Descriptionary

rear admiral (upper half) two silver stars, one 2- inch stripe, one %-inch stripe.

rear admiral (lower half) one silver star, one 2-inch stripe.

captain silver eagle, four %-inch stripes.

commander silver oak leaf, three %-inch stripes.

lieutenant commander gold oak leaf, two %-inch stripes, one %-inch stripe.

lieutenant two silver bars, two %-inch stripes.

lieutenant (jg) one silver bar, one %-inch stripe, one %-inch stripe.

ensign one gold bar, one %-inch stripe.

chief warrant officer (W-4) silver bar with three enamel bands, one %-inch stripe.

chief warrant officer (W-3) silver bar with two enamel bands, one %-inch stripe.

chief warrant officer (W-2) gold bar with three enamel bands, one %-inch stripe.

missiles, nuclear weapons, and rockets

absolute dud a nuclear weapon that fails to explode.

active material material, such as plutonium and certain isotopes of uranium, that is capable of sup­porting a fission chain reaction.

acute radiation dose total ionizing radiation dose received at one time and over a period so short that it is fatal.

afterwinds wind currents set up in the vicinity of a nuclear explosion directed toward the burst center, resulting from the updraft accompanying the rise of the fireball.

air-breathing missile a missile with an engine requiring the intake of air for combustion of its fuel, as in a ramjet or turbojet.

airburst an explosion in the air, above ground.

air-to-air guided missile an air-launched guided missile for use against air targets.

ballistic missile any missile that does not rely on aerodynamic surfaces to provide lift and consequently follows a ballistic trajectory when thrust is termi­nated.

ballistic missile early warning system an electronic system for providing detection and early warning of attack by enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles.

base surge a cloud that rolls out from the bottom of the column produced by a subsurface burst of a nuclear weapon.

beam rider a missile guided by an electronic beam.

blast wave diffraction the passage around and envelopment of a structure by a nuclear blast wave.

booster an auxiliary or initial propulsion system that travels with a missile and that may or may not separate from the parent craft when its impulse has been delivered.

camouflet the underground cavity created by a sub­terranean nuclear detonation.

captive firing a firing test of short duration, con­ducted with the missile propulsion system operating while secured to a test stand.

chronic radiation dose a dose of ionizing radiation received either continuously or intermittently over a prolonged period of time, that may or may not cause radiation sickness and death, depending on the dose rate.

cloud top height the maximum altitude to which a nuclear mushroom cloud rises.

command destruct signal a signal used to operate intentionally the destruction signal in a missile.

condensation cloud a mist or fog of water droplets that temporarily surrounds the fireball following a nuclear detonation in a relatively humid atmosphere.

contamination the deposit and/or absorption of radioactive material on and by structures, areas, per­sonnel, or objects.

controlled effects nuclear weapons nuclear weap­ons designed to achieve variation of the intensity of specific effects other than normal blast effect.

critical altitude the altitude beyond which an air- breathing guided missile ceases to perform adequately.

critical mass the minimum amount of fissionable material capable of supporting a chain reaction.

cruise missile guided missile, the major portion of whose flight path to its target is conducted at approx­imately constant velocity.

decay, radioactive the decrease in the radiation intensity of any radioactive material over time.

destruct system a system that, when operated by external command, destroys the missile.

dirty bomb an early or less-advanced form of the atom bomb, which has an inefficient blast effect but produces large amounts of radiation or nuclear fallout.

Doomsday Clock introduced in 1947, a symbolic clock—showing the world on its face—maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and regularly reset to show how close the earth is to nuclear apoca­lypse, or "midnight."

dosimetry the measurement of radiation doses by dosimeters.