Hopefully the range of the round is further than the blast radius or it’s a “one way” trip for the poor sap deploying it. This is also why you usually won’t see the words “nuclear hand grenade” put together in the same sentence.
CC
My understanding is that the blast radius was greater than the range.
It was NOT a popular weapon!
on July 17, a Davy Crockett was fired from a stationary 155 millimeter launcher (in tandem with simulated battlefield manuevers under Operation IVY FLATS) and detonated about 20 feet above the ground at a distance of 9,357 feet (1.7 miles) from the launch point (yield was 18 tons).One and a half miles is well outside the blast radius of 18 tons of TNT. You might get some fallout if you hang around, but you WOULDN'T be hanging around. You would fire, get in your jeep (or better yet, APC) and get out of there.
From a prepared position on a hill top or ridge (to increase range), you would fire, run down the hill to have the hill between you and any gamma rays from the blast, and then into your vehicle.
problem was the lethal radius for even the smallest
Davy Crockett (10 ton, .01 KT) was 350 meters for 500 rem radiation (400 meters for the larger 20 ton warhead)
This minimum range was inside the lethal radius
Another problem wa that Davy Crockett used a mechanical timer to detomate - the firing crew would have to consult
a range chart to calc
uate time of flight to target and set
fuse accordingly. Strong head or cross winds could slow the
projectile and cause it to burst short.
There were 2 Davy Crockett - 120 mm with max range of 2000
meters (1.25 mile) and larger 155 mm with max range of 400 meters (2.5 miles)
here is calculator to determine lethal radius of nuclear
weapon - need Excel (or something similar or calculator to do fractional exponent)
Yield in tons ( 1kilton = 100 tones, 1 megaton = 1 million)
Divide by 2500
Take result and raise to .41 power for thermal
.33 power for blast
.19 for radiation
ie yield (Y) (.4^.19)
1 kiloton = 1000 ton
y= 1000/2500
y^.41 = blast (4.7 psi over pressure)
Y ^.33 = thermal ( 3rd burn on exposed skin)
Y ^.19 = radiation (500 rem dose)
result is in meters