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UK Nuclear Stockpile

1. Blue Danube (Mark 1) - the first nuclear weapon stockpiled by Britain, entering service in November 1953. This pure fission bomb initially usd plutonium, but was later modified to use a composite plutonium/U-235 core. It had a nominal yield of 15 kt. Based on Hurricane, the first UK tested device, it was essentially a lab-built device with only limited production. Simultaneously with nuclear tests in Britain, the development of weapons-grade plutonium for the production of nuclear bombs, which, according to the "rainbow code" adopted in Great Britain, received the designation "Blue Danube". Structurally, according to the internal arrangement, these bombs were close to the American Mk 4. In addition to airborne free-fall nuclear bombs, this nuclear charge was used to create nuclear bombs, their installation was planned in the way of the advancing Soviet tank armies in Europe. Later, the design of the charge was refined, and with the aim of saving, a plutonium nucleus diluted with uranium was used. The cost of producing one Blue Danube bomb was about 1 million pounds. The first serial British atomic bombs of 7.8 m long, had a streamlined shape and weighed about 4,500 kg. The power of the "Blue Danube" nuclear bombs ranged from 15 to 40 kt. To determine the height of the explosion, two mutually duplicating barometric fuses were used. It was believed that the reliability and efficiency of the first British nuclear bomb leaves much to be desired because of the use of bulky lead-acid batteries as a power source, which were installed immediately before use. From a technology standpoint it was probably very similar to the U.S. Mk 4, which went into service in 1949. It was continuously modified, so it existed in a number of "variants", some with yields up to at least 40 kt. Only about 20 were manufactured by early 1958 when production terminated. According to various estimates in the UK collected from 20 to 58 nuclear charges of this type. It remained in service until 1962.
2. Red Beard - a second generation fission weapon, it was a relatively light weight tactical fission bomb using a tritium boosted plutonium/U-235 composite core. Development began in 1954 and was substantially complete by 1958. Production in significant numbers began in 1959, but it was not operationally deployed until 1961. A variable yield of 5-20 kt has been claimed for this weapon. This device was adapted as the primary for the first British thermonuclear weapons, tested in 1957. Red Beard was in service from 1961 to 1971. A maximum of 80 bombs was in RAF inventory, and about 30 in the Fleet Air Arm stockpile, during the early 1960s.
3. Violet Club - an interim air dropped thermonuclear bomb with an estimated yield of 500 kt. The case was very similar to the Mark 1, its weight was 9000 lb. Deployed in early 1958, only five were planned for deployment. The deployed bombs were subsequently converted to Yellow Sun Mk 1 bombs. The device used in Violet Club was called Green Grass. This device had not been previously tested, and was based on a design prepared for Grapple (but also apparently not tested), although its yield was predicted from devices that were tested in Grapple.
4. Yellow Sun Mk 1 - Britain's first deployed "true" H-bomb. Yellow Sun Mk 1 employed the radiation implosion technology demonstrated during the Grapple tests in 1957. This megaton range weapon that entered service in 1958. The Yellow Sun Mk 1 warhead was about 4 feet wide and 9 feet long, the whole weapon was 21 feet long. Probably only a few were deployed.
5. Yellow Sun Mk 2 / Red Snow - this weapon is believed to be the British manufactured version of the American Mk28-1 megaton warhead. The first was completed in April 1961. The weapon seems to have been the same size as the Yellow Sun Mk 1, even though the Mk-28 is a vastly smaller weapon. Presumably the Mk-28 warhead itself is what is referred to as "Red Snow", but it was deployed in the Yellow Sun weapons case. Aircraft, trained crews, and handling facilities were already available to carry the larger weapon. The Yellow Sun Mk 2/Red Snow entered service in 1961. The Mk 2s remained in service until 1972, when they were phased out by the WE-177. A maximum of 150 were built.
