mmm…lets state a hypothetical scenario…the setting is during the cold war.
The continental United States comes under an all out nuclear attack by the Soviet Union, and they were caught unaware. Virtually every person on American soil was vaporized. Shortly after, massive soviet armour divisions spearheaded an advance into Western Europe, and within a week, Europe falls under Soviet rule. Ok with that aside…
Now, somewhere under the Barents Sea, lies an American SSBN (submarine, ballistic missile, nuclear powered). Lets say it’s the first of the Ohio class, USS Ohio SSBN-726. That leaves it armed with 24 UGM-133 Trident II D5 SLBMs (submarine launched ballistic missiles), each containing 8 W-88 thermonuclear MIRVs (multiple independently-targeted re-entry vehicles) with a 475 kiloton yield per MIRV. Coming to periscope depth for its weekly instructions from shore based COMSUBLANT (Submarine command, Atlantic fleet), they received no transmissions, military or civilian, from the continental United States or any friendly nations.
Under Contingency 12 (war plan document of what to do when all out nuclear war commences), which states if a missile submarine commander becomes convinced that the United States has fallen victim to a surprise nuclear strike, he is fully authorized to retaliate on his own, with no orders from the Pentagon or White House, as SSBNs do not have PALs (preventive action interlocks), unlike US Air Force strategic bombers or US Army nuclear silos, which require authorization to fire.
Unsure of whether the US has come under nuclear attack, the commanding officer of the Ohio consulted his crew. The decision was made. The helmsman positioned the Ohio at launch depth, and prepared to fire its entire battery of 24 SLBMs, containing 192 nuclear warheads, at every major soviet city. Even the distant city of Vladivostok was targeted. If done right, the Soviet Union and its people would be nothing but smoldering craters, just like what the United States has become after a nuclear attack.
As the final preparations were made, all the commanding officer could do was pray. Even if everything went according to plan, there’d still be the dilemma of whether he did the right thing, whether he would ever see his family again, whether they could reach any friendly port, whether they could evade soviet hunter-killer submarines…
I feel that way. You all know why.
well. a general in the US Marines, General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller , once said during the korean war:
"They are in front of us, behind us, and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29:1. They can't get away from us now!"- Lt.Gen Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC
When the Marines were cut off behind enemy lines and the Army had written the 1st Marine Division off as being lost because they were surrounded by 22 enemy divisions. The Marines made it out inflicting the highest casualty ratio on an enemy in history and destroying 7 entire enemy divisions in the process. An enemy division is 16500+ men while a Marine division is 12500 men.
and i'm still pinning my hope on those five words.
adun toridas =)
