Originally Posted by
friartuck
I think kenv is right... you let the N cat out of the bag and all bets are off
nuke maybe 8000 people and god knows how many zillion dollars worth of kit..... no political system anywhere could stand by and not retaliate....
Retailiate, yes, but what target?
Destruction of a nuclear asset by non nuclear means is still retaliation. You could boil a bit of sea but an SSN has a greater chance of a confirmed kill and of course why stop at one?
Nuking a CVS with any certainty is not as easy as it sounds. Penetrating the defensive screen is not easy. Launching a 'barrage' of SSM/ASM might give a greater assurance of at least one hit, but would they want to salvo off all their missiles in one blow? Of course there is the question of use it or lose it.
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In one paper exercise, pre-Able Archer, a subordinate commander sought first use ofva nuclear weapon to stop the Red advance. SACEUR got authorisation for nuclear release. We were surprised that the target list was 50 targets; it certainly showed the thinking at star level.