This is kind of a two-in-one thread, FO makes me consider the potential of several things, and while the truth of a nuclear apocalypse would be vastly different in reality, it is interesting to apply as much logic as possible to theories behind it. So there's two nagging questions that I keep going back to.

First of all, in the United States alone, given a real nuclear war, what cities and areas would be the most likely ground zero spots for nuclear detonation? I think it's fair to say that cities like D.C. would be hit, but which major cities wouldn't? I think Vegas is a good example as there's not much strategic value in it. Also I think more primary locations would be military bases like Fort Hood or naval shipyards like San Diego or Norfolk Virginia. So which targets do you think in a realistic scenario would be annihilated via nuclear bombing to achieve a complete shutdown of the country ala. FO style (granted it wouldn't be quite the same aftermath but let's just assume the government, or lack there-of is in the same situation)


Secondly, an issue that's pretty much been at the forefront of science fiction for years, radioactive mutation, from superheroes to gigantic insects, it's the science fiction version of "Because it's magic". Is there any real scientific basis for radiation to cause biological mutations and what is the more likely result (I'm doubting it would be huge ants whose exoskeletons outweigh what their mass can support)

Given how many nukes both sides have, probably every major city. I don't know a lot about US geography, so that's all I can really say.

On to your second point, I believe it is theoretically possible. Theoretically. Radiation does have the ability to cause genetic mutations; however, the more likely results are deformities, infertility and cancer, so the actual chances of producing giant but otherwise perfectly functional ants are absurdly low, since every relevant part of the genetic code would have to be altered correctly, without any negative effects. Essentially, no.

Not only that, insects do not breathe like mammals do. They breathe through tubes known as tracheae, which circulate air in and out of their bodies. In order for insects to be much larger, the oxygen content of the atmosphere would have to be higher.

http://www.livescience.com/animals/061011_giant_insects.html

Cities that have any political/leadership, military outposts, manufacturing, medical research, food distribution would be high targets. You would want to cripple a country's infrastructure and making these areas as first strike targets would do that.

Now I'm going to give the disclaimer right now, that the information presented was valid between 1979-1991, with the appropriate level of Cold War spin/historical revisions of today's former "Cold Warriors".

First Strike: Created as a tool for increased funding for US nuclear resources/defense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlPEBROvR9w


Soviet Nuclear Strike Targets(Circa 1980's)

ALABAMA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Gunter AFB (Montgomery), Maxwell AFB (Montgomery), Redstone Arsenal (Huntsville).
Secondary:
Anniston, Birmingham, Selma, Mobile.
Tertiary:
Muscle Shoals, Gadsden, Childersburg, Tuscaloosa, Phenix City (Columbus GA.)

ALASKA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Warning Radar Network at Eielson AFB (Fairbanks), Elmensdorf AFB (Anchorage), Fort Richardson.
Secondary:
Adak Island, Shermya Island (space radar), Clear (BMEWS radar)
Tertiary: none

ARIZONA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Davis-Monthan AFB at Tucson (Titan missiles, area within a line con- necting Nogales, Cochise, Mammoth, Eloy, south to Mexican border), Luke AFB (Glendale), Marine Corps Air Station (Yuma), Williams AFB (Chandler), Yuma Proving Ground.
Secondary:
Gilbert, Perryville.
Tertiary:
Phoenix

ARKANSAS (community info and maps)
Primary:
Little Rock AFB (Titan missiles, area within a line connecting Shirley, Newport, Des Arc, Little Rock, Russellville, Nogo, back to Shirley), Blytheville AFB (SAC bombers).
Secondary:
Pine Bluff, West Memphis (Memphis Tenn.)
Tertiary:
Fort Smith, Texarkana, Little Rock

