War

During the almost 50 years of the cold war the world was held together by the fear of the theory of mutually assured destruction (MAD). It has been over 20 years since the fall of the Soviet Union and fears of nuclear war are once again in the news but there is a misunderstanding as to how or why this might happened. Most people think of the many Intercontinental guided missiles (ICBM's) that would be launched by each country toward the other but there is another deterrent one far more difficult to defend against. These are the Ohio Class submarines. There are 18 of these somewhere under the ocean where they can remain submerged for 4 months at a time. Each of these subs can direct a hydrogen bomb to 192 separate cities and each bomb is 25 times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Japan to end WW 2. If someone could disable the land base missiles from launching using a computer hack they would still have to deal with the subs. No sane person would do this but what about and insane person. Picture Hitler at the end of WW 2 when he was in his bunker getting ready to kill himself. Would he have launched. The only hope against a madman launching is that those around him would not allow it. In the US the president alone cannot launch but it requires a series of events involving several people. Only the president has the authority to launch but others are involved in the process. Similar procedures exist in Russia. If small tactical nukes are used on the battle field this could quickly escalate into an all out war but once again the submarines would be a strong deterrent.