With growing tension in European territory and the unpleasant 'surprise' of the Korean War, one of the paths taken by US forces during the Cold War was the miniaturization of nuclear weapons. We previously discussed the M65 cannon, closing that article by noting there were even smaller atomic devices. One of them was the Davy Crockett launch system, which could fire subkiloton warheads up to four kilometers away in its most advanced configuration.
At the end of the 1940s, the so-called "Inter-German Border" was becoming a political and ideological barrier that divided not only Germany but the entire European continent. As if that were not enough, in June 1950 the Korean War began, a conflict lasting more than three years that, from a certain point of view had caught the Western world completely by surprise (with emphasis on "certain point of view", because it was a stew that had been simmering for a long time)
Faced with the need to reinforce both fronts, US forces doubled down on nuclear solutions. One result was the M65 Atomic Annie cannon, virtually obsolete by the time it entered service but officially active for a decade. However, a little further down the list comes the Davy Crockett system. In essence, a nuclear "bazooka"
(Editor's note: bending the meaning of "bazooka" a bit, hence the quotes)
Davy Crockett: The Closest Thing to a Real-Life "Fat Man" Launcher
The Davy Crockett launcher came in two versions: the M28 with a maximum range of 2,000 meters, and the M29 which could hit targets at 4,000 meters. The official ammunition for the Davy Crockett was the M-388 (derived from the W54 warhead) with a yield between 10 and 20 tons of TNT within the "subkiloton" category, and almost at the limit of what was possible for a fission weapon at the time. The Davy Crockett could be transported by an APC and then mounted on a special tripod, or integrated into a Jeep. In both cases, preparing and firing the Davy Crockett required a minimum crew of three men.
Production of the Davy Crockett began in 1958 with the creation of the first prototype, and it entered active service in May 1961. Its main purpose was to create "death zones" irradiating enemy troops with lethal doses among destroyed tanks and heavy equipment. Fortunately, that never happened; the Davy Crockett had only two test firings in July 1962. Its withdrawal from European territory began in 1967 and concluded in 1971, turning it into a museum piece.
Source: Army History