CALIFORNIA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Alameda NAS, Castle AFB (Merced), Beale AFB (Marysville), Edwards AFB (Kern), El Toro (Santa Ana), George AFB (Victoryville), Hamilton AFB (Marin), March AFB (Riverside), Mather AFB (SAC bombers, Sacramento), McClellan AFB (Sacramento), Miramar NAS (San Diego), Norton AFB (San Bernardino), Oxnard AFB Point Mugu (Point Hueneme), Travis AFB (Fairfield), Vandenberg AFB (Lompoc).
Secondary:
San Francisco (area within a line connecting Pt. Reyes Station, St Hel- ena, Antioch, Palo Alto, Redwood City, and along the coast to Pt. Reyes Station again), San Jose, El Centro, China Lake, Camp Pendleton, Fort Ord, Twentynine Palms, Lemoore, Portola, Los Angeles (area within a line connecting Malibu, Camarillo, Lake Arrowhead, Perris, Laguna, and along the coast to Malibu again), Oro Grande, Oceanside, San Diego, Lathrope, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Ventura, Thousand Oaks, Mt. Laguna, Mill Valley.
Tertiary:
Bakersfield, Barstow, Banning, Gilroy, Milford, Modesto, Monterey, Mojave, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Stockton, Salinas, Fresno, Ridgecrest, Lancaster, Wrightwood, Yermo, Victorville, Warner Springs.

COLORADO (community info and maps)
Primary:
Colorado Springs (NORAD HQ.), Warren AFB Complex (Minuteman missiles, area within a line connecting Grover, Briggsdale, Fort Morgan, Sedgwick, and along state line to Grover again), Fort Carson.
Secondary:
Denver, Pueblo
Tertiary:
Aurora, Boulder, Cheraw, Greeley, Pueblo-Boone area, Broomfield, Rocky Flats (targer is 10 miles west of Sedalia).

CONNECTICUT (community info and maps)
Primary:
Brookley Field, Groten-New London.
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Bristol, Bridgeport, Danbury, Hartford, New Haven, Norwalk, Stamford.

DELAWARE (community info and maps)
Primary:
Dover AFB
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Wilmington, Odessa, New Castle

FLORIDA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Cape Canaveral, Elgin AFB (Okalossa), Homestead AFB, Jacksonville NAS, Key West (Caribbean Joint Task Force), MacDill AFB (Tampa), Mayport (Jacksonville), Orlando AFB, Patrick AFB (Cocoa), St. Petersbutg NAS, Tyndall AFB (Panama City), McCoy AFB, Pensacola.
Secondary:
Miami.
Tertiary:
Port St. Joe, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Daytona Beach, Titusville, Sarasota, Ft. Myers, Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale.

GEORGIA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Warner-Robins AFB (SAC bombers, Macon), Dobbins AFB (Marietta), Fort Benning, Fort Stewart, King's Bay, Moody AFB, Atlanta.
Secondary:
Albany, Brunswick, Savannah.
Tertiary:
Augusta, Columbus, Stockbridge, Marietta.

HAWAII (community info and maps)
Primary:
Honolulu area (all of Oahu except Waimea-Kahuku area & Makapuu Point).
Secondary: none
Tertiary: none

IDAHO (community info and maps)
Primary:
Mountail Home AFB.
Secondary: none
*Tetiary:
Boise

ILLINOIS (community info and maps)
Primary:
Chanute AFB (Rantoul), Scott AFB (Military Airlift Command HQ.,Belleville).
Secondary:
Chicago, East St. Louis, Springfield.
Tertiary:
Alton, Aurora, Bloomington-Normal, Champaign, Decatur, East Dubuque, Des Plaines, Freeport, Rockford, Zion, Moline, Peoria, Joliet, Elgin.

INDIANA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Grissom AFB (Stratotankers, Peru).
Secondary:
Crane, Jeffersonville (Louisville, Ky.)
Tertiary:
Anderson, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, Elkhart, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Muncie, New Albany, South Bend, Terre Haute.

IOWA (community info and maps)
Primary: none
Secondary:
Burlington, Sioux City.
Tertiary:
Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Dubuque, Des Moines, Davenport, Waterloo.

KANSAS (community info and maps)
Primary:
McConnel AFB complex (Titan missiles, Stratotankers, area within a line connecting Eureka, Arlington, Attica, Caldwel, Arkansas City and back to Eureka again). Schilling AFB (Salina), Forbes AFB (Topeka).
Secondary:
Fort Riley, Olathe.
Tertiary:
Elwood (St. Joseph, MO.), Levenworth, Manhattan, Topeka, Kansas City, DeSoto.

KENTUCKY (community info and maps)
Primary: none
Secondary:
Fort Campell (Christian), Fort Knox (Harkin), Louisville, Richmond.
Tertiary:
Covinton (Cincinnati, OH.), Henderson (Evansville IN.), Owensboro, Paducah.

