American Nukes

by Darin Boville

What Nuclear Weapons Look Like

I’ve crisscrossed the country and have driven over 25,000 miles to thirty-five states to make photographs of nuclear weapons. I wanted to see what they looked like, to learn about them, to try to understand the perils they present.

Click below to see my photographs and to learn about the weapons—or make plans to visit them yourself.

A New Kind of Weapon

Trinity, Little Boy, Fat Man, and the post-WWII years.

Trinity • Little Boy • Fat Man
Post-WWII Fat Man Designs

The Buildup Begins

Early Cold War nuclear weapons, in a variety of forms.

Mark 8 • Mark 7 • Atomic Annie • Matador • Corporal • Honest John • Regulus • Genie • Nike-Hercules • Bomarc

A Better Bomb

Thermonuclear weapons change everything, again.

Mark 17 • Mark 36 • Mark 39 • Mark 28/B28 • Mark 41 • Mark 43 • B53 • B57

Rockets and Missiles, Oh My

Unmanned weapons for every need.

Rascal • Bullpup • Terrier • Talos • LaCrosse • Hound Dog • Snark • Mace • Davy Crockett • Little John • Sergeant • Cruise Missiles • Lance • Spartan • Misc

This section in-process. Underlined weapons have linked pages.

Globe-spanning Doom

Nuclear war, over in minutes.

Redstone • Atlas • Thor • Titan I • Polaris • Jupiter • Pershing • Minuteman • Poisidon • Trident • Peacekeeper

This section in-process. Underlined weapons have linked pages.

Your Nuclear Weapons

The arsenal today.

B61 bomb • B83 Bomb • Minuteman III • Trident II • AGM-86 Cruise Missile

Links in this section coming soon.

What’s New

American Nukes is updated “live,” with new pages added every few days. Recent updates are listed below or you can subscribe to our mailing list to be notified of new content.

Added weapons page for the Titan I ICBM.

Added the weapons page for the Thor missile.

Published the weapons page for the Redstone Missile.

Published the weapons page for the Spartan missile.

Added weapons page for the Sergeant missile.