6. Blue Steel - Britain's first nuclear missile was a liquid fuel air-to-surface strategic missile, carried by the British strategic "V-bombers" - the Vulcan B.2A and Victor B.2R. The missile entered service December 1962 with full operational status being achieved during 1963. The last Blue Steel was w1thdrawn from Victor squadron service at the end of 1968, and from Vulcan service at the end of 1970. Originally a large 200 kt fission warhead was planned, but this was later changed to a thermonuclear warhead with a yield of 1 megaton or more. About 57 of the missiles were ordered, and about 40 were deployed
7. Blue Streak - The British Blue Streak missile programme was in trouble by the late 1950s. The programme was too expensive and the missiles were to be housed in vulnerable silos near centers of population and expected to cause public anxiety. The Blue Streak was cancelled in February 1960 and replaced by an agreement to purchase the American Skybolt missile. In 1962 the American Secretary of Defence, Robert McNamara, decided to scrap Skybolt and left Macmillan without a nuclear arms strategy. The submarine-based Polaris system was identified as a viable replacement (already in service with the American navy).
8. WE 177 - Britain's last air-delivered nuclear weapon, retired in March 1998. The bomb was produced in three versions - the relatively high yield strategic A and B versions (200-400 kt), and the lower yield tactical C version (approx. 10 kt). The A and B versions entered service with the RAF in 1966, the C version was deployed by the Royal Navy in 1971 as a strike/depth bomb. The retirement of the C version was announced in June 1992. It is believed to be based on American designs, most likely the B-61. The WE 177A weighed 272 kg (600 lb) and had a maximum yield of 200 kt, the WE 177B weighed 431 kg (950 lb) and had a maximum yield of 400 kt. The WE 177 was retired from service in March 1998, and dismantling was completed by the end of August 1998.
9. Polaris Warhead - There is some confusion about whether there were two different Polaris warheads (that is, "physics packages") or only one. The initial three warhead A3T Polaris SLBM used a British-produced warhead, apparently a version of the American W-58 200 kt warhead deployed on the US Polaris A3. Later an update of the Polaris missile force, known as the Chevaline program, was carried out with the modified missiles being re-designated the A3TK. The "developmental" and "design" work associated with this warhead presumably involved adapting the already proof-tested American W-58 warhead to manufacture in a British plant. The warheads were deployed in Mk-2 RVs purchased from the US.
10. Chevaline Warhead - The Chevaline A3TK (aka "Super Antelope" and "KH793") program update included a new bus (upper stage), new RVs, and a sophisticated penetration aid (decoy) package. It is not clear whether the existing Polaris warheads were simply repackaged, or whether a completely new model was introduced. Due to Britain's limited weapons development and production capacity it seems likely that the warheads used to equip Chevaline, were based on the preexisting Polaris warheads. Although the Soviet ABM system turned out to be rather feeble, countermeasures were developed to improve the ability for Polaris to penetrate these defenses. In June 1967, the Labour Government announced in Parliament its decision to re-direct work at Aldermaston to investigate the possibilities of designing a new warhead capable of penetrating Soviet defences using decoys, hardening techniques and penetration aids. Production of the Chevaline warhead ran from 1979-1982 with 100 warheads being produced. Chevaline went on patrol for the first time in mid-1982 aboard HMS Renown, with deployment completed in 1987. The estimated yield of the Chevaline was 225 kt.
11. Trident Warhead - After the completion of Chevaline production, the UK conducted a total of nine nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site in the US. These were probably connected with the development of the Trident warhead. The first of these, Phalanx Armada (22 April 1983) had a yield of < 20 kt and was probably a test of the warhead primary, the next seven had yields between 20 and 150 kt and could have been tests involving the thermonuclear secondary. The last two of these high yield tests - Aqueduct Barnwell (8 Dec. 1989) and Sculpin Houston (14 Nov. 1990) were almost certainly full yield Trident tests, with seismic magnitudes of 5.7. The warheads are though to have similar characteristics to the U.S. W-76 now on U.S. Trident I and II missiles. Production of this warhead continued into 1999 which was probably its last year of production. Yields are probably 0.3 kt, 5-10 kt and 100 kt.