A nuclear ... shaped ... charge?
Oh, man, we GOTTA get one of those! That little monster would punch a hole straight through both sides of a fully armored planetoid!
Tech level? We seem to be on the brink of them now, but it'd be sad to see good ol' nukes obsolete before we hit space.
Actually, the US military could have had those little monsters in the late 1960's, not sure what Earth's tech level was back then.
They actually had a design for a freaking Orion nuclear-pulse-drive Battleship, armed with Casaba Howitzers, shooting spears of pure nuclear flame. They made the mistake of showing the model to President Kenney. Who was so horrified that he canceled the entire Orion project.
Check out the specs:
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/realdesigns.php#id--Project_Orion_Battleship
Keep in mind that this could be built with a 1960's tech level.
Personally I would not want to send a Traveller warship after that monstrocity unless the Traveller ship had a Black Globe generator.
