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800 page US nuclear target list document from 1956 declassified for the first time

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Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but the US wanted to always be a step ahead of the Soviets and began mass producing weapons before we even had the capability of delivering those weapons.
We did make more than we could realistically deliver. But the Soviets had agents all the way up and weren't far behind. There was a short period where there is a chance that Operation Unthinkable could have been a success, but it would have meant turning Eastern Europe into a nuclear wasteland.
 

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE

Uh, wow. I knew about the incident, but not the context.

The incident occurred at a time of severely strained relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. Only three weeks earlier, the Soviet military had shot down a South Korean passenger jet, Korean Air Lines Flight 007, that had strayed into Soviet airspace, killing all 269 people on board.[1] Many Americans were killed, including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald.[2]

Russia had just killed civilians and a Congressman. Then their early warning systems noted some nuclear launches, and we were essentially saved by the fact that there weren't enough launch readings, so Petrov figured it wasn't a real first strike.

Fuck.


Jesus, Yelstin literally had his finger on the trigger in this one.
 
There is also this incident that I think is the most well known close encounter during the Cuban Missile Crisis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov

Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov (Russian: Василий Александрович Архипов) (30 January 1926 – 19 August 1998) was a Soviet Navy officer who prevented a nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Only Arkhipov, as flotilla commander and second-in-command of the nuclear-armed submarine B-59, refused to authorize the captain's use of nuclear torpedos against the United States Navy, a decision requiring the agreement of all three senior officers aboard. In 2002 Thomas Blanton, who was then director of the National Security Archive, said that "a guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world".
 

BigDes

Member
I read an article a while back that talked about all the near misses we had with total annihilation. Like one time the super hotline to moscow NORAD has went down and shit got tense and the only reason it was resolved calmly was that there was a visiting soviet general that straighten shit out.
There was also that Soviet submarine commander who received erroneous orders to launch missiles. Thankfully he refused.

Then there was the Swedish high altitude weather balloon from a few years ago which drifted into russian airspace and triggered automated sefense warnings cause the radar profile looked like an incoming icbm
 

diamount

Banned
There was also that Soviet submarine commander who received erroneous orders to launch missiles. Thankfully he refused.

Then there was the Swedish high altitude weather balloon from a few years ago which drifted into russian airspace and triggered automated sefense warnings cause the radar profile looked like an incoming icbm

Yeah, I think it would be easy to confirm if a warhead was coming your way these days.
 

Steiner84

All 26 hours. Multiple times.
is there a map of the targets or is the list searchable somehow?

i mean, yeah there is a map, but there arent even close to 800 on it..
 
I wonder, does the U.S president still have someone near him that carries around the nuclear launch codes so that the president could authorise its usage if needed? i.e The "nuclear football" or perhaps they have some other method now?
 

fixed because it's the only way to be sure

YGS5b50.png
 

Pomerlaw

Member
Some of you guys are talking like the risk doesn't exist anymore.

Look at the tensions between Russia and Turkey right now. What if Turkey shoots down another Russian plane?

I know there a far less nukes out there right now, but still enough to destroy both the US and Russia and half Europe...
 
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