LOUISIANA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Barksdale AFB (SAC bombers, Shreveport), England AFB (Alexandria).
Secondary:
Fort Polk (Leesvile), New Orleans.
Tertiary:
Baton Rouge, Sterlington, Monroe, Lade Charles, Lafayette, New Iberia.

MAINE (community info and maps)
Primary:
Loring AFB, Kittery (Pease AFB at Portsmouth, NH.).
Secondary:
Brunswick, Charleston, Franklin.
Tertiary:
Auburn, Bangor, Portland.

MARYLAND (community info and maps)
Primary:
Washington D.C., Camp David-Mt. Weather complex (Presidential survival and command post), Andrews AFB, Fort George Meade, Aberdeen Proving Ground.
*Seconary:
Baltimore-Washington D.C. area (everything within a line connecting Gaithersburg, Reisterstown, Bel Air, Aberdeen, Rock Hall, Annapolis, La Plata, Riverside and the Virginia state line)
Tertiary:
Lexington Park, Wheaton.

MASSACHUSETTS (community info and maps)
Primary:
Fall River, Fort Devin (Hyer), Otis AFB (Buzzards Bay), Westover AFB (area of Holyoke).
Secondary:
Boston, Springfield-Chicopee-Holyoke area.
Tertiary:
Fitchberg, Nantucket, New Bedford, Pawtucket (Providence, RI.) Lowell, Worcester.

MICHIGAN (community info and maps)
Primary:
Sawyer AFB (SAC bombers, Gwinn), Xinchelee AFB (SAC bombers, Sault Ste. Marie), Selfridge AFB (Mt. Clemens), Wurtsmith AFB (SAC bombers).
Secondary:
Detroit (area within a line connecting Pontiac, Ann Arbor, and Monroe east to state line).
Tertiary:
Alpens, Bay City, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, Escanaba, Sault St. Marie, Midland, Saginaw, Muskegan, Flint area, Grand Rapids, Port Huron, St. Claire, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Jackson.

MINNESOTA (community info and maps)
Primary: none
Secondary:
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Duluth.
*Teriary:
Anoke, Forest Lake, Rochester.

MISSISSIPPI (community info and maps)
Primary:
Columbus AFB.
Secondary:
Biloxi, Gulfport, Meridian.
Tertiary:
Jackson, Meridian Station, Pascagoula.

MISSOURI (community info and maps)
Primary:
Whiteman AFB complex ( Minuteman missiles, area within a line connecting Freeman, Richmond, Arrow Rock, California, Gravois Mills, Osceola, Stockton, Sheldon, Rich Hill, west to state line to Freeman again).
Secondary:
St. Louis, Kansas City, Fort Leonard Wood.
Tertiary:
Columbia, Springfield, St. Joseph.

MONTANA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Glascow AFB, Malmstrom AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, all area within a line connecting Devon, Highwood, a point 10 miles north of Winifred, Winnett, Melville, Neihart, Wolf Creek, Augusta, Ethridge, and back to Levon).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Butte, Billings, Helena, Missoula.

NEBRASKA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Warren AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, all area southwest of a line connecting Henry, Oshkosh, and Chappell, to state line), Omaha (Offut AFB, SAC Headquarters).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Dakota City (Sioux City, IA.), Lincoln.

NEVADA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Nellis AFB (Las Vegas).
Secondary:
Hawthorne.
Tertiary:
Fallon, Reno.

NEW HAMPSHIRE (community info and maps)
Primary:
Pease AFB (SAC bombers, Portsmouth), Portsmouth Harbor.
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Manchester, Nashua (and everything within 20 miles of Lowell, MA.).

NEW JERSEY (community info and maps)
Primary:
Fort Dix-McGuire AFB complex (Trenton-Wrightstown), Lakehurst NAS, Fort Monmouth, Perth Amboy.
Secondary:
McKee City, Philadelphia (area within 10 mjles of the Delaware River from Pennsville to Cherry Hill and within 15 miles of the river from Cherry Hill to Trenton), Rockaway (area east of a line from Franklin to Somerville to the state line), Trenton.
Tertiary:
Colt's Neck, Lakehurst, Long Branch, Middletown, Millville.

NEW MEXICO (community info and maps)
Primary:
Alamagordo, Cannon AFB (also area east to state line), Kirtland AFB, Walker AFB (Roswell), White Sands (Las Cruces).
Secondary:
Albuquerque.
Tertiary:
Gallup.

