Cold War- nuclear attack on US airbases in UK

[Melvin Loh]

Idea inspired by watchin THE FOURTH PROTOCOL a cpl wks back: WI during the Cold War the Soviets did indeed attempt to use a KGB sleeper agent to secretly detonate a mini-nuke on the premises of a USAF base in England such as Greenham Common, Lakneheath.Mildenhall or Fylingdales, then blame the whole explosion ion an American nuclear accident ?

 

[Marky Bunny]

The Fourth Protocol the first "adult" novel that I raed when I was kid at the age of 14.
The book is better than the novel, and takes out the "Soviet Coup in the Labour Party" angle.
Of course in the book, the Soviet Plan is two fold, destroy Nato, and a Communist Britian following a Labour Win the General election.
One of the things about the novel, which was written in 1984, Forysth predicted the date on the 1987 General election, in which he was out by a week!!!

 

[Petros >Peter Fergus<]

I understand that it is possible to tell where a nuclear weapon was produced from the isotopes in the fallout. So the only way this would work is if the agent detonated one of the nukes on the base already. Arguably this would be simpler than smuggling a weapon into the country, but still a tall order.


I would say that Britain pulls out of NATO, not entirely, but in a France way. No more US nukes on British soil, though I doubt Britain would ever give up thier own. Anti-American hostility, obviously, but it would focus on the idea that the US is too irresponsible, not that they are evil or anything of the sort, so like OTL but moreso.


The real divergence comes if the plot is ever discovered. Would Britain be itching for a war? What if it was found out a decade later? The US would obviously want to avoid a conflict.

 

[kellineil]

The problem is that if a Soviet mini-nuke was used the USSR's involvement would rapidly become apparent, in which case the world would find out that the USSR had not only launched a covert nuclear strike on the 2nd most important member of NATO, but had tried to blame the most important member of NATO for it. I find it difficult to imagine this not rapidly leading to WW3

It's possible not only to determine which country produced nuclear material used in a bomb from the fallout produced, but which reactor produced it

 

[altamiro]

So the only way this would work is if the agent detonated one of the nukes on the base already.

Without subverting several layers of security on a massive scale, this is not possible. You cannot detonate a nuclear bomb like a conventional one; if you do anything wrong (i.e. according to very precise protocols, protected by multiple codes) the only thing that happens is nothing. OK, you can get it to explode conventionally and throw pieces of burning plutonium around the storage vault.

OTOH, for depicted political results this outcome is better than a full-scale nuclear explosion. Still a hell of a lot of clean-up, still an image of irresponsibility projected by the owner of the nuke but WW3 is not an immediate consequence.

 

[PMN1]

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=64758&highlight=Fourth+Protocol

 

[superkuf]

Apart from the isotope count, which should show that the bomb wasn't made with Western uran/plutonium and that elections probably would be suspended it is a matter of space.

The nuclear bombs at the airbase would be placed in a very deep and armored armory in the middle of the base. The agent would only be able to place the bomb _outside_ the base. It would quickly be noticed that the crater is
a) outside the base / very close to the fence of the base
and
b) that the armory is _not_ in the centre of the cratre
and
c) the detonation was in open air, not subterraran.

Not good for the accusation of self-detonating Yank nukes. Given that the agent didn't have some brilliant plan to get his nuke into the base - it was a long time since I read the book.

 

[Berra]

Now, there's a guy who know how to tell a good story.

Wouldn't it make more sence doing it in Germany? Less chance of a nuklear retaliation? Different political climate in Germany? Getting NATO of the WP border.

 

[PMN1]

You'd have conspiracy theorists saying it was a US plot using stolen Soviet nuclear material...mmhh, where were Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney at this time?

 

[PMN1]

If something like this did happen and labour had been voted in after saying they would throw the US out and de-nucelarise, what would be the effect on Labour support when analysis of the residue showed it could not have come from a US weapon?

 

[PMN1]

Going away a bit form the actual plot but before the 4th Protocol was published there was a similar book but it involved nuclear mines on board Soviet merchant ships, has anyone else read this and more importantly remembered the title or author?