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A Nuclear Error: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
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During the [[Cold War]] (and even since), fiction has made some [[Did Not Do the Research|inaccurate assumptions]] about nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons policy. Also, it made for more exciting drama when writers could pretend that it was easy for some American or Soviet [[General Ripper]] type to [[Nuke'Em|get control of his country's nukes]]. However, as the comments below indicate, actual policies changed quite a bit during the [[Cold War]] depending on which side one is talking about, so there can be a lot of factual leeway in such situations, especially since many of the facts below have come out only since the 1990s.
Types:
* Counter-city policies (''[[Fail Safe]]''): When early basic plans involved "throw everything we've got at the commies", later American nuclear policy during the [[Cold War]] was to focus on military targets. Population centers like Moscow still would have been bombed, true, but only as leadership targets (and probably with smaller warheads). Industrial targets in cities were last-resort targets. The Soviets did target civilian populations, but not to a massive extent while it was in fact the British who carried over WWII Bomber Command doctrine of area bombing cities due to the smaller number of warheads in stock.
* A Soviet first strike (''[[Threads]]''): the Soviet Union had a "No First Use" policy (= only use nuclear weapons if first attacked with nuclear weapons) in the 1980s. Before then, there were plans for first use, but only in response to an imminent Western attack. ''[[
** During the [[Cold War]] and post-Cold War analysis of East German, Czech and Polish documents, many people confused the term "pre-emption" with "first strike". Pre-emption is like this: it is considered self-defense to draw and shoot if the other guy starts to draw his gun first.
* The rogue launch:
** In general, Soviet [[Cold War]] weapons had coded locks, requiring authorisation from the top commanders to be armed. During the Cuban missile crisis however, there were missile carriers capable of independent launch of armed missiles.
** On the US side, until the 1990s, it would have required at least three people to launch an armed attack from a submarine (and a missile launch from a submarine would be damned near impossible without the full support of the crew). Other launch methods had the coded locks.<ref>though until 1977, one could still make an unarmed launch with the code [[The Password Is Always Swordfish|00000000]] and it was listed on all launch checklists</ref> This system, however, only really existed after 1962.
*** Confirmed. Recently declassified data has revealed that the US protections vs. "rogue launch" pretty much only existed from 1961 onwards. In the 50s, there were no physical safety interlocks on US nuclear warheads, at least a half-dozen senior officers had the authority to launch a nuclear strike on their own initiative (said authority intended to be used only if a war situation occurred and the President was out of communication, but as with the Trident submarine example below the only real enforcement was the honor system), and in some cases, bomber units were under orders to attack Russia immediately if they ever stopped receiving periodic "don't attack" messages from HQ — i.e., the same situation as the fictional 'Fail-Safe' example.
** Purportedly, another current-era precaution vs. 'rogue launch' is that ICBMs are not targeted using conventional latitude-longitude but instead use an entirely arbitrary coordinate system created specifically for the job. And the missile launch crews do not have a copy of the map and only input arbitrary strings of #'s that are given to them by higher authority. In short, even if you could figure out a way to arm and launch your nuke, you still can't ''aim'' it without somehow obtaining access to information well above your pay grade. As a further precaution, the 'default' target for most ICBMs is 'the middle of the ocean' and the actual target coordinates are only provided at the same time a valid launch order is.
** In the UK, on the other hand, until 1998 the RAF's nuclear missiles were secured with nothing more than a [http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/11_november/15/newsnight.shtml cylindrical bicycle lock key].<ref>Military humour being what it is, it was a running gag that this made the UK the safest place in the world to store nukes because the key would have been lost almost immediately and you'd need fifteen forms and three Warrant Officers permission, plus a three week wait to requisition a pair of bolt-cutters. This is not ''entirely'' untrue as anyone with experience of the UK forces can attest</ref> Royal Navy Trident submarines are still able to launch without a code since a mere ten minute warning meant that if a nuclear war had broken out, it is unlikely that there would be time to issue relevant orders to their submarine captains. Plus, no officer of the Royal Navy would ever consider acting without orders or the proper cirumstances. It just wouldn't be cricket.
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Future War 198X]]'', the inventor of America's new Missile Defense System is kidnapped by Soviet spies. When the Americans realize that he is being taken back to Russia by submarine, they figure that it would be better to kill their greatest inventor than to let his creations fall into enemy hands. They send out a sea-based nuclear warhead to destroy the boat, thinking that it will be a small enough accident that it can be blamed on an accident aboard. The result is far more enormous than anticipated, setting off the entire [[World War III|horrific war]] the rest of the movie narrates.
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*** Of course, it is a gung-ho cowboy pilot who just thinks his country entered a nuclear war and has little hope of survival himself, and might return to find all his family and friends dead. His motivation to follow policy to the letter might be slightly compromised.
*** According to a featurette on the DVD, the reason Kubrick decided to make it a comedy (the novel it was based on had a serious tone) was because he did enough research to learn the central premise was impossible, but figured people wouldn't criticize its accuracy if it [[Rule of Funny|didn't take itself seriously]] [[Refuge in Audacity|to begin with]].
* ''[[Fail Safe]]'' - A bomber group is launched with nuclear weapons and receives the 'go-ahead' signal because of a technical failure. Because they are literally following their instructions, which tell them to ignore stand-down orders, the U.S. has to give the Soviets whatever information they can to tell them ''how to shoot down their own planes'' but one bomber escapes the defences and heads for Moscow. When the inevitable becomes clear, the President offers a solution to his Soviet counterpart to avoid a nuclear holocaust. Since their largest city is doomed, he will offer up America's largest city in return as an [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save the world. When the bomb goes off over New York City, the pilot who had to drop it commits suicide {{spoiler|because his wife and children were in New York}}.
** The president's family was also in New York City.
** Interestingly, it is suggested by a prophetic dream that General Black was expecting to die or be demoted for failing his duty.
*** In the novel, it's made clear that the dream is Black's conscience torturing him about what he knows his job is to do. He knows that to make it stop, he just has to leave Strategic Air Command - but to do that would be to give up all he's ever lived for.
* ''The Bedford Incident''. A gung-ho destroyer commander harasses a Soviet sub with the intention of forcing it to the surface. Unfortunately he also rides his crew equally hard, so a keyed-up officer launches an anti-sub missile when he hears the words "Fire One" (the captain was actually saying "If he (the sub) fires one, then I'll fire one"). The by-now equally keyed-up Soviet submariners respond with an atomic torpedo before they're destroyed.
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== [[Literature]] ==
* Averted in ''[[The Hunt for Red October]]'' (though not in the movie [[Played for Drama|for reasons of drama]]). First it's pointed out that Ramius could have launched his missiles virtually from harbour if he wanted to start [[World War III]], and that several officers are needed to launch the missiles, more even than a US submarine. A Politburo discussion about options for preventing the defection of Ramius, specifically pointed out that without the appropriate signal from an accelerometer, the weapon couldn't detonate. Though the film version does have [[The Mole]] attempting to sink the ''October'' by way of detonating one of the missiles aboard. It's specifically pointed out that the missiles can't be launched, but the fuel and non-nuclear explosives on just one is more than enough to incinerate the ship.
** Also, the missile the [[The Mole]] is attempting to blow in place had been specifically rigged beforehand with a non-standard detonator package, precisely to enable this contingency plan.
* While not quite an Accident, but insanity, in the last book of the Genesis of Shannara trilogy, the last man living in a nuclear launch facility is finally driven to the point where he launches the remaining weapons in his base's arsenal. The two key console had been changed to a single man with a code, and all weapons pre-targeted.
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