NEW YORK (community info and maps)
Primary:
Griffiss AFB (SAC bombers, Utica-Rome), Plattsburgh AFB (SAC bombers), Stewart AFB (Newburgh).
Secondary:
New York City area (all south of Stony Point and west of Stony Brook to state line), Buffalo, Syracuse, Watervliet.
Tertiary:
Albany, Binghamton, Brookshaven (Brookhaven National Laboratory), Schenectady, Troy, Rochester.

NORTH CAROLINA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Cherry Point (Havelock), Pope AFB (Fayetteville), Seymour-Johnson AFB (SAC bombers, Goldsboro).
Secondary:
Camp Lejeune, Fort Bragg (Fayetteville), Southport, Jacksonville-Midway Park area, Fort Fisher.
Tertiary:
Asheville (south to Henersonville), Carolina Beach, Charlette, Durham, Graham, Greensboro, Morrisville, Raleigh, Wilmington, Winston-Salem.

NORTH DAKOTA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Grand Forks AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, area within a line con- necting Wahalla, Grand Forks, Tower City, Valley City, Devil's Lake, Sarles and the Canadian border), Minot AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, an area within a line connecting Westhope, Eckman, Minot, a point 15 miles south of Towner, Harvey, Mercer, a point 10 miles north of Beulah, Tioga, Portal, and the Canadian border. Danger area extends 10 miles into Canada between Sarles and Wahalla, and between Portal and Westhope).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Grand Forks, Fargo.

OHIO (community info and maps)
Primary:
Lockbourne AFB (Rickenbacker AFB on some maps), Wright-Patterson AFB.
Secondary:
Cleveland, Youngstown-Warren area.
Tertiary:
Akron, Bellaire, Canton, Columbia, Dayton, Lima, Mansfield, Middletown, Miamisberg, Springfield, Steubenville, Windham, Toledo, Vandalia.

OKLAHOMA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Altus AFB, Clinton-Sherman AFB (Custer), Tinker AFB (Oklahoma City), Vance AFB (Enid).
Secondary:
Fort Sill (Lawton).
Tertiary:
El Reno, Tulsa, 10 miles southeast of McAlester, Oklahoma City.

OREGON (community info and maps)
Primary:
Adair AFB (Mulheur).
Secondary:
Portland, Mt. Hebo.
Tertiary:
Canby, Eugene, Klamath Falls, Madras, Salem.

PENNSYLVANIA (community info and maps)
Primary: none
Secondary:
Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Scranton, Willow Grove.
Tertiary:
Allentown, Altoona, Beaver, Bethlehem, Chester, Erie, Harrisburg, York, Johnstown, Lancaster, Natrona Heights, Mechanicsburg, Reading, Waynesboro.

RHODE ISLAND (community info and maps)
Primary: none
Secondary:
Newport, Quonset Point.
Tertiary:
Providence, Westerly.

SOUTH CAROLINA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Charleston complex (submarine base, area east of Summerville between Goose Creek and Folly Beach), Myrtle Beach AFB, Shaw AFB.
Secondary:
Parris Island Marine Base.
Tertiary:
Aiken, Columbia, Greenville, Greer, Hardeeville (Savannah, Georgia), North Augusta.

SOUTH DAKOTA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Ellsworth AFB complex (Minuteman missiles, SAC bombers, entire area within a line connecting Albion, Montana to a point 10 miles north of Faith, Midland, point 10 miles south of Velvidere, Scenic, Sturgis, Spearfish, and along state line to Albion again).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Rapid City, Sioux Falls.

TENNESSEE (community info and maps)
Primary: none
Secondary:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Anderson), Memphis.
Tertiary:
Alcoa, Bristol, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, Signal Mountain.

TEXAS (community info and maps)
Primary:
Bergstrom AFB (Austin), Brooks AFB (San Antonio), Carswell AFB (SAC bombers, Fort Worth), Dyess AFB (SAC bombers, Abilene), Goodfellow AFB (San Angelo), Kelly-Lackland AFB (San Antonio), Laredo AFB, Laughlin AFB (Del Rio), Randolf AFB (Universal City), Reese AFB (Lubbock), Sheppard AFB (Wichita Falls), Webb AFB (Big Spring).
Secondary:
Beeville, Corpus Christi, Fort Bliss (El Paso), Fort Hood (Killeen), Houston, Kingsville, Sherman-Dennison, Texarkana.
Tertiary:
Alice, Beaumont, Brownsville, Bryan, Caddo Lake, Dallas, Freeport, Galveston, Harlington, Lake Jackson, Longview, McAllen, Midland, Odessa, Tyler, Waco.

