Fireships and nuclear detonators
Fireships (or Fire ship)(1)were naval combat equipment, which was first used at Battle of Gravelines by Sir Francis Drake in 1588(2). The idea of the fireship is simple. The ship, what was covered by alcohol send to the enemy battle line and the mission of those ships were to open the battle line of the enemy.
There were two types of fireships in use, the burning fireships, and the fireships, what mission was the explode in the middle of the enemy fleet. Sometimes the last ones at least planned to use against the coastal artillery and fortresses. The use of fireships ended when the motorized warships enter the service, but during WWII the British Navy used the exploding destroyer against the shipyard of St. Nazaire(3). In this operation was used the ship, which was loaded with explosives. And I think that this kind of ship is some kind of fireships, as well as the fireships of the great sails, were.
The famous commando-operation against St. Nazaire shipyard at France during WWII was the case, where the destroyer named H.M.S Campbeltown (4) equipped with explosives, and then the ship was exploded in the St. Nazaire shipyard dock during the famous commando raid. The purpose of this raid was to eliminate the dock at that shipyard, which denied the German navy operational capacity at the south side of the British islands. The St. Nazaire was the only shipyard, which was enough big that it could be used to repair the German battleship, Tirpitz(5).
In 1952 were made the first British nuclear test "Hurricane"(6), where the nuclear detonator was put in the destroyer, and then it was exploded. The yield of this nuclear weapon was 25 kt., and it has been given the idea of the attack against Murmansk military base by using the nuclear detonator version of the H.M.S Campbeltown, and if that weapon would slip in the Soviet trawler, what has access to enter that base, the weapon would be devastating. The same kind of systems, what is planned to use against the opposite side could also be used against British and American targets.
There have been also given ideas that the stealth hydrofoil would equip with the nuclear warhead, and driven to the base by using autopilot. The explosion would happen in the middle of the naval shipyards or the front of the doors of submarine bunkers. If the used weapon is the neutron warhead the device that carries this weapon would not be very big. The rowboat sized vehicle could slip in the base, and collide with the warships, what are in that place. Even 0,5kt. neutron warhead will destroy the ships in that place, where it explodes.
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