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[Nilocy]

I present the Davy Crockett. A nuclear morter gun.

http://www.pbase.com/ralf/image/31442384

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/news/16096

I'd like to highlight this paragraph.
"There were, however, problems in the transition from theory to practice. The atomic mortar was generally conceded to be "very inaccurate." Its range was at times limited to 2000 meters, while the bursting range of its warhead was 2,500 meters. "That didn't make the crew very happy," O'Brien noted. Most unsettling of all, he said, was that it put atomic bombs in the hands of hundreds of teenaged draftees. "A crew of four guys running around on the battlefield could initiate World War III." "

[JoshuaFH]

I like this quote much more:

Also in the collection, but not yet displayed, are a pair of earmuffs made by an ex-GI for his daughter out of pieces of Eva Braun's mink bedspread.

"We don't want to be known as a Nazi junk museum," O'Brien told us, explaining his hesitancy to display the earmuffs. But we feel that any place brave enough to display an atomic mortar will come around on the mink 'muffs as well. [07/22/2007]

Earmuffs!

[Leafsnail]

Brilliant.

[Antioch]

well, the idea wasn't bad, it only had severe technical issues

[Archmage Ansrit]

well, the idea wasn't bad, it only had severe technical issues

I think that radiation is, by itself, a very bad idea already.

This is not DF, turning a 2 and a half kilometer area into nuclear-powered Mordor is not acceptable.

[kuro_suna]

well, the idea wasn't bad, it only had severe technical issues

I think that radiation is, by itself, a very bad idea already.

This is not DF, turning a 2 and a half kilometer area into nuclear-powered Mordor is not acceptable.

If its already a all out nuclear war this isn't going to make much of a difference, if I remember correctly half the point was to create a area too radioactive for soviet troops to cross for a few days. Though all the friendly soldiers that receive a lethal dose of radiation might disagree.

[LegoLord]

And in exchange for a tactical advantage of highly debatable necessity, we lose perfectly good land that people might need several decades after the war is even over.  Right, smart

I'm with the OP on this one.

[G-Flex]

And even if it worked properly, you'd still be having fumbling soldiers hauling around nuclear armaments and loading them into mortars. Doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

[Aqizzar]

Reminds me of when I went to the Fort Sill artillery museum.  They have the genuine Upshot Knothole cannon on display.  A soldier stationed on base saw me and my dad poking around it, and he started talking about how awesome a cannon that shoots nukes is, and that it was meant for fighting a contingency war on American soil.  My dad pointed out that if you're throwing nukes at a target six miles away, you've already lost.

He didn't think it was as funny as we did.

[Cthulhu]

They're holding out for a miracle, obviously.  I call it the Grind Gondor's Army to Dust Against the Black Gate and Hope Frodo Makes It Gambit

[LegoLord]

Reminds me of when I went to the Fort Sill artillery museum.  They have the genuine Upshot Knothole cannon on display.  A soldier stationed on base saw me and my dad poking around it, and he started talking about how awesome a cannon that shoots nukes is, and that it was meant for fighting a contingency war on American soil.  My dad pointed out that if you're throwing nukes at a target six miles away, you've already lost.

What kind of soldier thinks using nukes on US soil is awesome?

[Diablous]

Reminds me of when I went to the Fort Sill artillery museum.  They have the genuine Upshot Knothole cannon on display.  A soldier stationed on base saw me and my dad poking around it, and he started talking about how awesome a cannon that shoots nukes is, and that it was meant for fighting a contingency war on American soil.  My dad pointed out that if you're throwing nukes at a target six miles away, you've already lost.

What kind of soldier thinks using nukes on US soil is awesome?

A completely stupid one.

[Schilcote]

The main idea behind nukes is that you don't have to fire them. If you start a nuclear war, you end up with Mutually Assured Destruction (and possibly global-scale destruction from nuclear winter), which is a very good reason not to start a nuclear war (unless your an Islamic extremist, since they believe that if they kill everything else they get to go to heaven).

Reminds me of when I went to the Fort Sill artillery museum.  They have the genuine Upshot Knothole cannon on display.  A soldier stationed on base saw me and my dad poking around it, and he started talking about how awesome a cannon that shoots nukes is, and that it was meant for fighting a contingency war on American soil.  My dad pointed out that if you're throwing nukes at a target six miles away, you've already lost.

What kind of soldier thinks using nukes on US soil is awesome?

A completely stupid one.

A dwarven one.

[Leafsnail]

I guess that the deployed nukes were, ultimately, in the control of the pilot of the plane.  What would've happened if the pilot of the plane had seconds thoughts, didn't want to commit an act of mass murder and just dropped the bomb somewhere else?  I guess they'd be veteran pilots, but it'd still be quite some task to have 100,000 deaths directly attributable to you...

Although putting a nuke in the hands of a few draftees perhaps wouldn't be a great idea.

[kuro_suna]

Anyway though yes it would suck to use these weapons but by cold war standards it was one of the better ideas.