UTAH (community info and maps)
Primary:
Hill AFB (Ogden).
Secondary:
Dugway Proving Ground (Chemical Warfare Center, Tooele).
Tertiary:
Salt Lake City, Orem-Provo.

VERMONT (community info and maps)
Primary: none
Secondary:
Tertiary:
Burlington.

VIRGINIA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Leadership bomb and fallout shelter (Mount Weather) Berryville, Washington D.C. area (see Maryland), Cape Charles AFB, Dulles Inter-national Airport, Langley AFB (Hampton), Norfolk-Portsmouth, Oceana NAS (Virginia Beach).
Secondary:
Richmond, Newport News, Mt. Vernon, Radford.
Tertiary:
Blackstone, Chincoteague, Ft. Eustis, Hopewell, Lynchberg, Manassas, Petersburg, Guantico, Roanoke, Yorktown.

WASHINGTON (community info and maps)
Primary:
Bremerton (submarine base), Fairchild AFB (SAC bombers, Spokane), McChord AFB (Tacoma).
Secondary:
Everett, Oak Harbor, Richland (Hanford reactor and storage complex), Seattle (naval complex, Tacoma (Ft. Lewis), Walla-Walla.
Tertiary:
Copalis Beach, Spokane, Vancouver.

WEST VIRGINIA (community info and maps)
Primary:
Leadership bomb and fallout shelter (Greenbrier Resort) White Sulphur Springs.
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Charleston, Cedar Grove, Huntington, Wheeling (area north of Moundsville).

WISCONSIN (community info and maps)
Primary: none
Secondary:
Madison.
Tertiary:
Appletonc Eau Claire, Green Bay, Kenosha, Miquon, Milwaukee, Onalaska, Oshkosh, Racine, Superior, Waukesha.

WYOMING (community info and maps)

Primary: Warren AFB (Minuteman missiles, area within a line connecting Cheyenne, Federal, point 10 miles northwest of Wheatland, Guernsey, and along the state line to Cheyenne again).
Secondary: none
Tertiary:
Casper.

During cold war, most of weapons were targeting enemy's nuclear weaponry. Early ground based intercontinental ballistic missiles weren't really accurate enough to destroy hardened targets like command bunkers or missile silos, that changed in 70's when circular error probabilities dropped bellow 500m. Same applied to submarine launched ballistic missiles until 80's, before that those were targeting mostly cities as that was practical limit of their accuracy. Current SLBM's used by major nuclear powers can target hardened targets. Most ICBM's and SLBM's were MIRV'ed, each missile carrying multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles, that allowed reasonable overkill. Since late 70's most of Soviet missiles were targeting military targets, that includes logistic hubs needed to move troops and material. Irony is that extending definition of military targets to logistics asset needed by military effectively means that every major city is targeted multiple times as roads and railroads go from city to city, ports and airports too are located usually quite close to major cities. Same applies to major fuel storages and military industrial targets. Pretty much every city of more than 100.000 inhabitants had something that counts as military target within city limits or immediate surroundings, more than one target most of times. No major city would have been spared.

For example, New York City had half dozen major airports and ports suitable for military use, US military would have used those to move equipment and troops. Besides airports and ports, there is plenty of railroads and roads to feed 'em. So there was dozen to or two dozen legitimate military targets. To ensure that each of those targets will be destroyed most those had multiple warheads from different missiles launched from different missile bases in case one or more missiles assigned for targets would fail, that is what is called overkill. Practically NYC would have received battering from minimum of 30 big ones, more likely closer 50 warheads. Every single one of those would have wiped out city completely as collateral damage.

States that had nuclear forces deployed in them... those were far beyond screwed up. Every missile silo had more than one warhead assigned to it. Missile silos and command bunkers needed ground burst to be destroyed, that means crap load of irradiated soil going up with fireball.

US SIOP (Single Integrated Operational Plan) estimated about 150 million casualties, in case war perfectly for Americans. That is only immediate casualties, effects of fallout, famines, contagious diseases or general chaos associated with universal collapse of civilization were not included in that estimate.

