The third of a trio of questions I have just because of one clip on Youtube.
The points made by Bernard sounds reasonable enough for a laymen like me, though at the same time i found them a little odd. Given the nature of nuclear weapons I was rather surprised that the weapon systems were contracted out to the competitive market like other conventional arms (this is the impression I was given at least, do correct me if I’m wrong).
Also on the reliability (and compatibility) of the delivering systems: are they as abysmally poor in reality as described by Bernard? Sounds fair that those given fields tests in WWII are more reliable, but surely the newly developed weapons have plenty of testing of their own (at least in the delivery section)?
As someone who is completely ignorant of nuclear arms development and procurement in its entire history (let alone just the Cold War, or Trident) I would appreciate some insight into the subject, thanks!
Pinging /u/restricteddata specifically for the question, no pressure!
P.S. Also the ‘Sandwich Golf Course’ incident sounds just crazy enough to be true (or at least inspired by a true story), please don’t break that bubble for me if you can!
Edit: Just a follow-up while we’re here, how does Nuclear procurement in the West compare to the Soviets or Chinese? I realize that scope is getting pretty big, I can post an independent thread on Communist nuclear procurement if it’s deemed to be better.
The 'Sandwich Golf Course Incident', and the associated superiority of WWII-era weapons, refers to the troubled development and lifespan of the Royal Navy's Tigerfish torpedo. This was not a nuclear weapon, but a conventional one. Tigerfish was developed for RN submarines as a replacement for the Mk 23 'Grog' torpedo, the first wire-guided torpedo developed for the RN. It was to be a wire-guided torpedo with an additional autonomous seeker head, for anti-submarine and (later) anti-surface work. The goals for Tigerfish were highly optimistic; the project was originally called Project ONGAR (named for the terminus of the London Underground's Central Line), as it was intended to be the 'end of the line' in torpedo development. Development started in 1959, with the first weapons being produced from 1967. However, they failed acceptance tests for the fleet in 1969. There were two main problems with them. Firstly, the seeker head used too wide a beam. In many conditions, this would receive false echoes, creating dead spots, and making it impossible for the weapon to reliably track a target. Secondly, the wire-guidance system, which could replace the seeker head, was fragile. The weapons tended to dip after launching, which could break the wire. Similarly, the wire might break if the submarine was travelling too fast, or if the submarine was manoeuvring. As a result, only 40% of the trials were successful. The weapon was almost immediately taken in-hand for a remediation program, producing Tigerfish Mod 1. This replaced the seeker with a narrow-beam system, which reduced the issues with seeking, and allowed it to hit surface targets as well. However, the issues with the wire-guidance continued, and there were also issues with the control computers. Both models also suffered from issues with their onboard batteries. As there were no alternative weapons under development, the RN was forced to accept the weapon into service in 1980. While it replaced the Mk 23 and Mk 20 torpedoes, it would serve alongside the unguided Mk VIII**. The first Mk VIIIs had been designed in 1925, while the Mk VIII** had served the RN's submarine service through WWII. RN submariners tended to prefer the older weapon in most situations; when Courageous sank the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano in the Falklands War, her captain chose to use the Mk VIII**. In test-firings at the hulk of Sir Galahad following the war, five Tigerfish were launched. Two failed thanks to battery problems, while the remainder failed to track. A further Consolidation Program, made necessary by these failures, and utilising technology from the Spearfish program, which was designing a successor to Tigerfish, successfully fixed many of the problems with the weapon. It practically eliminated wire breaks, and brought the weapon up to 80%+ reliability.