red. I think they were too close.
As a civvie working with the military, I had the distinct pleasure of being in country on occasion with some of the finest artillerymen this universe has ever produced. Getting to see 155mm Paladin Howitzer system up close and getting to talk to the guys that support and fired them sent a giant shiver up my spine every time I got near one. Being near one when it went off was orgasmic. Knowing that they could fire nuclear rounds was ecstasy.
However, one of my wishes is to see a GBU-43 or as people know it being called a MOAB (mother of all bombs or by it's real acronym Massive Ordinance Air Blast) being dropped. Short of seeing a nuke dropped on Mecca, that would do it for me.
I used to call on a customer that had 16" battleship guns in place on their site. Their firing range was 90,000 yards down the Potomac. I really wanted to be there when those were fired, alas, I never was, then they stopped firing them altogether as the shock waves were shaking apart the buildings there.
It was easy for me to imagine sittin' in a boat looking stupid, er, fishing, just lolling around in the tide, when out of nowhere a 16" round comes whistling in. INCOMING!!!
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