I came across this on YouTube and thought it was worth sharing, because a lot of us love picking apart Napkinwaffe and other whacky weapons concepts.
Soviet Nuclear Battle Moles
- Thread starter Mike Stearns
- Start date
These cowardly weapons were secretly deployed in North America back during the Cold War. But the recall codes were lost during the chaos of the collapse of the Soviet Union. So these criminal weapons are still patrolling under the streets of all major North American cities awaiting their orders. I know because I hear them passing under my building during the quiet hours of the night. The civic authorities tell me it's only the subway but of course that's exactly what they would say. Isn't it?
Last edited:
Battle Beneath the Earth, made in 1967, bore this ground. Paranoia at it best. Invade from below!
Yeah, this is not an unheard of idea in science fiction, but I had no idea that anyone actually seriously thought about this while sober.
Marc
Donor
The closest thing might be the tramp freighter scenario; notably postulated by Herman Kahn many decades back (can't recall if he was still at Rand).
Bare bones of it was the idea that "China" (proxy for any other hostile state) would have X number of freighters with a nuclear device in the ballast. Things go very bad, and New York, etc, goes “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”.
Stealth before stealth. Doesn't require ultra tech, and rather hard to prevent.
Bare bones of it was the idea that "China" (proxy for any other hostile state) would have X number of freighters with a nuclear device in the ballast. Things go very bad, and New York, etc, goes “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”.
Stealth before stealth. Doesn't require ultra tech, and rather hard to prevent.
It occurs to me to wonder how detectable these things are. The video alluded to the idea of Soviet submarines dropping these things off the coast of California, with the idea of triggering earthquakes etc, but the whole west coast is wired up like a Christmas tree with seismographs. Wouldn’t they pick up the vibrations?
These cowardly weapons were secretly deployed in North America back during the Cold War. But the recall codes were lost during the chaos of the collapse of the Soviet Union. So these criminal weapons are still patrolling under the streets of all major North American cities awaiting their orders. I know because I hear them passing under my building during the quiet hours of the night. The civic authorities tell me it's only the subway but of course that's exactly what they would say. Isn't it?
Always remember that just because 'one is paranoid' does not mean that 'they' are not out to get you!
Those examples of "wunderwaffe" that never got past the "scribbled on the back of a napkin" stage because they were so stupid that even the Nazis didn't try to build them.
Considering that Kruschev had to say “um, no” to a doomsday device proposal of a huge cargo ship filled with hydrogen bombs, huge amounts of bomb grade uranium and plutonium and a hefty amount of radioactive cobalt to poison the world, little is truly impossible to imagine.
It's called a tunnel boring machine and it only moves like 10 meters per day. And is very noisy, uses tons of diesel fuel. We'd be, like, what are you doing? Stop that, or we'll drill a side shaft and flood your tunnel. Never mind, looks like you hit a sewer main, have fun with that.
Look up an old 1950s B movie called "Captain Scarface". A fine old Cold War melodrama featuring the idea you have mentioned.
Marc
Donor
Thanks, I had never heard of that film. Kahn died years ago, so no way to find out if he had heard of it or seen it.
The core idea still is around, but the understanding is that it would only occur within the context of a major war between the A list of nuclear powers.
Quite. If there were ANY basis for that video, people would be using the tech today for TBMs.
Heard of the Trojan Horse freighter idea before...
...A UK project to weld 9-Megaton bombs into the double bottoms of freighters sent to cause seabursts in coastal harbours of hostile foreign powers. Thankfully confined to thriller novels.
...A UK project to weld 9-Megaton bombs into the double bottoms of freighters sent to cause seabursts in coastal harbours of hostile foreign powers. Thankfully confined to thriller novels.