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.

They used the data from Hiroshima to tweak Nagasaki.

Remember modern warheads are MIRV (now there's an acronym I never thought I'd be typing in 2022 ...) and can be something like 10 loads of 400Kilotonnes per warhead.

I really wouldn't be making any plans for after one of those being launched.

@DobbyTheHouseElk it's the iodide rather than the potassium that's helpful in protecting from one aspect of radioactive contamination that of the thyroid by swamping the potential radioactive iodine.

I recall the days when the UK had locations likely to be targeted lby the USSR in the 60s-80s like the industrial cities of Sheffield. I wonder what industrial or economic locations would be targeted now, the cargo ships en route from China?

Would Londonigrad be safe or would the Oligarchs and those holding property on behalf of ... be expected to take one for the team?

I can imagine various Northern cities waving their metaphorical fists in the air if they are ignored but Manchester or Leeds are in line.

I wonder if having a team still in the Champions League would provide some metaphorical air cover - no point supporting Chelski if they have no opposition

?

Sometimes you need a bit of black humour, and I raised a proper smile at the advice to load up on paracetamol in case of a nuclear bomb!

I wonder how much more lethal the modern bombs are.

Well the largest nuclear device ever detonated was the Tsar Bomba in 1961 by Russia, the fireball was 5 miles across and could be seen 600 miles away. It was roughly 1560 times more powerful then Hiroshima

@hilbil21 me too but uk is such a small country that a direct hit anywhere basically kills us all if nuclear

Under your home is pointless the fallout would still reach you. Only possible hope of surviving is an actual nuclear shelter stocked with supplies for a minimum of 2 weeks but ideally at least 3 months

An awful lot of people on this thread - understandably to a degree - are way behind on what weapons are available and likely to be used.

Chemical and biological warfare are far more likely to be used than nuclear on more distant targets as they can be more finely tuned and targeted so as not to destroy land/resources the invaders may want for themselves but still harmful to human and some animal life

Putin seems to be waging an "old school" war and I don't think he would be doing that if he wasn't fairly certain it would work. But then I'm generally quite bemused by his taking this stance since it means sacrificing his own soldiers too - yes foot soldiers but manpower is manpower at the end of the day/

There's so much more weaponry that can be used remotely with no risk to the invaders safety at all I find it very odd he's not using that

@Graphista I must admit I am fairly clueless. Hence why I like reading threads like this. Maybe I'm odd but hey ho.

@Graphista but think of the pageantry that is Red Square on Russia Day. It’s a particular display of might to send in troops.

An awful lot of people on this thread - understandably to a degree - are way behind on what weapons are available and likely to be used.

Well you get to a point where there is nothing to be gained by studying further. Once you know how little of the Russian nuclear arsenal it would take to reduce the UK to the stone age, any further research can only be in the hope of a grant from somewhere.

My last memory was that airburst bombs were the likely way. A load of fallout that would incapacitate your enemy with less material damage on the ground.

Would fuck up vegans no end.

@DGRossetti I have to ask, are vegans more susceptible to burns, concussive blasts and fallout?

FWIW, i'd expect the deniability and lack of kinetic confrontation requiring retaliation would lead to cyber warfare being the stage most likely to impact on the UK as PPs have suggested.

We won't know because we'll all be dead

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.

Until the fallout reaches you roughly 24-48hrs later....

[quote Zilla1]@DGRossetti I have to ask, are vegans more susceptible to burns, concussive blasts and fallout?

FWIW, i'd expect the deniability and lack of kinetic confrontation requiring retaliation would lead to cyber warfare being the stage most likely to impact on the UK as PPs have suggested.[/quote]
No, but I wouldn't want to eat anything that grew in the soil - or that ate it either.

Which does include meat eaters, of course. Just felt like some fun singling out the nut nibblers.

@DillonPanthersTexas

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.

😂🤣

@Hyperion100

Very bright for a bit, then nothing

Could sum up life in general 😁

Well, I've made my plans. I'm taking my dog, cat and maybe DH to my horses stable with a large bottle of wine. Hunker down together in the straw, put some music on. Apparently it's 20 minutes for a nuclear warhead to reach uk from Russia. Yard is 5 mins away. I'll have time 👍🏻

Jings. It’s all about WW3 today. I think we’re all getting a wee bit ahead of ourselves with worry

Mine too. It had such a big impact on me at the time.. I've read it since. Goes quite sci fi in the second half!

A TV programme called Threads was on BBC a few years ago

Very accurate on what would happen

Me, I would hope I was taken out in the first strike as would not want to be around for living in the aftermath 😔

It seems that now that Covid is not so scary anymore, some people can't wait to peddle the nuclear war drama.

Seriously get a new hobby.

@wingscrow definitely with you on this one.

Personally I've dusted down my camera instruction manual and also my old collection of People's Friend. And bought some extra toys for the cats. The large fluffy bumble bee was a particular favourite last time and is in such a state I think it's definitely time to replace it... ;)

@BoreOfWhabylon

Made me think of this

wow why did this photo move me so much

To be honest, we wouldn't know anything about it, probably for the best

@pupcakes
wow why did this photo move me so much

I know

(posting it again)