How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

No!  Nothing To Do With The U2 Album
Although I bet there were some worried expressions at Strategic Air Command and the Strategic Rocket Forces when it came out, before it got parsed and analysed to bits, and was revealed to be merely a line from that song about Fast Cars.

Looking all nonchalant and bomb-dismantley

     Although, when you stop to think about it, what an excellent skill-set to have!  To the authorities, however, it would still be a worry, since part of knowing how to dismantle an atomic bomb lies in knowing how to mantle* one in the first place.  

Oops.

     First, you'd need to ensure that the Permissive Action Links do not engage; they are designed and intended to prevent an accidental detonation, but since you're sitting on top  of an atomic bomb, it pays to be thorough.

CAUTION!  Do not hit with hammers

     Second, ensure there are no tripwired booby-traps present.  National governments are really, really keen not to have people nicking their Big Bang Bombs to set 'em off.
     Third, ensure you are wearing a hazmat suit with a built-in Geiger counter, because - uranium 235!  
     Fourth, I hope those metal tools are non-sparking and bronze, so that they won't conduct current.  A short circuit here and Hey Pesto! you're a cloud of rapidly expanding vapour.
     Now to get to the >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
THIS SECTION REDACTED UNDER ADVISEMENT M.O.D. 27TH INST.  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

     - and there you are, one completely dismantled atomic bomb.  A productive morning's work!
     Typically, I cannot find the illustration that sparked all this invaluable instruction.  Yes, we are back to Judge Dredd, Mega-City One and the Apocalypse War.  Art?

From 1982

     All those triangles represent a saturation nuclear attack on the Big Meg by those eeeevil Sov-Blockers, and my point is that, with so many missiles being launched, and Sinister technology being notably unreliable, there are going to be a significant number of undetonated warheads afterwards.  
     This is where your atomic bomb dismantling skills come in.  In the collected 'Daily Star' strips there is an example of the hazards of using robots for such work: "Stupid humes!" froths a robot as it attempts to work loose an undetonated nuclear warhead.  By hitting it with a steel bar.

It did not end well.

     What I really wanted to talk about was the Big Meg's 'Citi-Def' - which will have to wait for another day.

Sad - Or In Fact Awesomely Impressive?
As always, Conrad has a mountain of military history books to get through, which is because he never stops buying them, hah-hah!  Take that, Kindle.  One of my foibles/oddities/worrying signs (delete where applicable) is selecting a volume, then flipping to the Bibliography - no self-respecting military history work lacks a Bib - and ticking off the works I already have which are there mentioned.**Art?

     In this particular case, I've ticked off 38 works.  That's not what's so impressive (although it kind of is).  No, I was reading the Introduction where Mister Simkins lists his friends, colleagues and fellow experts, and your humble scribe was going "Yep, know of him", "Yep, him too", "Oh another familiar name".  In fact of about two dozen names, I was already familiar with fifteen of them.

Before We Got To TANK
There were quite a few prototypes, and BOOJUM! has covered some of them.  Let us now take a look at the Killen-Strait Tractor, made by South Canadians and displayed for the 'landship' crowd in Perfidious Albion.  Art?

Note helpful weather-vane

     I know what you're thinking - yes, those are railway sleepers.  That above is the tractor in original form, with what Conrad thinks is a prototype barbed-wire cutter on the prow, put there by someone who thought barbed-wire comes in single strands.

The Killen, all tinned-up and ready for Killin'

     The Killen-Strait turned out to be quite mobile, yet not powerful enough to rip through barbed wire, which, as alluded to above, came in dense thickets frequently yards deep.

Thus

     So it wasn't persisted with.  Sorry, Mister Killen.

Success!
NASA's Insight Lander has landed on Mars.  This is quite easy to manage, actually; the tricky bit is landing in one piece after travelling at several miles per second.  Insight managed this by virtue of trajectory, a heat-shield, parachutes and rocket braking.  Art?

Hideous experiments to be performed

     Of course they sensibly chose to land on the Elysium Planitia, which is a vast open plain.  There have been unsuccessful landings in the Martian Highlands before, after which NASA learned to keep clear of the Martian Rock Snake's natural habitat, for it is a grumpy, territorial creature.

An artist's impression

Finally - 
On a rare serious note for BOOJUM! I would like to mourn the passing of Stephen Hillenburg, a (marine) biology teacher.  Art?

Requisat in pacem

     He was also the creator of "Spongebob Squarepants", which is an excellent cartoon series, especially Squidward, who is a grumpy old curmudgeon and therefore an outstanding role model.
     I remember taking Darling Daughter to see the first film, because Wonder Wifey thought it would be too childish.  Ha!  The joke was on her, it was hilarious, and David Hasselhoff took the mickey out of himself relentlessly.

There, there, Bob.  Be strong.

*  If this wasn't a word before, it is now.
**  It's not bothering anyone, is it?  So don't make trouble.