If a nuclear missle hit...

[GeneralSnake]

All I know, is that where I live, I doubt that someone would throw a nuke at us. The thing I have to worry about occasionally is floods (rarely), tsunamis (never), earthquakes (Never felt one as long as I lived here), and school (everyday)...LOL. So not much for me to worry about let alone a nuke.

I have heard and really see it as possible, that if someone nuked the San Andreas fault line California would sink into the ocean. And I believe that. It doesnt seem too unreasonable to me.

[rusty99]

In my day to day life, I don't fear nuclear strikes; probably because I don't buy into the fear mongering done by the current adminstration.

I took a nuclear weapon proliferation class from someone that has "been there and done that," (and still does from time to time), and he'll be the first to tell you that not only is it not "fear mongering," but that a lot more needs to be done, and that both the R's and the D's are to blame.

Some of us are old enough to remember The Cuban Missile Crisis. This was the closest the world has gotten to nuclear war................so far.
Apache

There is some debate on if we came closer then or during Operation RYAN/Able Archer situation. Long story short for those that don't know, the Soviet Union was worried about a first strike taking place, so they tasked the KGB with Operation RYAN (the acronym for nuclear missile attack) to look for signs of a western first strike. Able Archer, a NATO exercise was being conducted in 1983, was to simulate the release of nuclear weapons, from high level leadership positions on down. In short, these two situations nearly lead to the Soviet Leadership to execute their own first strike to preempt what they thought that we were going to do.

In response to another post, if you think you're safe because of where you live, you're probably neglecting something. The Soviets still have enough to hit just about anything they want in the absolute worst case scenario, and you'd probably be surprised at what they would go after. Got a municipal or county level airport with a longish runway? Got a technology company that has anything whatsoever to do with anything military or scientific in nature? Got something like in my town of Bowie, Maryland, where we happen to have the Census' super computing facility? Seemingly innoculous stuff like that are all targets. My dad's house is less than a mile from a MD National Guard airfield and Lockheed Martin facility, so I'm used to living by targets. You can't think about it too much, or you go insane.

From my former prof, he estimates that about half of the ICBMs the Russians have wouldn't even leave the tubes, and half of those that did wouldn't even made it to their target, and then some of those wouldn't hit what they are suppose to, but those that are left are still several times the number they would need to hit everything they would want to hit.

I have heard and really see it as possible, that if someone nuked the San Andreas fault line California would sink into the ocean. And I believe that. It doesnt seem too unreasonable to me.

And you would be right - Cali is never going to go into the ocean (it's a Strike-slip fault, meaning that it goes sideways, not one side under the other). It may end up in Alaska someday, but it won't fall in the ocean.

[thedeadlyassassin]

I'm going to be just straight up honest here. I'm an asshole, I like things like Natural disasters, war, it just interests me. Just lucky not too many people are like me. If a tornado hits here, I'll be the guy saying "Cool" and try to get to it instead of running away (of course, I'm not a retard that's going to go beyond the boundaries and get myself killed, my life is more important to me then my interests)

When 9/11 happened, sure I felt sad, it sucks! we were attacked by a bunch of maniacs, but it interested me and caught my attention, I wanted to get into it... in other words I wanted to be there, of course not dying however.

I love the thrill.


What I say that was so scary was the dream was so accurate. Looking out on the balcony, everything in my dream was actually there. That house, that tree, that red light from the radio tower... all was there. Running from the shockwave... everything was there.

[drunken_chef]

as he said. California is never going to "fall" into the ocean. that's geologically impossable.

[thedeadlyassassin]

I think if the world ever ends it will be before California ever goes near Alaska, unless we had a MASSIVE Earthquake, bigger than 9.9 if that's possible, and that might just speed things up a bit, and believe me if that happened a lot of us would die on the west coast. Not to mention yellowstone would probably erupt again before that happened, causing massive extinctions.


Hell it won't happen in our lifetime, but someday LA will be right next to San Fransisco

[GeneralSnake]

So it would just float around slowly, not sink? That is kind of cool.

