page_title: SM-62 Snark
section_title: Operational history
hierarchical_section_title: SM-62 Snark / Operational history
caption_attribution_description: English: Northrop SM-62 Snark
context_page_description: The Northrop SM-62 Snark was an early-model intercontinental range ground-launched cruise missile that could carry a W39 thermonuclear warhead. The Snark was deployed by the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command from 1958 through 1961. It represented an important step in weapons technology during the Cold War. The Snark took its name from the author Lewis Carroll's character the "snark".
  The Snark missile was developed to present a nuclear deterrent to the Soviet Union and other potential enemies at a time when Intercontinental ballistic missiles were still in development. The Snark was the only surface-to-surface cruise missile with such a long range that was ever deployed by the U.S. Air Force. Following the deployment of ICBMs, the Snark was rendered obsolete, and it was removed from deployment in 1961.
context_section_description: In May 1957, a Detachment of Air Force instructors was formed at Amarillo Air Force Base
  , Texas as the first cadre of Air Force personnel supporting an Intercontinental missile system. None of the detachment members had any previous training or experience in missile maintenance. They were trained at the Northrop factory in California and then returned to Amarillo to establish the training school for the Snark maintenance personnel.
  In January 1958, the Strategic Air Command began accepting delivery of Snark missiles at Patrick Air Force Base for training, and in 1959, the 702d Strategic Missile Wing was formed.
  On 27 May 1959, Presque Isle Air Force Base, Maine, the only Snark missile base, received its first missile. Ten months later, on 18 March 1960, a Snark missile went on alert status. A total of 30 Snarks are known to have been deployed.
  The 702nd Wing was not declared to be fully operational until February 1961. In March 1961, President John F. Kennedy declared the Snark to be "obsolete and of marginal military value", and on 25 June 1961, the 702nd Wing was inactivated.
  Many in the U.S. Military were surprised the Snark, due to its dubious guidance system, was ever operational.  In flight tests many were lost. A missile launched from Cape Canaveral in 1956 was supposed to fly to Puerto Rico and back flew so far off course that it was last seen on radar off the coast of Venezuela.  The wayward Snark missile was found somewhere in North-Eastern Brazil, in 1983. Many of those connected with the program commented in jest "That the Caribbean was full of 'Snark infested waters'."
caption: Aerial photo showing the Snark's nose-up attitude in flight
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