# moonshot925 **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 15, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747 "2012-09-15T00:27:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/221 "2012-09-26T16:40:24Z")
In Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire, fucking boathouses hardly ever happens. ---
**Author:** ![BoomerSailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9bd4f/32.png) [@BoomerSailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoomerSailor)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/222 "2012-09-26T19:22:08Z")
It must have been scary being a Minuteman missileer. There probably would have been at least 2 Soviet warheads targeted for each LCF and LF. And IIRC, the LCFs cannot survive a direct hit. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/223 "2012-09-26T20:30:23Z")
> [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > Yeah he was one of my best mates, did he ever tell you about Derek? Did you ever run into old Smitty Werbenmanjensen during your time there? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/224 "2012-09-26T20:38:18Z")
Or his cousin, Harvey Manfredjinsinjin? ---
**Author:** ![moonshot925](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@moonshot925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonshot925)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/225 "2012-09-26T21:16:08Z")
Yep. The LCF would be completely destroyed by a direct hit. But it might be able to survive a near miss. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/226 "2012-09-27T00:11:39Z")
> [@BoomerSailor](#): > > It must have been scary being a Minuteman missileer. > > There probably would have been at least 2 Soviet warheads targeted for each LCF and LF. > > And IIRC, the LCFs cannot survive a direct hit. Nowhere near as scary as being an everyday civilian living in a city with a population greater than 20,000. There was at least 1 Soviet warhead targeted at each of those, and I’m positive they couldn’t survive a direct hit. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/227 "2012-09-27T00:13:35Z")
I can’t believe how much of this Big Ass Thread I ended up reading. Moonshot is _so_ busted. ---
**Author:** ![BoomerSailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9bd4f/32.png) [@BoomerSailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoomerSailor)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/228 "2012-09-27T01:36:32Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Nowhere near as scary as being an everyday civilian living in a city with a population greater than 20,000. There was at least 1 Soviet warhead targeted at each of those, and I’m positive they couldn’t survive a direct hit. Why would the Soviets want to waste their warheads on cities? A missile silo or a bomber base would be a much more valuable target. I’m sure the Soviet war planners understood that in order to limit retaliation against them, they would need to destroy as much of American strategic nuclear forces as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/229 "2012-09-27T01:56:12Z")
> [@BoomerSailor](#): > > Why would the Soviets want to waste their warheads on cities? That’s kind of how the whole “mutually assured destruction” thing worked. The 1960s US nuclear policy of “damage limitation” was based around the idea of destroying Soviet nuclear weapons that could be used to attack US cities. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/230 "2012-09-27T03:07:06Z")
> [@BoomerSailor](#): > > Why would the Soviets want to waste their warheads on cities? A missile silo or a bomber base would be a much more valuable target. I’m sure the Soviet war planners understood that in order to limit retaliation against them, they would need to destroy as much of American strategic nuclear forces as possible. Wow, 2 military trolls for the price of one. Which SSBN did you serve on? SSBN-1701 Enterprise tasked with upholding the prime directive and boldly going where no one has gone before? Try looking up the concept of total war before lying about having served in a ballistic missile submarine. It’s like walking around carrying a huge sign with ‘I’m a liar’ written on it in bright neon letters. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/231 "2012-09-27T03:33:17Z")
> [@BoomerSailor](#): > > Why would the Soviets want to waste their warheads on cities? A missile silo or a bomber base would be a much more valuable target. I’m sure the Soviet war planners understood that in order to limit retaliation against them, they would need to destroy as much of American strategic nuclear forces as possible. Because when you launch your missiles at the other guy’s missile launch sites, you can be pretty sure that those missiles will be gone and on their way to you by the time that your missiles get there. Then, your missiles wind up hitting mostly empty missile silos, in empty fields, out in the middle of nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![BoomerSailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9bd4f/32.png) [@BoomerSailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoomerSailor)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/232 "2012-09-27T03:45:38Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That’s kind of how the whole “mutually assured destruction” thing worked. The 1960s US nuclear policy of “damage limitation” was based around the idea of destroying Soviet nuclear weapons that could be used to attack US cities. MAD did not apply to the Soviets since they thought nuclear war was winnable. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/233 "2012-09-27T07:54:57Z")
> [@BoomerSailor](#): > > MAD did not apply to the Soviets since they thought nuclear war was winnable. Keep on digging that hole, buddy. MAD was a term born from the US-Soviet nuclear arms race; of course it applied to them. Or do you imagine there were actually over [45,000](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_and_USSR_nuclear_stockpiles.svg) US nuclear targets for all those Soviet nuclear warheads. Or that when launch orders were given that all the MIRVs on the SLBMs on the SSBN that you didn’t serve in were going to explode in butterflies and rainbows when the number of possible Soviet nuclear targets ran out? Since I have to assume that you’ve never heard of it, [SIOP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Integrated_Operational_Plan), the Single Integrated Operational Plan which was developed in order to prevent the biggest nuclear traffic jam in history as NATO let everything fly had over 16,000 targets in the National Target Base, more than enough to cover every military base and major population center in all of Eastern Europe and the USSR. Aside from total war you might want to google up the phrase ‘bouncing the rubble’ and how it applied to the level of overkill both sides possessed before making an even bigger fool of yourself. By the by, calling you and **moonie** liars about your claims of military service isn’t something I do lightly. You have both clearly exposed that you are, and as such are an insult to the brave men and women who serve or have served this and other countries. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/234 "2012-09-27T09:31:01Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Wow, 2 military trolls for the price of one. Which SSBN did you serve on? SSBN-1701 Enterprise tasked with upholding the prime directive and boldly going where no one has gone before? ISBN 9780870212857, I’m guessing. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/235 "2012-09-27T10:38:40Z")
You don’t even need to hit cities with nukes directly, after each silo in the US is hit the north American continent would be a hell scape for thousands of years. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/236 "2012-09-27T11:16:51Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > You don’t even need to hit cities with nukes directly, after each silo in the US is hit the north American continent would be a hell scape for thousands of years. That could be the break the McCain campaign has been waiting for! ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/237 "2012-09-27T12:54:50Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > They didn’t let you have gum? No smoking, sure, I can understand, but sugarless gum? The fifth dentist was appointed Sec’y of Defense. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/238 "2012-09-27T13:35:12Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > ISBN 9780870212857, I’m guessing. Bravo. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/239 "2012-09-27T13:37:45Z")
> [@BoomerSailor](#): > > MAD did not apply to the Soviets since they thought nuclear war was winnable. No they didn’t. That’s why we didn’t have one. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747/240 "2012-09-27T13:58:51Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Bravo. No, that’s [ISBN 9780440218807](http://www.abebooks.com/9780440218807/Bravo-Two-Zero-McNab-Andy-0440218802/plp). 😃 . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moonshot925/634747.md?page=13)