What would the USA look like today if....

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: loki8481
the south east US would be a waste land.

isn't it already?

fail at learning about things beyond your borders. don't tell me you're from the midwest...

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I wonder what the chances of a accidental detonation are, which activates the bomb in a way where the material actually achieves critical mass. Blowing all those explosives with nanosecond accuracy isn't exactly easy.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: Ramma2
Japan would say "Ha ha thats what you get Ameica!"

Actually it would have been more like "HA HA America- you brow you self up in writtle pieces!"

 

[NatePo717]

Genetically mutated red necks. Oh wait. No, not much would have changed.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: loki8481
the south east US would be a waste land.

isn't it already?

no, that's Canada you are thinking of

 

[K1052]

The weapon in question is actually the Mk-39 nuclear gravity bomb which has a maximum yield of 4Mt, not 24MT.

The US only produced one weapon in the 25Mt range and is was never actively deployed to my knowledge.

 

[Alistar7]

Originally posted by: K1052
The weapon in question is actually the Mk-39 nuclear gravity bomb which has a maximum yield of 4Mt, not 24MT.

The US only produced one weapon in the 25Mt range and it was never actively deployed to my knowledge.

They keep you updated?

 

[So]

1. They didn't say the bomb almost went nuclear. It sounds to me like the chemical explosives almost detonated -- it might well have been a dirty bomb at worst.
2. Even so, I seriously doubt much would have changed except that we would have stored our nukes even more carefully.

 

[Brovane]

You can do your own damage assessment at - http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/gmap/hydesim.html dial in around -77.9, 35.4 for your longitude and latitude will get you very close. FYI the nuclear bombs where around 2.4 Megaton somewhere in the history of the story someone dropped a decimal point probably to make it more sensational. - http://www.ibiblio.org/bomb/story.html

 

[xSkyDrAx]

the hills have eyes much?

 

[darkxshade]

The US would have the only darwin award ever issued to a country?

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: darkxshade
The US would have the only darwin award ever issued to a country?

Hardly, if you want to go by body count it would barely register had the weapon exploded.

If anything is deserving of such an award it's this: Text

 

[GasX]

Das vidania tovarich

 

[compman25]

Glow in the dark BBQ

 

[darkxshade]

Hmm, this was in 1961... if the bomb went off, would've had a significant impact on the outcome of the cold war.

 

[Alistar7]

humanity would be extinct.....

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Originally posted by: Alistar7

Originally posted by: K1052
The weapon in question is actually the Mk-39 nuclear gravity bomb which has a maximum yield of 4Mt, not 24MT.

The US only produced one weapon in the 25Mt range and it was never actively deployed to my knowledge.

They keep you updated?

Probably Not. But the shockwave/light/radiation from a 25 mt bomb isn't hard to miss.

Still, it wouldn't have destroyed the world. Most likely release radiation, but without that nanosecond precision detonation, you're only going to get a dirty bomb.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Alistar7
humanity would be extinct.....

It definitely wouldn't be doing well. No way in hell the country at that time would admit to such a folly.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: tenshodo13

Originally posted by: Alistar7

Originally posted by: K1052
The weapon in question is actually the Mk-39 nuclear gravity bomb which has a maximum yield of 4Mt, not 24MT.

The US only produced one weapon in the 25Mt range and it was never actively deployed to my knowledge.

They keep you updated?

Probably Not. But the shockwave/light/radiation from a 25 mt bomb isn't hard to miss.

Still, it wouldn't have destroyed the world. Most likely release radiation, but without that nanosecond precision detonation, you're only going to get a dirty bomb.

I assume you mean is hard to miss...

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: tenshodo13

Originally posted by: Alistar7

Originally posted by: K1052
The weapon in question is actually the Mk-39 nuclear gravity bomb which has a maximum yield of 4Mt, not 24MT.

The US only produced one weapon in the 25Mt range and it was never actively deployed to my knowledge.

They keep you updated?

Probably Not. But the shockwave/light/radiation from a 25 mt bomb isn't hard to miss.

Still, it wouldn't have destroyed the world. Most likely release radiation, but without that nanosecond precision detonation, you're only going to get a dirty bomb.

The available literature doesn't support that it was sent on patrol. Production of the Mk 41 weapon didn't begin until late 1960 anyway so the odds of it being involved are slim.

I do think that the odds of a unintended full yield detonation were slim.

 

[Cogman]

Originally posted by: MotF Bane

Originally posted by: Cogman
Interesting, It definitively would have made a lot of things different. For one, New York was very densly populated (as it is now) That would have reduced it to rubble and caused massive deaths. I don't know how the economy would have faired with a disaster like that, I guess it would have created lots of jobs, but at a very heavy cost.

Uh, what? North Carolina to New York?

reading comprehension FTL. (some reason I was thinking Newyork City for NC)