What was the prefered method of transporting the early atomic bombs? I know they used the Indianapolis because of the distance involved in the Pacific but how did they get them to the ship? Was it train, truck or plane? How would you go about transporting them to England, Europe or Egypt?
The bomb was not ready for shipment until late spring of 1945, so Germany was off the table. Had it been ready earlier, I'm sure the transport method would have been worked out. As it was, the Indianapolis transported the parts, and the 504th Composite Group took the bomb from Tinian.
It was a bit more complicated than one can realize in this day and age. The Indianapolis carried the heavy gun-type bomb case and one of the internal parts of the bomb, and two long distance transport planes carried a couple of other parts, the "target" and "projectile/plug" of U-235 were carried separately (one on the ship, and one on a plane), and the initiators were carried in another aircraft. This reduced the chance of "all" of the thing being lost if any of them were sunk or shot down en route. In the US, the parts were transported by truck and rail under heavy guard. Since so many things were transported "under guard" these shipments probably didn't even raise eyebrows. The same was true of the "Fat Man" as it was for the "Little Boy", the two halves of the case were shipped separate, as were the sections of plutonium core. It was probably a logistical nightmare, but compared to other things the Quartermaster Corp. did, not that much. Think about how hard it would be to figure out "what" would be needed in the PTO, months before it was needed and getting it shipped and stored so it was "close" when it was needed. The bulk of the combat needs had to go by transport cargo ship, not plane so there was no "overnight" delivery. But that said, the "bombs" weren't assembled here (USA) and then shipped to the combat zone. The material was so precious it was split into parts, and shipped separately so that the loss of a singe shipment wouldn't create a total loss situation. In the case of the ETO, if Germany had still been on the table I would suspect the same procedure would be followed, with the exception of the fact it was a much shorter distance across the Atlantic than it was across the Pacific. Long range aircraft might have as easily been used as a ship. Still, inside the US trains would be the most likely method of moving the sections of the material across the nation's width. If you scroll down to this section; 8.1.3 Little Boy, you will find this: The first U-235 projectile component was completed at Los Alamos on June 15, 1945. Casting of the U-235 projectile for Little Boy was completed on July 3. On July 14 Little Boy bomb units, accompanied by the U-235 projectile, were shipped out of San Francisco. They were picked up by the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) at the U.S. Navy's Hunter's Point shipyard at San Francisco on July 16, bound for Tinian Island in the Mariana Islands. On July 24 the last component for Little Boy, the U-235 target insert, was completed and was tested the next day. The Indianapolis delivered Little Boy bomb units, and the U-235 projectile to Tinian on July 26. On the same day the target assembly, divided into three parts flew out of Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque on three C-54 transport planes, which arrived July 28 at Tinian. Bomb unit L11 was selected for combat use and on July 31 the U-235 projectile and target were installed, along with 4 initiators - making Little Boy ready for use the next day. An approaching typhoon required postponing the planned attack of Hiroshima on Aug. 1. Several days are required for weather to clear, and on Aug. 4 the date was set for 2 days later. On August 5 Tibbets named B-29 No. 82 the "Enola Gay" after his mother, over the objections of its pilot Robert Lewis. Little Boy was loaded on the plane the same day. Goto: http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Nwfaq/Nfaq8.html
But they were shipping the components of one bomb of each type, so the loss of any one item would make it impossible to assemble that bomb. Ultimately the risk of "losing" a bomb was increased by shipping elements separately. The key point with regard to Little Boy would appear to be that some components simply weren't ready when Indianapolis sailed and therefore had to be flown.
the parts for littleboy were transported from their holding area by Rail to an undisclosed location where 3 deuce and a halves thransported them to the dock in San Fran, where it was bolted down in the seaplane hanger. the indianapolis also carried to uranium core in a Black led box which was welded to a desk in a private room abord the Indie, it was then transported to tinian island where they were then flown to its final destination
Excellent information. I know there was an accident when one of the scientists was "testing" or playing around with the core depending on who tells the story. How could that have happened? It must have been done at Los Alamos. I believe it was called "tickling the Dragon".
Well, there were two accidents and both happened after the two bombs had already been dropped, and yes, both accidents happened at Los Alamos. The experiments in this area were often referred to as "Tickling the dragon's tail.", since the experiments took place on the borderline of criticality of the cores. The first accident happened on August 21, 1945, and the victim was Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. He was experimenting with neutron reflectors & the plutonium core, in an effort to make the plutonium bomb lighter & smaller because less mass would be required with the reflectors. The experiment centered around using tungsten carbide bricks, placed in a box formation around the plutonium core, as neutron reflectors. As Harry was putting the last brick into place, he dropped it on the core, causing the core to go prompt critical. Unable to physically remove the brick, Harry was forced to partially disassemble the "box" of tungsten carbide bricks. Harry received a dose of over 500 rems and died almost a month later. Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The second, and perhaps better known, accident took place on May 21, 1946, and the victim was Louis A. Slotin. He was a Canadian-born Jewish physicist & chemist whom had participated in the Manhattan Project, and was known as the "Chief armorer of the United States.", because he was the most experience in putting atomic bombs together. However, since he was one of the very few who knew how to put the bombs together, he was required to stay at Los Alamos, even though he longed to return to civilian work in the field. Eerily, Slotin was working with the same core from Harry Daghlian's previous accident. Slotin was performing another criticality experiment, and as he had done so many times before, he used a screwdriver to keep the two halves of the core separated. Unfortunately, the screwdriver slipped, the two halves of the core touched and went prompt critical, irradiating Slotin, his assistant, and the six observing scientists. Slotin, being the closest to the core, absorbed the most radiation and would die on May 30, 1946. Louis Slotin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Louis P. Slotin - 1 of 3 Those who gave their lives: Fallen Heroes Section Directory
What would have happened if Slotin or Daghalin had not gotten the core separated? Would it have been an atomic explosion or melt down? How long would it have taken for it to go super-critical and not be reversible?
Melt down only, it would never reach critical mass and at that amount only a "hot spot" for a short period of time.
I dunno...would be a good answer... The core was unlikely to cascade uncontrollably...but a melt down seems a possibility...these are small experimental cores though, not industrial.
The reaction was because they did reach critical mass. If the critical mass is not contained the resultant chain raction will melt the material and it will spread out until it goes sub critical. Depending on the material and how or if it is cleaned up the "hot spot" may be of some considerable size and/or duration.
Just a little tidbit.... Paul Tibbets and his aircrew were the ONLY flyers of the war to hand pick the exact aircraft they would fly right off the production line. No other mission permitted such luxury. Tibbets stated that he did not want "a Monday Morning Bomber", with any bugs that might jeopardize the reliability of the aircraft. They looked for a bomber that was assembled on a Wednesday, the typical production line working weekday when everyone is at the top of their game. In fact, not since WW2 has this happened again, to my knowledge. That makes the Atomic Mission even more unique to history. I don't recall Charle's Sweeney's "Bocks Car" as being 'hand picked' for Nagasaki. Certainly, Mr Sweeney makes no claims in that direction, so, Tibbets can claim this as another first for his mission.
Correct, I mis-spoke. The control and containment of the critical mass would be the only way to create an "explosion", and a "melt-down, fizzle" would be most likely in the proposed situation. This would waste the expensive material of the moment, and I think one of the driving reasons the final product/material was shipped in separate quantities, not because the odds were increased by the separate shipments (which they were), but by cutting the possible loss of this expensive material into less catastrophic possibilities. The small size of the fissile material at the point of "opps" while they were "tickling the dragon's tail" would be most likely a minor one, not like the tons of radioactive waste we have to deal with today.
