First book of the summer finished just now: Nuclear War by Annie Jacobsen.
“Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11).
Nuclear bombs have taken man’s depraved violence to a whole new level. So much of the infrastructure for dealing with the actions (or supposed actions) of atomic nations is automated by computers or relies on men interpreting fidgety sensors. Jacobsen lays out every minute detail in her book. I had no idea how insanely precarious the situation is. That Putin said, yesterday, the West is wrong to assume Russia will never use nuclear weapons is disturbing, especially after reading this book.
I don’t think Americans have a proper sense of shame regarding the development of nuclear bombs, their use to kill hundreds of thousands of non-combatants, and the maniacal proliferation and precarious tactics of all atomic nations since the 1940s.
Dan Carlin interviewed her on his Hardcore History Addendum podcast. I agree with your, and their, assessment: we are not nearly aware enough of nuclear death.
…a nightmare weapon system. An object as dangerous to human existence as an incoming asteroid. These submarines are called many things: boomers, vessels of death, nightmare machines, handmaidens of the apocalypse. They are unlocatable and armed to the teeth. Each of the fourteen Ohio-class submarines in the U.S. aresenal can empty itself of up to eighty nuclear warheads in a minute and a half, and disappear.
Russia maintains a fleet of approximate parallel capability.
Fearsome and revered, they are masterpieces of engineering. Self-contained ecosystems that generate their own power, make their own oxygen and potable water, and can remain at sea, underwater, almost indefinitely, or until the crew runs out of food. Hidden from reconnaissance satellite, submarines move around the ocean with impunity. Because they have zero detectability, they’re immune from first-strike attack, or almost any attack, until they’re forced to surface upon return to port.
I read the submarine coming to Cuba is not armed with nukes, but who really knows…
