tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20039256.post5977802609250353519..comments2023-12-16T07:28:27.968-05:00Comments on Notes from the Technology Underground: Too Much Clutter in America's Nuclear Attic?William Gurstellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12504155694151207039noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20039256.post-77599015299744846532008-09-10T16:27:00.000-04:002008-09-10T16:27:00.000-04:00I had friend who was a supply petty officer in the...I had friend who was a supply petty officer in the Navy who ordered a fuel oil pump field repair kit. When we were about to get underway the fuel oil pump kit was being hoisted onto our ships flight deck. . .actually F16 cock pit replacement kit.<BR/><BR/>Someone had penciled it in to our "COSAL" (I believe it was called) book which was basically a parts catalog for Navy equipment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20039256.post-70996102782123027322008-03-28T13:06:00.000-04:002008-03-28T13:06:00.000-04:00Well we were still using punched paper tape at the...Well we were still using punched paper tape at the dawn of the 21st century so anything is possible.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20039256.post-5015399477857832682008-03-28T10:34:00.000-04:002008-03-28T10:34:00.000-04:00I was stationed at FE Warren as a Nuclear Weapons ...I was stationed at FE Warren as a Nuclear Weapons Technician in the 1970’s. There is a lot of misinformation out there concerning these fuses…<BR/><BR/>In the case of these fuses… the MARK-12 (or 12A) refers to the reentry vehicle (RV), not the missile. The RV is essentially the warhead and other components designed to reenter the atmosphere after being hoisted up by the missile. In this case the missile in question appears to the Minuteman III ICBMs which were based at FE Warren before being replaced with the so called Peacekeepers in the early 1980s. The missile carries the RVs and delivers them to target. The Minuteman III carried three RVs. The ‘fuse’ in question is part of the RV and positioned at the nosecone of the RV<BR/><BR/>See here with photo…<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons/W62.html<br/>" REL="nofollow">http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Weapons/W62.html</A><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.missilethreat.com/missilesoftheworld/id.79/missile_detail.asp" REL="nofollow">http://www.missilethreat.com/missilesoftheworld/id.79/missile_detail.asp</A><BR/><BR/>and here…<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.aero.org/publications/crosslink/winter2003/02.html" REL="nofollow">http://www.aero.org/publications/crosslink/winter2003/02.html</A><BR/><BR/>Paragraph 26Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20039256.post-36331928987476711742008-03-28T04:11:00.000-04:002008-03-28T04:11:00.000-04:00Anyone that has worked supply in the military has ...Anyone that has worked supply in the military has a story along these lines, but the best was from a buddy of mine in the 80s. He enlisted in the Navy and wound up in a ship's supply section. One day they were brought a real head-scratcher: a replacement part for a deck crew came in on a supply run...only it wasn't their part. Instead, it was a honest-to-God harpoon gun, with ivory and gold inlay...and had come in a very nice, very old crate that was inside a much newer, much more beat-up crate.<BR/><BR/>After a quick investigation it got carefully crated up and taken away to who-knows-where. The official conclusion was that someone over the years came across this crate they didn't have a record for and decided to make their life easier by sticking it inside another crate and making it someone else's problem. Which of course begs the question as to what the Navy was doing with a hand-crafted harpoon gun in the first place...which was a question no one really wanted to ask because of the paperwork involved.<BR/><BR/>As a side note he did spend the rest of his naval career wondering just what the requisition code for the Ark of the Covenant was....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20039256.post-45114120629596661912008-03-28T03:27:00.000-04:002008-03-28T03:27:00.000-04:00Aren't matchlocks 18th century technology anyway?A...Aren't matchlocks 18th century technology anyway?<BR/><BR/>Aside from that, where exactly would you dispose of vintage nuclear equipment? You'd need a special department just to disassemble it and grind it up for scrap. It may very well cost less to just store it. Besides, vacuum tubes are very good against EMP! :)wackyvorlonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10535452691009849962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20039256.post-77259038954019773562008-03-28T03:04:00.000-04:002008-03-28T03:04:00.000-04:00You have no idea what the DOD has in its warehouse...You have no idea what the DOD has in its warehouses. The DRMO agency used to have more than 20 million vacuum tubes in stock, they were finally surplused out in the late 1990s. I have heard that some other agencies, such as the Army and Air Force, are still surplussing out more old stocks of tubes occasionally. Uncle Sam always buys too much of everything, because if they don't use the funding this year, it'll be reduced next year....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20039256.post-28755330704132273522008-03-28T00:28:00.000-04:002008-03-28T00:28:00.000-04:00These detonators are for the MK-12 reentry system ...These detonators are for the MK-12 reentry system on the Minuteman III Ballistic Missile, not for the MK-12 Gravity Bomb. Details here http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/icbm/lgm-30_3.htmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20039256.post-38432885731781557622008-03-27T23:19:00.000-04:002008-03-27T23:19:00.000-04:00Flintlocks don't use slow match. They use flint. ...Flintlocks don't use slow match. They use flint. Matchlocks use match. Match for guns also is a woven cord, rather than a stick. Mind you, I can see where this might not stop the army from buying Halliburton's special flintlock slowmatch sticks at $750 a stick.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com