Being that I live in Pasco, Washington which is 35 miles from Hanford, Washington and 12 miles from Richland, Washington the Russians would have been off by 23 miles off LOL. I don't know of any nuke that has a 23 miles blast radius.

Heh, the Brookhaven National Laboratory is about 35 miles from me. We're all roach meat

I knew my city would be a target. We have a National Guard armory here not to mention manufacturing as in minor automotive factories that could be converted into making tanks and what not.

During the cold war, in the event of nuclear war, everything would have been completely destroyed. Every major city, every missile silo, every military base, every factory, every depot. Just everything would be gone. We are talking thousand upon thousand of missiles here. Nowadays, in the event of a nuclear exchange the targeting would be quite more tactical, although there are still enough nuclear warheads around to destroy both russia and the western hemisphere. Would China be involved as well, the situation would become a lot more complicated, since China is generally an ally of Russia, but at the same time rising tensions leading to the hypothetical break-out of global thermonuclear war could very likely make both russia and china reconsider their goals and place their national interests above that of their allies. In the current sitation, russia posseses about 2000 nuclear warheads, the US about 1500 and china around 400. China would most probably prefer to maintain an alliance with russia, becuase of its own limited nuclear arsenal, wheras russia would primarily seek to destroy the US infrastructure, secondly that of China and thridly attack civilian targets of both nations. The US primary focus would probably be to destroy the infrastructure of both Russia and China, using any remainng nuclear warheads to nuke civilian targets.

There is also a aspect of the scenario which hasn't been noticed by anyone else here, which is the difference in plan of attack the involved nations would follow relative to who delivers the first strike. Would the Russians be the initiatiors of Global ThermoNuclear War then the US retaliation would primiarily focus on russian civilian targets and vise versa. China would probalbly never initiate a nuclear war. In the event of an attack from russia on the US, the US would most likely retaliate to both china and russia, thus forcing china to retalitate as well. In every way russia would have the most benifit in being the initiator of a nuclear war, since they cna make the decicive blow by massively attacking the US nuclear arsenal. The US would be devastated and all that remains would be pointed mainly at civilian targets, if any, and russia would maintain its conventional military force, along with most of its civilian population.

im from metro detroit to and i live right next to a tank/weapons manufacturer. i will go to the UP though, no targets at all there.

Military installations would be primary targets but even that list would have sort of an importance ranking.

1. Nuclear missile bases - Every single one you may manage to hit and take out before it gets its ballistic missiles in the air or in process of doing it is a very important victory and may have as consequence that a target at home may not get hit at all or not as hard.

2. Command & Control installations and everything that is related to communication like, the Pentagon , NORAD, USNORTHCOM

3. Airforce bases - These would once again have their own ranking with bases like , Nellis AFB in Las Vegas or Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs being among the top of the list

4. Weapon Arsenals, Military installations of all kinds like army and navy bases, anything related to the national guard, military training grounds, military ports (Again with a ranking)


Secondary Targets would be attacked when things escalate completely which in that case would propably just be a manner of minutes and matter of how much nukes would get used before one side looses it completely.

1. Logistic targets - Major Railway hubs, trade ports , power grid hubs, power plants

2. Heavy industrial targets - Every major city with a large industrial infrastructure - Steel production, Chemical industry, Aerospace industry , car industry etc .

3. Light Industrial targets - Cities with telecommunication and Hi-tech industry

4. Resource infrastructure, coal industry, oil industry , nuclear industry


There are a lot of major cities that offer almost or all of these and they would be destroyed completely if possible. Which means there may be enough nukes meant for them as are necessary to provide optimal destruction or a single nuke with enough yield.

Today most megaton range nukes have been taken out of service and got replaced by enough "smaller" ones. The USA for instance has no megaton range nukes on ballistic missiles in service at all anymore.

That' quite interesting actually, because the propagandist purpose of those start-trieties becomes very clear in this case, since smaller nukes actually cuase more destruction, because the radio-active fallout is kept in the lower parts of the earths atmosphere. Megaton range nuclear warheads would blast the fallout into the stratosphere. So, in the event of a nuclear war under the current circumstances the destruction will probably sitll be very high, espsecially in terms of ecological disturbance and number of causualties. And even without this fact it shall be clear that there is no way nuclear weapons would ever be dismissed. The Superpowers absolutely want to retain their nuclear arsenals as much as possible. And feankly i think its the best thing nations could do. Without a large nuclear deterrent controlled by the superpowers, there would be no balance of power and smaller nations could also attempt to develop nuclear weapons themselves, who is to stop them in such a situation?

