What would nuclear war look like?

[Ohmnomnom]

Trigger warning Not for anyone feeling anxious about impending doom.

Purely for hypothetical speculation.

Who would hit first and where? What are the major European targets? Could Russia reach the US with nuclear weapons?

Would a nuclear bomb in London be felt in Scotland? Would China get involved? I'm curious how it would all play out.

What actually is the point of this thread? Fear mongering?

I live near to Faslane and Coulport naval bases. I'm not sure whether that makes us more or less of a target

Quite tired at best it is in very poor taste..

You need potassium something tablets. We have some. Clorinate?

You take one a day.

When I was doing my GCSEs we read Z for Zachariah, Children of the Dust and When the Wind Blows (same illustrator as The Snowman) Utterly terrified me. Don’t fancy living through the fall out.

@DobbyTheHouseElk

You need potassium something tablets. We have some. Clorinate?

You take one a day.

When I was doing my GCSEs we read Z for Zachariah, Children of the Dust and When the Wind Blows (same illustrator as The Snowman) Utterly terrified me. Don’t fancy living through the fall out.

If you're interested in surviving a nuclear war then I can highly recommend - after a decade of being terrified of it in the 1980s - not starting one in the first place. Just don't.

If there is a nuclear attack would going under your home help if there's space down there, or would it just delay the inevitable.

@hilbil21

If there is a nuclear attack would going under your home help if there's space down there, or would it just delay the inevitable.

Not really.

All this talk of "Z for Zachariah" reminds me how fucking brilliant the BBC used to be and how we haven't anything even remotely as good as "Play for Today" in 2022. Who remembers Dominic Hyde and his flipside ?

I think we ALL know what a nuclear attack would look like, most of us have actually been to school after all.

My school was in a nice leafy suburb, nice red brick buildings, quite pleasent in fact, looked nothing like ground zero of a nuclear strike.

Also I went to school (albeit in Scotland which may be different to England) between 1985 and 1996 and I never got taught anything involving nuclear war. I find threads like this interesting. Would rather know than not know.

@Thoosa

I think some sensible Russian aide would kill him if he actually tried to tip us all into MAD.

This is way too optimistic. What have we learned over the last decade if it's not that almost nobody ever does anything to stop these people. Almost nobody is prepared to sacrifice themselves in any way. And if someone did attempt to stop Putin literally as he put his finger on the button, on the basis that there really was nothing to lose and it might save his family, some brainwashed nutter would shoot them.

I hope that if Putin attempts to use nuclear weapons somebody will take him out first. Surely people all over the world are very aware that just a few nuclear weapons could cause an extinction event or at least make human life next to impossible for many years (widespread radiation levels and a nuclear winter would affect crops and all food production for decades), so nobody will use them.

I feel very sorry for the Ukrainian people, they don't deserve this. From what I have read online, they only armed themselves in case of Russian invasion, they never had any intention to invade Russia, they were no threat to Russia. I can't imagine how terrified they must feel. They have lived in fear of Russia for years and now the worst is happening.

I have mixed feelings about whether the UK should get involved by offering military support. In some ways, Ukraine has little to do with us, but it seems wrong to stand by when a democratic country is being invaded by another country run by a madman. Also, history has shown that madmen are not always content with invading one country. If we step in quickly, along with other NATO countries, perhaps that will nip things in the bud. On the other hand, it will also make us a target, for nuclear and biological weapons. It is all very frightening.

To those asking why this thread topic was brought up today of all days, well surely that's obviously the point - it wasn't anything like as relevant even this time yesterday.

I've got friends shouting me down for daring to discuss the situation at all today, it's interesting, those of us who cope by talking, watching and reading about things and those whose reaction is to stick their fingers in their ears.

@Hospedia

Basically if a nuclear bomb was to land in the UK you would be best off packing your family into the car and driving towards the mushroom cloud so that you have a quick death rather than a long drawn out one featuring radiation sickness, burns, starvation, and other fun times.

Indeed. The lucky ones will die straight away. These are dark days. Hopefully we can get through it.

Peace.

It would look like a flash of light and then nothingness. If it's going to happen it better be quick, that way I don't need to pay my rent next month.

@Ohmnomnom

Trigger warning Not for anyone feeling anxious about impending doom.

Purely for hypothetical speculation.

Who would hit first and where? What are the major European targets? Could Russia reach the US with nuclear weapons?

Would a nuclear bomb in London be felt in Scotland? Would China get involved? I'm curious how it would all play out.

Watch the film "Threads". Absolutely terrifying depiction of nuclear war on civilians in England.

I've got friends shouting me down for daring to discuss the situation at all today, it's interesting

I should think they are probably ex friends by now. Your friends are shouting you down with good reason, I note the plural element. Here you can find others that contemplate that end for themselves and others on a day like today. Lucky you.

That isn’t actually true. If one was dropped on London it would have significant consequences spreading up to around Northampton. But you could be in other areas of the uk and not be directly affected. If you were in Durham for example you wouldn’t be piling your kids in the car to drive down to your doom, you’d be dealing with the numerous consequences of the destruction of a large area of the country but you could carry on living.

Watch Threads

There was a programme back in the early 80's when we all thought nuclear war was likely. I can't remember the name of it, but it was suggested hiding under a mattress would aid our survival 🤦‍♀️. I'm sure I didn't imagine this.

The lucky ones will die straight away

There won't be enough living to bury the dead.

During the black death, Nostradamus wrote of seeing a person sew themselves into their own burial shroud as they knew there would be no one once they died.

If one was dropped on London it would have significant consequences spreading up to around Northampton. But you could be in other areas of the uk and not be directly affected

Well the total loss of telecoms might not affect people. Or all the complex control systems that use those telecoms. Plus the loss of power and gas and water (not that you'd want to drink it).

Can we just agree that any nuclear bomb and it's curtains. Let's not continue the already outdated in the 1960s idea that it's possible to have a naice nuclear war ? There's no suck thing as a Waitrose nuke.

Remember Chernobyl was a very low-power incident and still managed to cause considerable disruption to the UK.

I did say there would be numerous consequences. But I don’t think normal human behaviour would be to drive your children into the heart of the radiation if you were outside of the area affected. You’d actually probably fight to keep them as safe as possible

local rich guy built a nuclear bunker mid 1980's. The whole town knows where it is - everyone. Would be carnage with people charging to get in it if there was a hint of nuclear attack. What would be the point though? Live your days out in a bunker - (if you manage to infiltrate it) - for what?

@User76745333

I did say there would be numerous consequences. But I don’t think normal human behaviour would be to drive your children into the heart of the radiation if you were outside of the area affected. You’d actually probably fight to keep them as safe as possible

People do very weird things under pressure.

I've just been reading about the Hiroshima bomb, Little Boy. It says the firestorm was 3.2 kilometres in diameter, and lethal radius for radiation reached 1.3km from the firestorm area. Also this from Wikipedia :
Over 6,000 people survived the blast and fire, but died of radiation injuries.[59] Among injured survivors, 30% had radiation injuries[63] from which they recovered, but with a lifelong increase in cancer risk.[64][65] To date, no radiation-related evidence of heritable diseases has been observed among the survivors' children

I wonder how much more lethal the modern bombs are.