Fail Safe

When atomic bombs were first developed, there was much debate as to what branch of the millitary would control them.The navy was put under supervision of a few atomic weapons, the U.S.S Bellfast, the vessel I was serving on, had two nuclear bombs on board. A Mark 101 "LuLu" bomb, a thermonuclear bomb designed to detonate underwater, but could also be used as a tactical strike bomb. The bomb lacked important safety features, it couldn't detect free fall from an aircraft, so if it were to accidentally fall out of an aircraft on a flight deck and roll overboard, it could detonate at its preset depth. The second one was a mark five pure fission weapon, with a yield of over 90 kilotons. It could be carried by a fighter bomber. Security was extremely strict on the ship. I was on guard duty one night when the incident happened. I was walking into the officers lounge room and started discussing the ships' maintenance problems. I sat down with a cup of instant coffee I made, I starred out the window for a moment, until an extraordinary bright flash blinded me. I could only see bright white until I felt the intense heat, like someone opened an oven in my face. The shock wave smashed into the ship sending sailors flying off deck and shattering the glass panels in front of us. I was knocked to the floor until I slowly regained my senses. I witnessed a humongous dome of water extending into the air, carrying with it gigantic battleships and aircraft carriers. I almost couldn't believe it. A highly radioactive cloud of mist blew on to the ship, irradiating the ship. We immediately started to organize an evacuation.