Talos
NAVAL ANTI-Aircraft Missile
Explosive Power
Up to 4.7 kilotons
Hiroshima Equivalent Factor
1/3rd x
Dimensions
32 ft. x 28 inches
Weight
7800 lbs.
Range
Up to 150 miles, Mach 3
Year(s)
1958–1979
Purpose
Ship defense
About THE Talos
Forthcoming…
Gallery
Nukemap
NUKEMAP is a web-based mapping program that attempts to give the user a sense of the destructive power of nuclear weapons. It was created by Alex Wellerstein, a historian specializing in nuclear weapons (see his book on nuclear secrecy and his blog on nuclear weapons). The screenshot below shows the NUKEMAP output for this particular weapon. Click on the map to customize settings.
Videos
Click on the Play button and then the Full screen brackets on the lower right to view each video. Click on the Exit full screen cross at lower right (the “X” on a mobile device) to return.
Further Reading
- Wikipedia, Weapons Systems. Missileryinfo, Designation Systems
- “Evolution of the Talos Missile,” by William Garten, Jr. and Frank A. Dean, walks you through the complicated development of this weapon.
- “The Talos Missile Had A Wonderfully Complex Shipboard Assembly Line Of A Launch System” tells all about that and more–essentially how a crew dealt with the weapons.
- A more formal article, “The Talos Ship System” by Elmer D. Robinson, lays out the ship-side part of the weapons system.
- Another detailed history of the Talos and links to even more detail. (the site, Oakieboat.com, is a one-topic website on the USS Oklahoma, on which the Talos system was deployed.)
- For additional histories, emphasizing one aspect or another, see “The Navy’s Ramjet Missile,” “U.S. Navy Missile Defense: The Three Ts – Talos, Terrier, and Tartar,” “History of the Talos Missile,” “https://www.navalgazing.net/The-3T-Missiles-Launch-Systems,” and “History of the Talos Missile Warhead.”