[drunken_chef]

So it would just float around slowly, not sink? That is kind of cool.

do you actually think islands float?

[GeneralSnake]

No, that was just my(idiots) way of saying.. I dont even know how to say it, like, drift around, no.. see. It would move around tectonically. something like that. Someone else explain it, I know some of you know what I mean.

[thedeadlyassassin]

Floats on molten rock... also known as magma... or is it lava? Or am I just completely wrong?

[xGoblin013x]

its magma... lava is when it comes out. So, yeah it does kinda float around, but its like bread floating on a petri dish... wierd comparison.

Anyway, back to nukes. Yeah, everyone is fear-mongering. Every country on earth hates each other in some way or another... wont be long before some half-wit decides to detonate a nuke.
Oh, and I think the Soviets lost something close to 10,000 nukes after they dissolved (someone check that). So, it wont be too hard for someone to get ahold of them if they have the money and ability to move them.

Well, as long as it comes down right on top of me, I wont care too much. No mutations please

[killa_zn]

I live about a mile from Langley air force base... key points FTL

[Hawkeye426]

Just for reference guys in a purely theoretical world if we were to be nuked by any foreign power it would be devastating, however not to an extent that we could not recover, its important to remember all that if a first strike was to be launched there is no country in the world that is better equipped to retaliate. We have the ICBMs the SLBMs the B61, and B83 Tactical/ Strategic bomb (Can be carried by B1, B2, of B52), and the Tomahawk Cruise missiles, not to mention the Patriot missile defense system that while untested has a reasonable chance of success, in defending key installations. More over you can bet everything you own that if a country did have the guts to nuke us, in less than 23 minutes that country would cease to exist. (So would most of the countries surrounding it.) Anyways this discussion is irrelevant because not country on earth is that stupid. The only real threat is of a terrorist cell, which is also less likely than normal because any countries that might ordinarily aid the cell would want to distance them selves for fear of retaliation. In the end its best not to worry about these things because if it come to us being wiped out you can be sure as hell we would drag the rest of the world down with us.
BTW
(I used a Trident Missile as an example for the time estimate.
Max Range = 7000Miles Speed 18000mph Therefore response time of 23.3 Minutes)

[JohnyRico0]

I would never even notice a war. I live in a town called Silverdale. Six miles south is Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, WA. It's home to the northwest carrier fleet and a major repair facility. Three miles north is Bangor Nuclear Sub base and the Trident refit facility. It's home to death. I pretty much live between targets 1a and 1b.

[unorignal]

W00 Arizona Bay talk, learn to swim!

[Rand{CLR}]

10,000 is way, way too high. At the height of the 80s, I think the most they had was somewhere around 45,000. At absolute most probably a hundred, but that's the nightmare scenario. Most likely 0-5 would have gone missing. Anything much beyond that, and one of them would have been used by now.

However, all bets are off on missing fissible material. There probably WAS enough of that lost to make some warheads, but ideally it ended up with people who don't have the technical know-how to make it go boom. That, and all those Russian nuclear scientists with families to feed are more likely to lead to a terrorist bomb than a nation-state's support. Even Iran isn't quite so stupid as to hand a working bomb to Hezbollah. Kim Jong-Il though? He MAY be crazy enough to sell one.

-Rand

P.S. I live just east of DC, a few miles from Andrews, the Naval Academy, Ft. Meade/NSA, etc. I'm not lasting any longer than the Bremerton/Norfolk guys. Actually, I'm more likely to snuff it fast, because of the chance of decapitation strike or the symbology involved in D.C.

P.P.S. Patriots have an almost nil chance of taking down an ICBM (there's always the possibility of chance). They're not designed to take out something moving at 17,000 miles per hour and coming directly from space, even with the upgrades. Besides, the only fixed installation areas in the U.S. I know of at the moment are Nellis, and unnamed locations around Washington. The Standard Mk2 upgrades have a better chance, if you've got an Aegis ship sitting around, and we do have those 10 (may be 20 by now) anti missile silos up in Alaska...fat lot of good they're going to do.