A distressing video reveals the aftermath when an atomic warhead detonates underwater.
This explosion, recorded in 1958, features a Mark 7 nuclear warhead being detonated beneath the water’s surface.
The warhead possesses an explosive power equivalent to nine kilotons of TNT, or 9,000 tons.
Placed 500 feet below the water’s surface, it was detonated, revealing its terrifying destructive capabilities.
If the power displayed by this bomb alarms you, wait until you understand how it compares to other warheads.
Interestingly, this bomb tested here was actually a relatively small warhead, even smaller than the one dropped on Hiroshima.
However, this isn’t due to a decline in nuclear bomb-making skills; the smaller size was intentional.
Nuclear weapons are broadly categorized into two types based on their size.
The first type is the strategic nuclear weapon.
These are the massive, civilization-ending weapons designed to target infrastructure and population centers as a deterrent.
Any exchange involving these weapons would result in deaths numbering in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions.
These weapons serve less as armaments and more as diplomatic bargaining tools.
The second type of weapon is the tactical nuclear weapon, which is what is demonstrated in this video.
This smaller warhead is designed for use in confined military settings.
At one point, the US even experimented with a tactical nuclear weapon that could be fired from an artillery piece.
But what about the weapon shown here?
The Mark 7 was designed to be deployed by a small fighter-bomber aircraft, as an alternative to the larger strategic bombers carrying bigger weapons. These larger bombers were eventually replaced by Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) and nuclear submarines.
This particular test, known as the Wahoo Test, aimed to study the effects of nuclear weapons in a naval environment.
As expected, the results were catastrophic, with tons of water thrown into the air by the explosion and a test ship anchored 2,346 feet away suffering severe damage.
The most powerful nuclear weapon ever developed by the US was the B-41, with a yield of 25 megatons.
Modern warheads may be smaller, but this offers little comfort due to new technologies allowing a single missile to carry multiple warheads.
These warheads, carried on Trident submarines, can either hit multiple targets with one missile or saturate an area with multiple hits.