Reply #11: Most nuke today and well below even 1 Megaton. [View All]

[Statistical]

MIRV and sea launch ballistic missiles changed all that.

The goal became to make warheads lighter and pack more on a single missile.

An ohio class has 24 Trident SLBM each can carry 12 warheads (although we have reduced number due to treaties).

That is potential for 288 warheads per submarine. At 475kt (0.475 megatons) each that is over 120 megatons effective yield which is more than double ALL the firepower used in WWII and 6000x the effect of Hiroshima.

Oh yeah and we have 14 Ohio class Boomers and due to lighter payload and shorter range they can put a warhead on target in less than 10 minutes with 100 meter accuracy.

While the big bombs make better stories the reality of a litteral shower of nuclear devices is far more scary.