A General Dynamics/Astronautics film from 1962 describing the ORCA Weapon System. This was a seafloor deployment concept for solid-rocket ICBMs similar to the Polaris; the missile would be installed within a sealed watertight canister and lowered to the seafloor. There is would sit until called for by a sonar device. Upon receipt of a proper coded audio signal, ballast tanks would be filled with air and the canister would shoot to the surface. Upon breaching, the “nose” of the canister would jettison and the missile would launch out and, presumably, fly to the target.
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While the idea had some merit, including low cost compared to a Minuteman or a ballistic missile sub, it also had some pretty unfortunate problems. Not least of which is that the US Navy would basically just be dropping nuclear missiles on the seafloor. The canisters would probably have been fairly easily detectable via active sonar, so they would have to have been watched in some fashion to make sure nobody came along and simply strolled off with one. And the security would help to point out where they were. The Soviets and SPECTRE would be forever tripping over each other searching for these things (though that raises the notion of the US Navy making a show of lowering hundreds of these capsules… each of which turns out to actually be a miniature sub that wanders back to base. The Soviets would tear their hair out looking for missiles that don’t exist)
So, obviously, these were never fielded. But as the film shows, the concept was built and apparently successfully tested. In contrast to today where such a concept would get years worth of Powerpoints, here… they just went ahead and built a 1/4 scale functional model of the thing including a sizable “model rocket” that successfully launches from the canister upon breaching.
Shown here is a diagram of a 47,000 pound missile in a 108-foot-long capsule. There is considerable resemblance between this idea and the concept, almost 20 years prior, of V-2 rockets in capsules towed behind U-Boats for use against the US.
The rather artsy style of having three guys in business suits posing on the seashore seems a bit odd.