The change from multi megaton weapons back to the kiloton range had more to do with improvements in anti ballistic missile technology. MIRVs were the answer to these improvements which also caused a shift from bombers to missiles.

Another factor was surely the transition from land based deterence to submarines. Greater precision of improved MIRV technology also made super powerful weapons become mostly redundant.

I understand that the new START treaty will reduce the allowed amount to one warhead per missiles (At the moment the limit is 3 warheads), the others will of course be replaced with concrete dummies. These are good decoys to overstrain anti ballistic missile systems but also prevent that one has to calculate missiles trajectories new because of the weight that would be missing.

HA! I just learned about all this today in AP Physics and AP U.S.

As for the first question, you could think back to the cold war, back then, even though we had better, and more nukes than the Soviet Union, they had enough to destroy the entire world, 6 times over, let alone our entire country. So given that fact, I'm guessing China would have had even more nukes than the Soviet Union. And since China was fighting a war with the U.S, wouldn't it aim most, if not all it's nukes at us? If they did, China wouldn't even need to aim at the cities, the entire country would be decimated.

And as for the radiation, you could look at what happened with the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project, or the citizens of Japan who felt its effects. One of the scientists, according to my AP U.S teacher, touched some of the radioactive material that was being experimented on, specifically Uranium-235, he was killed in about three days from a highly aggressive cancer, that filled him up like a balloon with cancerous cells. So if you were exposed to that high of radiation, you were dead, not mutated. Now, you could argue that ghouls in fallout 3 weren't exposed to that much radiation, but that is an even simpler arguement to rebut. Those who were exposed to high levels of radiation came out with 3rd degree burns and many forms of cancer, but none were "mutated" in any form. The closest form of mutation isn't felt right away, it occurs in you six cells, mutating them, so your child could be born with an extra arm, or missing its brain. But if the mutation in the child is that major, it is almost certain that the will die.


Sorry for the wall of text!

Original START II treaty never came into effect, so MIRV's remained in service and there no effective limitation to number of warheads that could be deployed on single missile. Only single warhead ICBM's in service are Russian Topol-M's, missiles were originally built to meet possible MIRV ban so those weren't MIRV'ed. START II was signed by both USA and Russia in 1993. US senate ratified it in 1996. Russia delayed ratification as protest to Kosovo war, same happened with Iraq war and NATO enlargements. Final nail to coffin of treaty was US withdrawal from ABM treaty. START II was followed by SORT treaty, that is sort of treaty that basically ceases to exist by itself and it contained no enforcement inspections at all so only thing enforcing it is just kind words. New START will allow 1550 deployed strategic warheads, 700 deployed launch vehicles and 800 deployed or non-deployed launchers. Effectively leaving 100 non-deployed launch vehicles on reserve. Both countries can keep as many warheads they like on stockpiles.

Land based and sea based missiles complement each other, until mid 80's SLBM's weren't accurate enough to reliably destroy hardened targets like missile silos. Very high yield warheads have tactical purpose, mainly attacking command targets that are buried very deeply in rock. Missiles have three basic kinds of countermeasures, inflatable foil dummies, heavy dummies and electronic jammers. Only heavy dummies can make re-entry and appear as target for terminal flight phase interception.



USA had more nukes in 50's and 60's, but Soviets caught on numbers in late 60's and kept on building more missiles in 1970's. USA never had significant advantage in quality nuclear forces. Even when US missiles were more accurate, Soviets could compensate by using bigger warheads. US was ahead on solid fuel missiles, but Soviets had edge with liquid fueled ones. Biggest strategic advantage US had in case of nuclear war was GIUK SOSUS, undersea sonar network running from Greenland to British Isles via Iceland. That gave NATO very good location data about movements of Soviet missile submarines, when Soviets learned about it, they started to build bigger submarines with longer range missiles that allowed them to fire before crossing sonar lines. Soviet on the other hand had much bigger and more versatile arsenal of ICBM's, notably R-36 family (NATO codenames SS-9 Scarp and SS-18 Satan). Original R-36 had single massive 18 or 25 megaton warhead, alternate version carried three 3 megaton warheads, another alternate payload was fractional orbital payload with smaller but still huge 5 megaton warhead. Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) was banned as destabilizing, it allowed Soviets to launch attack with flight route going around world from south pole, that basically made it undetectable as US early warning radar networks were directed northwards against more conventional ICBMs. Attack would have been detected that late that it reduced US changes of launching counter strike in time quite small. Later versions of R-36 had much more powerful redesigned upper stages, performance changed that much NATO gave missile new designation. It had single large warhead versions and MIRV'ed versions with 8-10 warheads, there was also canceled version that had proposed payload of 38 warheads, it was canceled as it didn't make sense to put so many warheads on single missile that could be destroyed on ground, it would have reduced numbers of missiles too much.



