Norfolk, VA - Homecoming

[Tombot]

All right, i read through several older threads, where i discovered a lot.

I am going to use it the way, some forummembers went for: Norfolk was drastically damaged, but not destroyed.
In my campaign, it gonna be a (for the PC´s surprisingly, but pretty "postapocalyptic") sad homecoming for the returnees; a base with a skeleton-crew, having meager foodstocks; a place which is about to be abandoned soon..

There will be a bizarre mix out of propaganda, rationing, bad morale among the newcomers and thoughts of desertion.
Right after the arrival of the fleet, every european vet is expected to leave for another place.The soldiers must hurry with the distribution of the returnees, to avoid starvation.

The PC´s will get options which (mostly very long) travel to anyother Milgov-enclave they should undertake next. New Jersey, a mission in N.Y., Texas maybe...
"Could be less shitty there, than here.."

[Rainbow Six]

I always imagined a bittersweet scene where the Omega ships were greeted by what passes as a band (i.e. half a dozen guys on the quayside with a variety of instruments) playing "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" as the troops disembark and realise that things are just as bad as they were in Europe.

[Olefin]

add in several half sunken or clearly heavily damaged ships being seen clearly by the arriving troops or better yet them being ordered into their MOPP gear as they approach Norfolk or having iodine pills distributed to them

[M-Type]

Originally Posted by Olefin

...or better yet them being ordered into their MOPP gear as they approach Norfolk or having iodine pills distributed to them

I like that.

[Rainbow Six]

Originally Posted by Olefin

add in several half sunken or clearly heavily damaged ships

Nice...maybe they see the derelict island of a sunken aircraft carrier protruding above the ocean's surface. As they get closer they can see the number painted on the side spelling out the fact that it's a USN CVN.

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Olefin

add in several half sunken or clearly heavily damaged ships being seen clearly by the arriving troops or better yet them being ordered into their MOPP gear as they approach Norfolk or having iodine pills distributed to them

Ya know, if there's still radiation about, why is MilGov even using the port to unload? Surely, there's someplace else on the Virginia coast/Chesapeake Bay that isn't so bad off?

IMC, the naval base might be hit, but there's a civil port that could be used?

[Targan]

My take on it has always been that it couldn't have been a direct hit. If the nuke strike had been on target, why would the US military bother using the naval base at Norfolk? Way too much effort to make it even partly functional.

[Olefin]

There would still be low level radiation around - and the sunken ships could be from damage from a hit off the coast - i.e. tsunami caused by a nuke burst hitting ships in shallow water

[Fusilier]

Originally Posted by Olefin

i.e. tsunami caused by a nuke burst hitting ships in shallow water

A nuclear induced tsunami is mentioned occurring elsewhere in one of the Twilight2000 books, but it's an improbable event. Even the largest nuclear weapons don't have the required energy that is required to create a true tsunami of radiated seawater from an air/surface burst offshore.

Unless it was a controlled underwater blast, like the test types used in the Pacific, a normal surface blast close enough to the harbor for large wave action to hit ships would also be irrelevant with regards to blast effects.

An underwater detonation could create large waves that may irradiate ships if close enough, but there's the unresolved issue of the nuclear weapons needing to survive the initial impact against the surface of the ocean and then for some reason, going through a delayed detonation.

For myself, I just go with the idea that it is a near miss. Enough for blast damage to effect the harbor facilities, but distant enough to keep enough intact for basic use. An airbust also negates the issue of radiation a great deal.