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Originally Posted by kalos72
So reading the script for Jacksonville, where I currently live, it got me to wonder about the accuracy and I guess reliability of the nuclear weapons used.
What are the chances that of ALL the weapons that hit the US only one missed its target?
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Virtually non-existent.
If one enjoys story-telling, it's possible to look at some of the numbers associated with the nuke strikes and tell some tales. I have postulated that the strike against the refineries in the San Francisco Bay had four warheads originally. Three .5Mt warheads found their targets in Benicia, Martinez, and Avon. Another strike directed against Richmond was a 1.5Mt. While many explanations could be offered, I have hypothesized that the re-entry vehicle that was aimed at Richmond experienced a problem of some sort and either did not reach the target or did not detonate. Soviet battle damage assessment (BDA) determined that the Benicia, Martinez, and Avon strikes had gone off as planned but that Richmond would need a follow-on attack. Accordingly, an older land-based ICBM tasked for the job was used. The ICBM had a larger warhead than was strictly necessary due to the low accuracy of the missile. The comparatively large yield of the warhead proved necessary. “The warhead came in nearly three miles north of its intended target and detonated nearly 500 meters lower than expected.”
One could imagine many explanations for the fact that three of the refinery strikes in San Francisco Bay used .5Mt warheads, while the Richmond attack used a 1.5Mt warhead. I went with delivery system problems as a means of explaining why Richmond stood out and why San Francisco wasn’t very badly damaged by the Richmond strike.
Many here also have supposed that the strike against the Atlantic Fleet HQ missed and that this is the explanation for the apparent functioning state of Norfolk. The nuke fell into the water somewhat short of the target and swamped the naval facilities with a radioactive tidal wave. For whatever reason, the Soviets seemed to content to leave it at that.
Webstral