Mark 90 nuclear bomb

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The Mark 90 nuclear bomb, nicknamed Betty, was a Cold War-era U.S. Navy anti-submarine nuclear depth charge developed in 1952. It was about 10 feet 2 inches long, 2 feet 7.5 inches in diameter, and weighed around 1,243 pounds. It carried a Mark 7 nuclear warhead with a yield of 32 kilotons and was designed to attack submarines from depth. About 225 were built, and all were retired by 1960. A 1955 underwater test, Operation Wigwam, demonstrated the weapon’s use.

In September 1959, a United States Navy Martin P5M-2 Marlin ditched in the Pacific Ocean off the Washington–Oregon coast, and a Mark 90 depth charge casing was lost. The casing did not contain an active warhead. Ten crew members were rescued after about ten hours in a raft, and the incident was not made public at the time.