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The Davy Crockett was designed in the late 1950's primarily
for frontline use by the U.S. infantry in Europe against Soviet
troop formations. The weapon system used a spin-stabilized, unguided
rocket fired from a recoiless rifle. It's 51-pound nuclear warhead
had explosive "dial-a-yield" settings of 0.01 to 0.18
kilotons (0.18 was the equivalent of 180 tons of TNT, with an
added radiation effect). As a secondary design feature, the system
could also fire a conventional high-explosive round for other
use, such as an anti-tank weapon.
The Davy Crockett's warhead was launched from either a 120-millimeter
(M-28) or 155-millimeter (M-29) recoilless rifle. The155 millimeter
version, which became the standard issue, had a maximum range
of 2.49 miles and could be fired from either a ground tripod
mount or from a specially designed jeep mount.
The system was in the U.S. Army inventory from 1961 to 1971,
and over 2,100 were produced. The W54 nuclear warhead was designed
at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (now the Los Alamos National
Laboratory) and built by the Atomic Energy Commission. Successful
test-firings of the warhead took place on July 7 and 17, 1962,
at the Nevada Test Site in what were called the "Little
Feller" shots. The July 17 test (using the 155 millimeter
Davy Crockett) was conducted under simulated battlefield maneuvers
and detonated 20 feet above ground at a distance of 1.7 miles
as planned.
[Sources: U.S. Army, National Atomic Museum,
& The Brookings Institution]
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