4 ms·
Until 1991, the surface navy did carry nuclear weapons, e.g. cruise missiles, nuclear anti-air missiles, nuclear depth charges, and tactical nuclear weapons for
by vilhelm_s 9y ago
Until 1991, the surface navy did carry nuclear weapons, e.g. cruise missiles, nuclear anti-air missiles, nuclear depth charges, and tactical nuclear weapons for aircraft on aircraft carriers. In 1991 these were offloaded, but until 2010 the attack submarines still had the capability of carrying nuclear cruise missiles (the nuclear tomahawk), although the missiles themselves were in storage. [1]
I still remember the 1980s when American navy ships visiting Europe were generally assumed to carry nuclear weapons (and caused protests), it was not so long ago.
[1] https://fas.org/blogs/security/2016/02/nuclear-weapons-at-sea/ https://fas.org/blogs/security/2016/02/nuclear-weapons-at-se...
- aoki 9y agoyes - "...neither confirm nor deny..."
- Simon_says 9y ago> nuclear depth charges Wow, that's one I haven't heard before. Sounds radical.
- angry_octet 9y agoASROC. It was a missile that IIRC went up to 40km, then plunged into the ocean, detonating at some depth. A countermeasure to nuclear cruise missile boats, which could launch from considerable distances.
- mikeash 9y agoIt’s an interesting consequence of the fact that nuclear bomb technology got really good well before electronics and computers did. There was a period of a decade or two where the ability to put a bomb close to a target wasn’t really there, but the ability did exist to make a small bomb with a really big bang. The solution is logical even if crazy: use a nuke, and then it’s ok if you can barely get the weapon within a quarter mile of your target. Thus we saw nuclear depth charges, nuclear torpedoes, nuclear anti-aircraft missiles, nuclear anti-missile missiles, and even nuclear bazookas.
- gsnedders 9y agoThe Royal Navy also frequently carried nuclear weapons until 1993, and this caused a bit of an issue with the Falklands War, as the UK was a signatory to the Treaty of Tlatelolco (the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean): the MoD long insisted that all nuclear weapons had been off-loaded before they set sail for the South Atlantic, but in 2003 admitted this was untrue[1], though still claimed they never reached territorial waters of any signatory country. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/dec/06/military.freedomofinformation https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/dec/06/military.fr...