The Intruder and Nuclear Warfare

A B-61 "Dial-a-yield" bomb is moved into a Carrier's magazine in this 1962 training video.

“We shall neither confirm nor deny the absence or presence of nuclear weapons aboard any ship of the United States Navy.”

Official standard U.S.N. response to civilian questioning.

     Since both the B57 and B61 bombs have been dismantled from the U.S. nuclear arsenal; I can now say that yes...we did carry nuclear weapons aboard our aircraft carriers during the Cold War from the mid-1950's to the Mid-1990's as part of the variable response options under the U.S. nuclear triad system. The triad (Nuclear bombers, land based missiles and nuclear submarines) were to assure potential enemies that one way or another; some of their most vital targets were going to end up smoking holes in the ground.

      After World War II and the bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was a belief that both world wide navies and amphibious operations were as useful as sticks in a gun fight or swords and cavalry charges on the modern battlefield. The 1948 "Operation Crossroads" test at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands was strictly a demonstration of the newly created US Air Force to prove that the US Navy and Marines were no longer needed in the new age of atomic weapons. In 1949 in what became known as "The Revolt of the Admirals" several high ranking naval officers risked and sacrificed their careers to stand up to then Secretary of Defense Louis Johnston, Joint Chief's Chairman Omar Bradley and President Harry Truman over the idiotic notion that atomic weapons were the "cure-all" to future wars. Their stupidity was made clearly evident on June 25th 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea.

       Five star general Douglas MacArthur, long an advocate of naval/land war doctrine, proved the stupidity of the Air Force and the Truman Administration by his brilliant amphibious landing at Inchon in September of 1950. At no time during the Korean War did the threat of US nuclear weapons change the mind of the enemy or scare him into retreating. The experience in Korea changed US military doctrine about the deployment and potential use of nuclear weapons. It also saved the US Navy and the Marines who quickly adapted nuclear strike capabilities to their own battle doctrines.

      So in the late 1950's came two naval weapons, the B-61 "White Rabbit" and the B-57 "Silver Bullet" BFDYNWA (Battle Field, Yield Selectable, Nuclear Weapons, Aircraft launching) both bombs were called "Dial-a-yield" weapons in which the output explosive yield could be programmed between 1 and 20 kilotons depending on the required purposes.

My A-6F with a B-61 "White Rabbit" under the right/outboard wing station

A "silver bullet" and "White Rabbit" aboard USS America in 1991

The handling of these "Special Weapons" was assigned to only qualified personnel who had gone through a detailed back ground security check and were given the training required to safely handle, stow and load these deadly bombs. The U.S. Navy Personnel Reliability Program (PRP) was a prized bullet point on personnel evaluations to those who gained the qualification. These weapons were moved only under tightly controlled environments aboard ship; what was nicknamed "Blue Bells". During "Blue Bells"; nuclear ordinance was moved from the hanger deck to the magazines and vice versa when required and one would never know if the weapon was a live one or a practice "blue band" bomb because live and inert designations were left off the weapons.

United States Marines were the only guards authorized around nuclear weapons and their purpose was to safeguard these bombs at all costs, even if it meant possible excessive casualties. Deadly Force was always authorized to protect nuclear stores; though I don't know of any incident where anyone was actually shot violating the defensive perimeter set up around the nukes.

A-6F in flight with a "White Rabbit"

In the event the word was ever passed to load live nuclear weapons for a strike against a selected target. The bombs would be loaded aboard an A-6 on the hanger deck which was designated to carry the weapon. This Intruder would be made as light as the mission could allow so that it could deploy the weapon and escape the drop zone before detonation. The standard attack with a BFNW might be made "balls to the walls" between 20,000 and 25,000 feet, the Intruder maxing out at full power (About 560 knots flat speed) to the weapon launch point. The Intruder would then pull sharply upwards and throw the weapon or "loft" it away as the plane rolled vertically then rolled horizontally and then escaped in the other direction. The B-61 "White Rabbit" was equipped with a slow decent parachute pack that would deploy the moment the bomb entered a nose-down attitude from the loft toss. By the time it reached detonation altitude, the Intruder would be safely away from the detonation.

The only time these weapons may have ever been loaded for their intended purpose was during the 1962 Cuban Missiles Crisis but since such incidents will probably remain highly classified; we will probably never know. We do know that one B-61 "White Rabbit" was lost off Japan in the early 1960's when it, the pilot and the A-4 Skyhawk it was loaded on rolled off the deck of the USS Independence. They have never been found.

It was President George HW Bush (1989-1993) who signed the agreement with the old Soviet Union (Now the Russian Republic) to remove nuclear weapons for their respective navies. The USS John F Kennedy was the last carrier to field both bombs in 1993 when they were turned over upon completion of her deployment.

All the "Silver Bullets" and "White Rabbits" were dismantled and destroyed.

With the advent of the cruise missile and more precise weapons; the old nuclear bombs have about lost their reason for existence which means delivery by naval aircraft is a part of the Cold War legacy.