Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
For some reason, this reminds me of the attempted coup back in '44.
The newest export hit from Germany: home delivery porc. Put the meat into the nose-cone of a rocket, shoot into orbit, the porc is roasted to perfection during reentry. A precision guidance system makes sure that the payload is then delivered precisely to your home. Worldwide delivery. Guaranteed
And our newest product: Submarine delivered fried squid via ICBM
And our newest product: Submarine delivered fried squid via ICBM
Excellent story! I just caught up, but I was wondering if there was a map posted anywhere? Or would everything be displayed the same as OTL?
Actually "rumor has it" rather than fact. As far as anyone can tell, (and the US DID look quite closely) they were never in danger of 'losing' any (their people are just as professional as ours and JUST as worried about who'd get their hands on one if they did lose one) but it made great "press" for some folks.
Forgot that but the point is now 'worse' since England has openly shown what's possible and we (the US) already know the Germans have such weapons and this shows the possibility of world-wide delivery of same. Hence, TTL's "Sputnik" panic is going to be worse a LOT worse. And Truman should really have known what was going to happen when he brought up the subject. He's screwed up big-time if he thinks he's got any shot of getting re-elected again because both sides will use this to hammer him and while he may get the 'upgrades' he wants but the fallout from everything else will probably finish his administration off.
Randy
The US did that mostly for internal consumption due and PR to counter the lack of news from the Soviets. Like broadcasting "live" our failure during Vanguard
(Really we expected it to work as the earlier ones had and do you think we'd have done that if we actually though it could fail ) If politco's or the media 'back-home' start getting curious they might release some propaganda stuff but not go into great detail as despite the risk-mitigation, (and they are doing a lot) putting the candidates in front of the public and then "opps" killing them won't look at all good. I'm sure they will end up saying something in the near future but I'm thinking they won't actually announce anything till after they've done it.Randy
While there its the Kraut Scare, the general of the American Population and a good chunk of the common people in DC its ignorant still that the Germans ALSO have Nuclear Weapons. Truman and the higher ups on DC, and some parts of the Armed Forces's higher ups and officers are aware of it from years ago, but wisely have kept the fact out of sight and hearing.
As things go, i suspect that Truman its likely aiming to use the British idiocy of a Surface Nuclear Test to get the support to reactivate the Manhattan Project, get an American Nuke, detonate it, THEN possibly push to make the Germans admit their possession of Nuclear Weapons.
However like a well known German General said, no plan survives first contact with the enemy.
Unlike the Americans, the Germans here are more of first ACHIEVE things, THEN celebrate and decorate the pioneers in question. The hoopla would be possibly also because it would likely include historical names....Richthofen was by 1918 a household name, and by the time of the Soviet War a historical name...and now, even if in the Naval Aviation, another Richthofen becomes a legend, likely not only once, but possibly more times in the future, as i can imagine that the Germans would in order to defuse any past grudges and further unify Europe, invite Britain, France and Russia into the "Verne Project"...to put a Human being in the moon, as an example of what Humanity can do together if they can settle their past enmities and pool their knowledge.....And in a typically German way, to share the costs of the most expensive Human Travel in history....
True, but with the kraut scare and now probably a German flying in orbit over them, I think nasa or naca will get massive boost of money and maybe an attempt to catch up?The US did that mostly for internal consumption due and PR to counter the lack of news from the Soviets. Like broadcasting "live" our failure during Vanguard
Randy
The media will put the clues together sooner or later too, they are not morons and there are more than enough experts willing to speculate. Trying to keep it a secret only ensures that you have no control over the big scandal that is going to break any day now. Or worse, end up a villain in the narrative.
In the end there is no way to keep everyone in the know silent about it, especially because there are powerful interdepartmental rivalries involved who will be tempted to use this opportunity to secure funding for themselves. Basically this is a prisoner's dilemma. The first to defect can hope to score lots of points by championing the topic.
How? there its ONE Specialist Geologist in the US who actually has the understanding of HOW it would appear the specific seismographic pattern associated to a nuclear detonation, and the one that can confirm that such patterns came from a determined part of the planet at a determined date, and he's sworn to secrecy. Furthermore the very few people in the known, are tied of hands last time that i checked, because one thing its ambition, and another over 20 years of prison for letting secrets slip, for not talk of the ruin of said careers.
I seriously DOUBT they revealed the exact facts when they told the group of the Navy to realize the theoretical War Games about the potential effect of a German SSBN. They initially wargamed the premise of a loadout of Chemical Weapons or Thermobarics, and as a "theoretical exercise" the potential if the Missile carried a Nuclear Warhead...but mentioning that the Krauts have already Nukes, no way in hell that they confirmed even remotely the information outside of the Secretary and Undersecretary of the Navy, the CNO and VCNO of the USNAVY and a few Admirals.
Both sides have managed to lose their fair share of nuclear weapons.
http://www.atomicarchive.com/Almanac/Brokenarrows_static.shtml
The world already knows that the Germans have atomic weapons as it made the news with their second test.
Geologists have studied the seismic recordings from the first tests and know that it was man made and not a natural phenomenon that created those readings.
There was apparently one geologist who knew immediately that the first test was an atomic blast but other geologists would come to that conclusion as the theory of atomic weapons is known ITTL as it was IOTL.
As for the Americans, they have already restarted their program as President Truman hid the budget for it in the massive Transportation Legislation and in other programs budgets.
What is taking the Americans so long in getting their own devices is they first have to get the personals together and have them better vetted this time around, IOTL security clearances were given to people who should have not gotten them in the first place but they were deemed necessary for the project.
The Oak Ridge Laboratories and the Hanford Reactor has to restarted to make the plutonium for the devices.
There has been investigations and analysis of the first program and it was posted by Peabody-Martini that the program was sabotaged and the implosion device would have worked if it wasn't sabotaged.
Geologists have studied the seismic recordings from the first tests and know that it was man made and not a natural phenomenon that created those readings.
There was apparently one geologist who knew immediately that the first test was an atomic blast but other geologists would come to that conclusion as the theory of atomic weapons is known ITTL as it was IOTL.
As for the Americans, they have already restarted their program as President Truman hid the budget for it in the massive Transportation Legislation and in other programs budgets.
What is taking the Americans so long in getting their own devices is they first have to get the personals together and have them better vetted this time around, IOTL security clearances were given to people who should have not gotten them in the first place but they were deemed necessary for the project.
The Oak Ridge Laboratories and the Hanford Reactor has to restarted to make the plutonium for the devices.
There has been investigations and analysis of the first program and it was posted by Peabody-Martini that the program was sabotaged and the implosion device would have worked if it wasn't sabotaged.