How to: Survive a NUKE in a Tank

They didn't finish the story of the Australian Centurion, It was fuelled up and driven out of the test area, decontaminated, overhauled then put back into service. It did a 15 month tour in the Vietnam war where it easily shrugged off a couple of RPG 7 hits. It still exists as a gate guard at Robertson Barracks near Darwin, Northern Territory

A bit of a side note... After the neutron bomb was developed and during the debate on whether or not it should be deployed by NATO forces, there was a good deal of discussion about how to deal with possible "Zombie solders". The neutron bomb primary kills soldiers by subjecting them to a fatal dose of radiation rather than blast effect. But, it takes a few days before the soldiers become incapacitated due to the effects of that radiation. There was concern that soldiers who had received a fatal dose of radiation and knew they were eventually going to die might adopt a "nothing to lose" attitude, leading them to engage in suicidal assaults that might prove impossible for NATO forces to contain. It was a wild time...

I love the aesthetic of the object 279 so much, the four tracked hulls have a certain look that is just amazing.

Ahhh the memories of when you had to take a dump in 3Romeo and you hadn’t quite cleared your nbc trousers out the way and so gave yourself a little present !

This Chieftain tank is now the gate guard at Robertson Baracks just out of Darwin Australia. Still a little radio active:)

Fallout from a nuclear weapon detonation and fallout from a reactor explosion are not comparable events.

As long as the BV is still working, all is good!

The NBC suit's radiological protection is limited to avoiding inhalation of radionucleotides. Radiation proper (gamma and beta) goes right through the suit. Thus, if trudging through a heavily contaminated environment it doesn't do anything at all. The external radiation itself would still kill you in short order. An NBC is in effect a chemical and biologic one. The N part of it is kind of a misnomer. Protection against radioctivity is 3 pronged, time distance and shielding. The shielding part is essentially non wearable. For example a lead apron like you see in Dr offices doesnt really offer protection against gamma, for that you require feet of concrete or dirt or something similar. Thats why spent nuckear rods spend months under feet of water the water serves as a radiarions shield to give time for the decay of the material.

Those tests in the 40-50’s (maybe later I’m unsure) where soldiers would stand in range of a nuke for tests is just so wild.

I drove an m1200, it's not a tank but it's an armored vehicle. It has NBC filters, and hoses we could plug into our gas masks.. we never actually used them but they were there. 👍

Your comments about the exercise Able Archer are in error. It was never meant to 'test and observe Soviet response'. 'Able Archer' was the annual NATO exercise prior to the REFORGER exercises. The Soviets mistook the exercise and yes it almost started a war. The exercise was a five day command post exercise that did not involve the movement or posting of actual troops. Troop movement would have occurred during the REFORGER portion of the exercise. Any source would state this. I would ask if you disagree to provide source information.

You forgot about the prompt (non-fallout) neutron radiation from the initial blast. For a low-yield nuclear weapon that's lethal to tank crews at greater range than the blast. This was the entire point behind enhanced-radiation weapons ("neutron bombs") though it's true for all weapons below a certain yield. This is why many Soviet tanks and AFVs had polyethylene armor liners - those act as neutron absorbers and provide some marginal improvement in the range at which a detonation is survivable. NBC packs provide no defense against prompt radiation - they only prevent fallout ingress. Neutron radiation also creates the nasty phenomenon of "zombie crews". A tank crew that have been exposed to a lethal dose of neutron radiation can remain functional for days before the onset of severe illness.

I had already forgotten how much I enjoy this new presenter. His voice is perfect for these sorts of videos, and I appreciate his enthusiasm.

Even after decades of hearing people say it, I still can’t accept that half the world can’t pronounce “nuclear” and keep saying “nucular”.

As a retired US Army soldier, I always knew that the NBC gear was basically only to provide a glimmer of hope that maybe one would survive.

Spent the first ten years of my army career with a nuclear artillery regiment with lance missiles so wearing NBC kit and all the drill became second nature not that we’d even make it out of the camp gate if the Cold War turned hot. Cracking & informative upload as per 👍🏻

But would the boiling vessel still work?

Yet another great tank history video! I was that I could visit the museum some time soon as a Fin.

Love this sort of content, wss thrilled it popped up top of my recommended, tanks + nukes are both interesting topics

If a full scale nuclear conflict ever kicks off it won't matter much whether the crew survives or not. Mankind as we know it would be done for. Anyway this was a very interesting and fun to watch episode! Thank you! 👍