page_title: Lockheed P-2 Neptune
section_title: Nuclear bomber
hierarchical_section_title: Lockheed P-2 Neptune / Operational history / Nuclear bomber
caption_attribution_description: English: A U.S. Navy Lockheed P2V-3C Neptune launches with "Jet-assisted take-off (JATO)" from the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42) on 2 July 1951.
context_page_description: The Lockheed P-2 Neptune was a maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft. It was developed for the US Navy by Lockheed to replace the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura and PV-2 Harpoon, and was replaced in turn by the Lockheed P-3 Orion. Designed as a land-based aircraft, the Neptune never made a carrier landing, but a small number were converted and deployed as carrier-launched, stop-gap nuclear bombers that would have to land on shore or ditch. The type was successful in export, and saw service with several armed forces.
context_section_description: At the end of World War II, the US Navy felt the need to acquire a nuclear strike capability to maintain its political influence. In the short term, carrier-based aircraft were the best solution. The large Fat Man nuclear munitions at that time were bulky and required a very large aircraft to carry them. The US Navy Bureau of Ordnance built 25 outdated but more compact Little Boy nuclear bomb designs  to  be used  in the smaller bomb bay of the  P2V Neptune, there was enough fissionable material available by 1948 to build ten complete uranium projectiles and targets, although there were only enough initiators to complete six. The U.S. Navy improvised a carrier-based nuclear strike aircraft by modifying the P2V Neptune for carrier takeoff using jet assisted takeoff (JATO) rocket boosters, with initial takeoff tests in 1948. However, the Neptune could not land on a carrier, therefore the crew had to either make their way to a friendly land base after a strike, or ditch in the sea near a U.S. Navy vessel. It was replaced in this emergency role by the North American AJ Savage, the first nuclear strike aircraft that was fully capable of carrier launch and recovery operations; it was also short-lived in that role as the US Navy was adopting fully jet powered nuclear strike aircraft.
caption: A P2V takes off from USS Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1951
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