From 1962, to 1991, would Ireland, the Republic, and the Northern, be hit by any nuclear warheads, and what would be the aftereffect?
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Ireland in a nuclear war and aftermath
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There were plenty spread out but I think there would only be a couple of major bases, I think Belfast and the Shipyard would be more likely a target.
Pangur
Donor
Yep, that's quite the case. In the south Shannon, Cork and Dublin were targets. We have the full evidence for Shannon and the other two add up. The objective was to deny the use of them to anyone
According to Soviet sources Ulster would have received five bombs, Belfast was first on the Soviet hitlist, alongside Ballykelly army barracks and the former US naval facilities at Lishally, both outside Derry. They would also hit the airfield at St Angelo near Enniskillen as well as the US Navy transmitters along the Sperrin mountains that span Derry and Tyrone. I've read that the Soviets also planned to hit Eire with a handful of nuclear weapons, to render them unable to assist a British recovery, though evidence for this is harder to come by.
Delta Force
Banned
Shannon International Airport would certainly be targeted. It's a strategic link between North America and Europe, akin to Gander in its importance on the European side of the Atlantic.
theirishdreamer
Banned
hmmm
From memory Shannon was envisioned to be a target along with a half dozen Northern bases by NATO - Dublin wasn't on the list from what I remember or o NATO thought anyway.
We did draw up
The Strategic Importance of Ireland to the UK in Times of War
http://www.independent.ie/irish-new...reland-was-ready-to-help-out-uk-26806742.html
http://www.thejournal.ie/world-war-iii-no-problem-half-a-million-irish-will-fight-it-317109-Dec2011/
Can't find the my original reference (links gone down from looks of it)
From memory Shannon was envisioned to be a target along with a half dozen Northern bases by NATO - Dublin wasn't on the list from what I remember or o NATO thought anyway.
We did draw up
The Strategic Importance of Ireland to the UK in Times of War
http://www.independent.ie/irish-new...reland-was-ready-to-help-out-uk-26806742.html
http://www.thejournal.ie/world-war-iii-no-problem-half-a-million-irish-will-fight-it-317109-Dec2011/
Can't find the my original reference (links gone down from looks of it)
IIRC RAF Ballykelly near Coleraine, was another likely target as was the former radar station at Bishopscourt near Downpatrick. At the height of the Troubles the sheer amount of British Army bases in NI would probably have meant that the most important ones would also have been on the receiving end.
This chilling map shows how Northern Ireland was marked for nuclear Armageddon during the Cold War. We have highlighted the Russian battle plan as the lines are drawn for a ‘second Cold War’ between the West and Iran, after a secret weapons plant was uncovered in the rogue state last week.
These targets were pinpointed in the province in 1980 in case the Kremlin decided to conquer the UK, according to the book ‘Do You Want to Die for Nato?’ by Irish journalist Patrick Comerford.
If they had launched hideous atomic weapons at just one of their targets, the fall-out would have laid waste to the province.
We reveal the Soviet battle plan today as Barack Obama battles to rid the world of devastating nukes.
Comerford said that at the same time the Soviets drew their map, British defence experts held secret maps in Belfast during the 1980s showing the spots they thought were likely to be hit by doomsday attacks.
Belfast was first on the Soviet hitlist — with the city and international airports
marked for attack.
Ballykelly army barracks and the former US naval facilities at Lishally, both around Co Londonderry, were also marked down.
And an airfield at St Angelo near Enniskillen, regularly used by the US airforce in World War Two, was marked for destruction by Russians.
To top it off, the Sperrin mountains that span Derry and Tyrone were primed for atomic holocaust because they were home to US Navy transmitters.
In British intelligence maps, Comerford says RAF facilities in Bishopscourt, Downpatrick, were open to attack, along with army transmission hotspots in Antrim and Derry.
A sea strike at Inishtrahull off the Donegal coast was also predicted, as was the bombing of military headquarters in Lisburn.
And, with its military communications facilities, Omagh was regarded as a top target for the Reds in the event of nuclear war.
Comerford revealed the Soviets were most likely to have used the one-megaton SS-4 missile or an SS-11 intercontinental ballistic torpedo.
Both warheads have a terrifying nuclear payload 50 times worse than the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945.
Comerford said: “The strategic position of Ireland, the facilities offered by ports and airports, and the fuel stocks make it highly likely that Ireland will be a target.”
He said the Republic was just as much at risk as Northern Ireland.
Comerford wrote his anti-war book in 1984, but his warnings are now more relevant than ever.
Last week, Barack Obama and other world leaders joined forces in the fight to stop Iran producing nuclear weapons.
The rogue state, headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has long been named the world’s next nuclear threat, but things have now come to a head after spooks discovered a secret weapons plant hidden deep in a mountain.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/s...dden-threat-to-northern-ireland-28497656.html
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Pretty much every airport capable of handling cargo planes in the North Atlantic would be on the Soviet hit list.
Pangur
Donor
Which was one reason why I mentioned Cork and Dublin. The other thing is that the Soviets were not exactly short of nukes
Exactly, Ireland was in range and may have had the capacity to assist British recovery. It would make sense to hit major centres.
Belfast would be hit by a small warhead or two, and any NATO military forces or bases would also be hit. Beyond that, I do not know.
It has long been the policy of the Republic of Ireland to remain neutral. They did not join NATO, though they remained aloof from the Non-Aligned Movement, and had an openly anti-Communist stance. This may earn them a hit when the bombs begin to fall. It is possible Soviet planners may want to deny use of Irish ports to NATO warships and transports on a "just in case" basis.
It has long been the policy of the Republic of Ireland to remain neutral. They did not join NATO, though they remained aloof from the Non-Aligned Movement, and had an openly anti-Communist stance. This may earn them a hit when the bombs begin to fall. It is possible Soviet planners may want to deny use of Irish ports to NATO warships and transports on a "just in case" basis.
From what this thread indicates...fat lot of good it would have done them.
The neutrality? Indeed. I think the Republic of Ireland would have been spared nuclear strikes directly, if only at first. Refugees flooding in from Northern lands would have strained the local economy, along with other impacts brought on by Northern Ireland being struck repeatedly. Eventually, the Soviets would like begin to see the Irish as a NATO ally by default, and would hit them in the second or third wave of big strikes.
Even if the Soviets never hit the Irish Republic directly, the fallout and other afflictions brought about from the strikes against Northern Ireland would have a horrendous impact.
Pangur
Donor
No way - Shannon would have been hit and hit early to deny it to NATO. As for neutrality, that would have meant nothing in a ww3