Book ID: CBB548885579

The Secret History of RDX: The Super-Explosive that Helped Win World War II (2018)

unapi

Baxter, Colin F. (Author)


University Press of Kentucky


Publication Date: 2018
Physical Details: 204
Language: English

During the early years of World War II, American ships crossing the Atlantic with oil and supplies were virtually defenseless against German U-boats. Bombs and torpedoes fitted with TNT barely made a dent in the tough steel plating that covered the hulls of Axis submarines and ships. Then, seemingly overnight, a top-secret, $100 million plant appeared near Kingsport, Tennessee, manufacturing a sugar-white substance called Research Department Explosive (code name RDX). Behind thirty-eight miles of fencing, thousands of men and women synthesized 23,000 tons of RDX each month. Twice as deadly as TNT and overshadowed only by the atomic bomb, this ordnance proved to be pivotal in the Battle of the Atlantic and directly contributed to the Allied victory in WWII. In The Secret History of RDX, Colin F. Baxter documents the journey of the super-explosive from conceptualization at Woolwich Arsenal in England to mass production at Holston Ordnance Works in east Tennessee. He examines the debates between RDX advocates and their opponents and explores the use of the explosive in the bomber war over Germany, in the naval war in the Atlantic, and as a key element in the trigger device of the atomic bomb. Drawing on archival records and interviews with individuals who worked at the Kingsport "powder plant" from 1942 to 1945, Baxter illuminates both the explosive's military significance and its impact on the lives of ordinary Americans involved in the war industry. Much more than a technical account, this study assesses the social and economic impact of the military-industrial complex on small communities on the home front. (Publisher)

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Reviewed By

Review Rich Hamerla (January 2020) Review of "The Secret History of RDX: The Super-Explosive that Helped Win World War II". Technology and Culture (pp. 366-367). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB548885579/

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Authors & Contributors
Bridger, Sarah
Peter B. Thompson
Tyler Morton
Ford, Matthew C.
Michael W Charney
Ridler, Jason S.
Concepts
Military technology
World War II
Weapons
Science and war; science and the military
Technology and war; technology and the military
Cold War
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
20th century, early
20th century, late
Places
Great Britain
United States
Germany
Japan
Myanmar (Burma)
Iraq
Institutions
Strategic Defense Initiative
Great Britain. Defence Evaluation Research Agency
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Instituten
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