Tidal Wave Nuke

Has anyone ever considered the effects of a 10 Megaton bomb a few miles offshore? Could you cause a 500 ft tidal wave to hit say NYC? No need to beat customs or homeland security. Just a thought.

Actually a thread on this exact same question at this link

If a nuke detonated off shore?

If a nuke detonated off shore?

then you kill the fishes! noooo!

radioactive fish?

I was thinking more like a Texas fish fry. This was already discussed at length a few weeks ago. My BAD.

I'm not sure of what the effects of a weapon of that power being exploded under water. I've seen footage of much smaller-yield atomic bombs being detonated underwater and the effects were very local.

When you're talking megatons--as opposed to kilotons--you're talking a hydrogen bomb, and only France, Russia, China, Britain and America have the capability to make one.

Food for thought.

[edit on 22-11-2004 by Ibn Iblis]

Who would do it and why?
Who has the purpose and the capacity
The US Government or its allies
Why come up with such scenarios?
Only to perpetuate the US government's cause
Can we have another category? Agent's talk

[edit on 22-11-2004 by dh]

It's not a single nuke but a chain of those, placed at strategic locations along the US coast. When detonated simultaneously, they indeed produce a tidal wave that would wipe out everyting a few miles inland.

Low-yield nuclear bombs do not have the power to cause tidal waves in and of themselves.

They'd need to trigger an underwater avalanche or some kind of geological event that would cause a tsunami.

I know they did underwater tests and at water level tests back in the days when that sort of stuff still could be done, and as far as I know the "tidal wave effect" wasn't that great. I would think any water in the immediate vicinity would turn to steam, and there would be a large shockwave, but I doubt it could be large enough to push such large volumes of water such a distance.

I have a video called 'Trinity and Beyond'. It's a documentary mostly showing American and Russian atomic bomb tests. Amazing, really.

Anyway, I'd have to scour the video to know the yield, but it was probably a mid-yield atomic weapon, around 20 kilotons, detonated deep underwater. There was a fountain effect--just water spewing up in the air like a giant geiser, and a shockwave hit the boat the footage was taken from about a mile away. No big whoop.

Like I said, it'd have to trigger some sort of massive geological event, like an earthquake or a landslide.

As a disclaimer I don't take this possibility seriously at all. I just like talking about nukes.

perhaps a series of strategically placed explosive would be much more effective. as to create a massive geographical shift in the earth underwater. the amount of earth moved would be the ultimate result of the wave. depending on how much explosives you place and where you plave them, the results would be astounding! just not at all practical

Nuke = Heat
Heat + Water= Evaporation

Thus Nuke in/under water = cavatation = big hole = NO tidal wave

A reverese tidal surge happens as the surrounding water fills into the "hole" where the vaporized water once was.

Did a quick google search.

The underwater test is known as "Operation Wigwam".

It was a 45 kiloton nuclear bomb (about 2X the explosive power as "Fat Man"/Nagasaki), detonated 2,000 feet underwater (the ocean depth at the area of detonation is 16,000 feet).

Here is what the surface effects of the explosion looked like:


[size=0]C-54 ariel view of Wigwam Detonation.
Shock wave racing towards plane creates
white caps across ocean swells.




A detailed description of the event:

Operation Wigwam consisted of a single nuclear detonation, (both the operation and test are known as Wigwam), conducted 400-500 miles SW of San Diego, California(about 29 Deg N, 126 Deg W). It was a deep water test (the ocean is 16,000 feet deep at that point) to investigate the vulnerability of submarines to deep nuclear weapons, and the feasibility of using depth bombs in combat (there was considerable concern about problems with surface contamination). The test device was a B-7 (Mk-90) Betty depth bomb that was suspended by a 2000 ft cable from a barge. The dry weight of the bomb was 8250 lb, 5700 lb when submerged.

6800 personnel on 30 ships participated in Wigwam. A 6 mile tow-line connected the fleet tug, Tawasa and the shot barge. Suspended from this line at varying ditances from the barge were three "Squaws" - sub-scale submarine-like pressure hulls equipped with instruments and cameras.

The ships conducting the test were 5 miles upwind from the barge, with the exception of the USS George Eastman (YAG-39) and USS Granville S. Hall (YAG-40). These two ships were equipped with heavy shielding and were stationed 5 miles downwind. Both ships were contaminated by the base surge, but due to the relatively dilute radioactivity (since the shot was at such a great depth) and the heavy shielding kept exposures within the Operation Wigwam dose limit of 3.9 rems. Nearly all personnel were issued film badges to measure radiation exposure, and some 10,000 badges were processed. Only 3 personnel were measured as having doses exceeding 0.5 rems.

I love this stuff.

Here's the link:

www.radiochemistry.org...

Wonderful to know someone else on this board owns this video. I suggest this video to anyone who is interested in nuclear weapons. Its just has amazing footage and is very informational.

By the way Iblis do you happen to figure out what exactly the end is all about? With Chinese soldiers darting down field on horses with radioactive masks I suppose? Is that suppose to mean anything?

It would seem to me if you had the nukes and wanted to use them to destroy something, it would make more sence to just drop them on the cities instead of out in the ocean some where. Just seems like you might as well make full use of the destruction.

Originally posted by DYepes
Wonderful to know someone else on this board owns this video. I suggest this video to anyone who is interested in nuclear weapons. Its just has amazing footage and is very informational.

By the way Iblis do you happen to figure out what exactly the end is all about? With Chinese soldiers darting down field on horses with radioactive masks I suppose? Is that suppose to mean anything?

There is nothing more beautiful and yet more frightening than a nuclear explosion. Toss aside the symbolism of atomic weapons, what they represent (mass destruction, mass death, mass human suffering, end of the world, etc)...they are a marvel of human achievement and just a fantastic sight to see.

The fact that a mass of material the size of a grapefruit can obliterate an entire city...or that an element as abundant and otherwise vital such as hydrogen (water) can produce an explosion over 60 miles wide (Castle Bravo was 66 miles wide I believe at 15 megatons...the Soviets detonated a 50 megaton device...imagine the size of that explosion!)...is unbelievable.

As for the end sequence, I never read anything more into it than just the fact that though the Americans and Soviets had agreed to halt atmospheric tests, the Chinese were just beginning theirs.

Great video.

[edit on 22-11-2004 by Ibn Iblis]

Place that nuke along the LaPalma volcano face in the Canary Islands.
Boom there it goes into thew ocean....Mega-Tsunami on eastern seaboard.

Ouch!

Place that nuke along the LaPalma volcano face in the Canary Islands.
Boom there it goes into thew ocean....Mega-Tsunami on eastern seaboard.

Ouch!

My point exactly! Is this feasible? Could a country/countries be decimated by this? We all saw the tsunami footage a couple months back - could this be a real weapon? Not only would the tsunami devestate the coastline, but the percussion in the water would kill most, if not all, of the living creatures in a large circumference.

if someone had the means, motive, technology and resources to place multiple mega-ton nukes at strategic points along our coast, and detonate them, I'd argue they'd just go for a city instead. Much more of an impact, and longer lasting as well, I'm afraid.