Declassified: US-based US nuclear weapons

Recently, in the USA, interesting documents of the Cold War times have been declassified. Earlier, an article was published on Geektimes. The US published a list of targets for a nuclear strike in the USSR , describing the essence of some declassified documents. Recently, an equally interesting declassified document on the US Navy's nuclear arsenal was published.

The Federation of American Scientists (Federation of American Scientists [FAS]) published declassified documents on the disposition of US nuclear weapons during the Cold War, specifying the large-scale preparations of the US Navy for a nuclear war at sea.

The floating nuclear arsenal included a wide range of weapons such as unguided nuclear bombs for aircraft carrier-based aircraft (carrier-borne nuclear gravity bombs), nuclear anti-submarine depth charges, nuclear-powered torpedoes, nuclear anti-nuclear missiles surface "and submarine ballistic missiles.

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The US Navy deployed most of its nuclear power in the Atlantic. By the 1970s, nearly a third of the American nuclear arsenal was sea-based. This number declined somewhat with the end of the Cold War, both due to the decommissioning of tactical nuclear weapons, and by reducing the total number of nuclear weapons in the US arsenal.

Hans Christensen from FAS makes an interesting comparison of data on the scale and deployment of nuclear weapons with known incidents of nuclear weapons incidents.

January 14, 1969 on the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier there was a severe catastrophe, potentially threatening its arsenal of nuclear bombs and its nuclear propulsion system.
The ships armed with nuclear weapons repeatedly collided with each other and with their Soviet "colleagues".
The aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1975 collided with the Belknap cruiser, as a result of which the cruiser caught fire and almost sank. Both warships carried nuclear weapons.

The FAS article also describes incidents of collisions with Soviet surface and submarines carrying nuclear weapons.

As well as aviation, the fleet lost nuclear weapons. The A-4 Skyhawk with nuclear weapons rolled off the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga in 1965 and disappeared without a trace.

The submarine USS Scorpion on May 27, 1968 sank along with the crew and two nuclear torpedoes.

The Soviet and Chinese fleets also widely used nuclear weapons at sea, but little is known about the losses.

The history of accidents clearly shows why many countries were concerned about the deployment of the US Navy off their shores during the Cold War. For example, New Zealand has banned US warships from visiting its ports, leading to diplomatic revenge from the United States.

The United States removed tactical nuclear warheads from its ships shortly after the end of the Cold War, and soon ceased to use all nuclear weapons on surface ships. Nevertheless, the United States continues to maintain part of the warheads destined for destruction.

In the modern world, the emerging maritime competition between China and the United States is likely to lead to the return of nuclear weapons at sea, but in the Pacific region. In the Atlantic, one should not expect a significant change in the situation, despite the political background and the new military doctrine of the Russian Federation - since the Cold War, the situation in Europe has changed and in the absence of the Warsaw Pact organization, the US has more convenient and close ground bases than the expensive fleet duty, at a relatively more significant distance.

On the other hand, an increase in the number of nuclear weapons anywhere else on the part of the Russian Federation is unlikely - “Russia reduced its nuclear arsenal to the level of the late 1950s - early 1960s”.

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