Your teacher is BS'ing you. First, there was two fatal accidents in Manhattan Project. First accident happened in august 1945. Scientist in first accident was Harry Daghlian, didn't die to cancer, he died to radiation poisoning 25 days later. Cancer takes much longer to develop. Material he was working with was plutonium, not uranium. Accident happened when bomb core that was being subject to tests did go critical. Same bomb core went critical again when it was being handled by Louis Slotin in May 1946. He died 9 days later, also to radiation poisoning. Bomb core involved in accidents gained nick name Demon Core, it was expended in Able shot of operation Crossroads.

Ghouls are Science!, not science. Mutations do occur, but most common form of it is cancer, it's basically mutated cell gone out of control. Missing or extra arms stuff may happen, but not for people that are already alive when they are exposed to radiation.

If the Chinese remade the Tsar Bomba it'd be pretty close. It had a blast radius of about 35 kilometers, or 21.7 miles. You'd probably still feel a bit of the shock, but the real problem is trying to outrun the fallout.

None of that had anything to do with the point I was trying to make, the point was that Russia had enough nukes to destroy our entire country, so China would probably have had more than that.



Well that's really cool, there was no point in saying that, no point in going into some much detail, and they both died from radiation poisoning and advanced cancers, you forgot that i was trying to answer the OP's question, that mutations in the form of extra arms and legs do not happen, and if they did, the person would die soon after birth.

Haha I used to live in Elmensdorf, Air Force Base (which is next to Anchorage), Mountain Home Air Force Base (Idaho), Colorado Springs (Colorado), and a few other Air Force bases on that list

My hometown of Huntsville, AL was on the strike list... I'm flattered.

In terms of mutations caused by radiation, I don't think it's the damage to DNA by radiation that's causing things to get big and scary... it's more that only the toughest specimens would survive, leading to a species becoming nastier overall, much like antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

The cities that would have been targeted by the Nuclear Weapons are, Chicago, New York, Seattle, D.C. basically the ares with a large population and that have a good source of industry, technology and any place that hold political figures I am guessing.
But I don't think that anything could really mutate like we see in video games since if major changes were to take place the organism will most likely die before any noticeable changes can take place. I don't know, this is my speculation since I am not an expert on mutations.

I'm glad my home state of Michigan has fallen on hard times. At the height of the Cold War it was a priority-plus target for Kremlin Joe because of all the steel mills, auto plants, tooling, diemaking, and skilled workforce during the boom times. Now everything's in China, India, or Mexico; the Big 3 are on life-support, and everyone's unemployed. I bet Detroit and Flint are D- priority now on PERIMETER's sh@t list in Mt. Elbrus. Bet Shanghai, Shenzen, and Hong Kong are A+ priority now... FTW.

I think this site has it pretty well thought out, go for communications first, cities second, and everything else third.
http://www.ki4u.com/nuclearsurvival/states/aatargets.htm

Any governement form of target would be taken out almost immdiately if an enemy launched a pre-emptive strike, DC, Seattle, Chicago, and a few other places that hold power in govenement would be dust quick. After that, they would go for military that way they wouldnt have to worry TOO much about a counter attack. Places that the OP mentioned would be gone. Colorado Springs and Denver would recieve alot of destruction since NORAD is based in Colorado Springs. Thats how we detect missile launches is by NORAD. Then after military, they would more than likely launch attacks in full force by sending troops into cities taking out essentials for American society, i.e.- power stations, water supplies, and med facilities.

Simple put, if it did happen, roughly all of America would get devestated by the bombs. And if the bombs dont reach everywhere, the aftershocks and nuclear winter would spread to the rest