As a Bucc QWI of some vintage a quick read through these pages leads me to conclude that there is an awful lot of BBC journalist-type guess work on this thread with regard to the Buccaneer, its weapons and their capability.
First. Maritime Buccaneers were NEVER fitted with SNEB. The FAA Buccs used 2" Rockets as did those on 12 Sqn in my day during the 70s. However, RAFG Buccaneers used SNEB Rockets but never against ships.
Second. The 2" Rocket had much more power and punch than SNEB - 36 Rx per Pod as oppose to 19 in an Op SNEB Pod. ASuW Buccs did not use Rx against capital ships, they were designed to be used to flood the sea around a flotilla of manoeuvring FPBs in the Skaggerak and Kattegat mainly.
Third. The Long Toss Manoeuvre, designed for the release of the WE177 when not delivered in a laydown mode, gave sufficient time for the aircraft to complete its escape manoeuvre and be well established back at 100ft over the 'oggin and at 580 kts egressing away from the detonation. Yes, the blast wave would eventually catch you up but we had methods to cope with that and knew when to expect it. However, the fallout would not catch you and the flash was overcome by wearing an eye patch (yes folks that's true) to protect vision in at least one eye.
Fourth. THE NATO standard for Medium Toss was 300 ft and the Buccaneer's automatic analogue system could routinely put a practice bomb well inside that and much closer to the target too if the system was well harmonised. When using Medium Toss against capital ships a stick of weapons would be tossed from each aircraft resulting in 24 weapons being thrown against a single target from a 6-ship formation. Now, if you want me to elaborate on Weapon Effort Planning and the number of aircraft required to achieve a particular Pk then I can do but can it wait for another day please!
Fifth. Varitoss was a manual toss attack dependent upon a clockwork timer set by the navigator and used initially to release LEPUS Flares in the dark and, I think but I was never Fleet Air Arm, Bullpup missiles. Imagine this, pitch black, over the Kattegat, FPBs manouevring in all directions, 2 Buccaneers in Arrow formation at 300 feet over the black 'oggin, stars in the sky but no moon, ships lights blinking below you, both Buccs carrying LEPUS and pods of 2", First Bucc pulls up and releases 1 million candela of light whilst the 2nd Bucc dives and sprays the FPBs (towing a splash target in peacetime) with his load whilst he then pulls up, re-jiggles the pair and chucks his lepus skywards whilst his ertswhile leader then dives against the splash target before they both recover back to height and congratulate each other on not becoming another statistic! Bloody disorientating but excellent fun - and all in the dark!
Sixth. TV MARTEL was an open ocean weapon. It was fired from 100 feet at 10nms from the predicted target position (maybe visible on the Bucc's Blue Parrot). After launch it climbed to 2,000ft and cruised towards the target area. Using a mini hand controller on the RHS of the cockpit the navigator could step the missile left, right, up and down by pre-determined distances or heights until he captured the target on the small TV Screen between his knees. By then Selecting Terminal Phase the missile entered a pre-programmed 8 degree dive angle which the navigator could control with the joystick whilst he attempted to fly his Mx into the target. Get shallow and the Mx would mush into the sea short. Too steep could be disastrous to control. There are no terrain masking issues as only a fool would plan to attack a ship in a fjord on an attack heading that would bring terrain masking into play! There were definitely no 'land return issues'.
Seventh. Terrain masking will NOT cause SNEB or 2" Rx an issue. Both weapons were released in a 10 degree dive from about 1500 feet. If there are any terrain issues then I'm afraid that the aircraft is going to hit it!
Eighth. The Sverdlov was not a destroyer but a cruiser. More importantly it was a very potent cruiser and the biggest Soviet Navy vessel of its day. Its very existence in the 50s was the reason for the Navy writing Naval Aircraft Requirement 39 - the result being Blackburn's NA39 project - more commonly known as the Buccaneer.
Ninth. Tourist - I fear you protest too much. I did 4 years ship bashing on 12 Sqn in the 70s and the number of times we managed to 'splash' ship targets undetected on Northern Merger and Ocean Safari would require me to take off my shoes and socks and yours too, no doubt, to assist with the counting. Moreover, when simulating TV MARTEL we always flew the missile profile after launch rather than conduct the escape manoeuvre in order to allow the ships to carry out their Air Raid Red drills and to bring their FC radars to bear on the Buccs. Signal traffic was always interesting afterwards as claims were only ever made by the ships after the Buccaneers, under normal Mx release circumstances, would have been long gone from the scene. When this was pointed out to them the RN would always use the excuse - 'ah well, but there is no air threat at sea!' Of course, in the mid-70s that was so. The Sovs had not developed an aircraft carrier other than the Moskva which was a through-deck cruiser fitted only with helos. So the RN always claimed a moral victory. AND THEN CAME THE FALKLANDS WAR AND THE REST, AS THEY SAY, IS HISTORY!
Hope that helps and please come back if anybody needs a further update on the Buccaneer's capabilities or if I've got something wrong!
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