Personally, I always felt that the handling of the naval situation in T2K was a complete cop out. It just felt like they didn't want to deal with the post war naval situation so they made up a half-ass scenario that justified their decision to focus only on the ground combat.
Having spoken to numerous people who once held posts in the US Navy, NATO staff and even Soviet military...I would bet the situation would end up far more similar to that shown in Red Storm Rising and The War that Never Was. The Soviets would get in a few licks and surprises before NATO asserted naval dominance and plastered what was left of Warsaw Pact naval assets. Of course once the war went nuclear most ports would be targeted and many ships in ports or near coastal waters would be destroyed. But large portions of the US navy would survive. As the Bikini tests showed, destroying a naval task force with a nuclear weapon isn't all that easy. If the radiation can be dealt with then a well dispersed naval force would take minimal losses.
With that in mind, I never used a straight canon interpretation of events. This is especially true since canon sources often contradict each other. By way of an important example...the V.1 timeline clearly states that the Soviets were the first to use tac-nukes as German forces crossed into Soviet territory, but the Guide to the UK says that the British were the first to use nukes. As some of the source books were written as if from the view point of post-war researchers, I interpreted this to mean that some of the information was wrong.
I find canon fanatics to be a tad annoying so really I say modify it to fit your need. If you want little time for US leaders to react then have the first strike sub launched from near by, if you want to give them half an hour of pants crapping anxiety then have the missiles come from silos halfway around the world.
Benjamin
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