Let's hit the arms race with a tsunami
Over the past years, the issue of NATO's advancement to the borders of Russia, as well as the US plans to create a missile defense system ring around our country, cannot but cause serious concern. At the same time, Western countries do not suspect that, with their irresponsible behavior, they are capable of giving rise to Soviet military projects during the Cold War. One of them provided for the possibility of destroying a potential enemy using a giant tsunami.
Bomb or Wave?
If we compare nuclear weapons and an artificially induced shock wave, the latter will have absolute superiority. With the use of nuclear weapons, the target area will inevitably be contaminated for many decades. In addition, nuclear weapons must first be delivered to the location of a potential enemy and only then detonated. But a missile or an airplane can be shot down, a submarine can be sunk, and a pre-emptive strike at the mine. At the same time, when a nuclear charge is detonated at a pre-calculated point of the world's oceans, a wave of several hundred meters high will instantly wash away the coastal cities of the United States. It is impossible to stop this wave, which has risen above any skyscraper in America. It is not afraid of any missile defense systems, or fighter-interceptors, or the forces of the Navy. The most interesting,that the first attempts to cause controlled tsunamis were made by the Americans themselves, even before the nuclear weapons tests at the end of World War II.
During the test of a simultaneous explosion of several large bombs, it turned out that to create a directed wave thirty-three feet high, which is about 10 meters, only ten explosions in a row are enough to wash away a small city. To test theoretical calculations in the covert Operation Project Seal, about 3,700 bombs were detonated off the coast of New Caledonia, a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean under French protectorate. For the first time about plans to create an artificial tsunami to destroy coastal cities, filmmaker from New Zealand Ray Varu, who found reports of such tests in the archives of the Second World War, told about the plans. According to the researcher, by 1944, weapons of mass destruction based on the creation of a directed tsunami were ready for use. With its help, attempts were made to clean up coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean. But, fortunately, in 1945 the project was closed.
Tsunami in the service of the USSR
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Despite the fact that the experiments to create killer waves carried out by Western countries were strictly classified, they were well known in the USSR. Soon the "Cold War" began, and along with it the issue of delivering nuclear warheads to the territory of a potential enemy arose. The main obstacle in those years, as today, was the air defense system, which could shoot down both an aircraft and a missile with a deadly cargo on board, as well as interceptor aircraft. Moreover, the element of surprise was lost. So there was a proposal to detonate a powerful thermonuclear charge at the bottom of the world's oceans, causing a wave of 400-500 meters high, which was supposed to wash away the largest cities in the United States, mostly located on the coast. A guided wave from the Atlantic Ocean should have killed: New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Annapolis.
The second wave covered the US West Coast, in particular: San Francisco and Los Angeles. The third blow fell on Houston, New Orleans and Pensacola. The most interesting thing is that the author of the proposal to wash away the coastal cities of the United States with the help of several thermonuclear explosions with a capacity of up to 100 Mt, later the famous Soviet human rights activist Academician A. D. Sakharov. Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria liked the scientist's proposal, and the project was launched. Andrei Dmitrievich proposed to put into service the first Soviet nuclear submarine of project 627 a torpedo tube with a caliber of 1550 mm to launch a torpedo with a thermal charge of up to 100 Mt. Its detonation near the coast of a potential enemy instantly led to the formation of a giant tsunami, which destroyed not only the coastal fortifications of the potential enemy, but also its coastal megacities.
How to wash off the USA?
The implementation of the project, tempting from the point of view of ensuring the security of the USSR, began in the summer of 1954. At the shipyard in Molotovsk (present-day Severodvinsk), they began to create the first nuclear submarine. Moreover, given the secrecy of the project, its construction took place in the workshop intended for the assembly of battleship turret installations. Exactly following the suggestion of A. D. Sakharov, simultaneously with the nuclear submarine, they manufactured a torpedo tube of 1550 mm caliber. We can say that the submarine was actually a means of delivering a torpedo with a thermonuclear charge to a given target. Its size was impressive. The torpedo was about 24 meters long and weighed up to 40 tons, taking up a quarter of the submarine's length. The torpedo could travel about 40 kilometers under water on its own, developing a speed of 29 knots. Its movement was provided by a low-noise electric motor,powered by rechargeable batteries. It is amazing, but Academician Sakharov himself spoke about his development of plans for striking an artificial tsunami on the US coast shortly before the start of perestroika.
Mine the ocean
It was assumed that a Soviet submarine would approach a US naval base at a distance of 40 km and fire a torpedo. True, in this case, the submarine, along with the crew, would most likely have been discovered and destroyed. And it is unlikely that she would have been allowed to the coastal bases at such a close distance. The relief of the coast and the seabed was also a problem for the torpedo. It could explode before it could reach its goal. The tactics were changed. Now the Soviet submarine was supposed to approach the American coast at a safe distance, release a torpedo and go home. The torpedo, having used up its power reserve, would go to the bottom, with the clockwork on. The explosion in this case occurred at the right time, causing a terrible tsunami. In addition, there was another option, according to which the torpedo became a time bomb. It could be undermined at any time favorable to the political and military command of the USSR. Thus, only a few nuclear submarines could create a reliable deterrent at the bottom of the world's oceans off the coast of the United States.
Humanist Nikita Khrushchev
The most amazing thing is that from the use of weapons of fantastic power and the mass death of US citizens, which A. D. Sakharov, were rescued by Soviet sailors and personally by N. S. Khrushchev. In July 1954, sailors were connected to work on the creation of a nuclear submarine with a thermonuclear torpedo on board, who would later have to operate this mechanism. The group of specialists was led by Rear Admiral A. E. Oryol, who oversaw, among other things, the creation of the first nuclear submarines of the Soviet Union. Alexander Evstafievich, like the group of specialists headed by him, spoke out sharply against the project of the T-15 torpedo, which has a thermonuclear charge. The reasons were various, but the most worried were hydrographers and oceanologists, who feared the irreversible impact on the seabed of the explosion of such a powerful bomb. The military also noticedthat they were used to fighting with the soldiers of a potential enemy, and this project was aimed rather at the mass destruction of the civilian population. Khrushchev heeded the arguments, and canceled the equipment of submarines with a T-15 torpedo. But he did not abandon the idea of testing a thermonuclear bomb. By the XXII Congress of the Communist Party, the power of the bomb was halved from 100 to 50 Mt and on October 30, 1961, a ball was dropped on the Matochkin Strait on Novaya Zemlya. The explosion of the bomb, dubbed "Kuzkina's mother" became the most powerful in the history of mankind. It is difficult to imagine what it could turn out to be for the United States and the entire planet in the event of a project to collapse on the United States by super tsunami, caused by the detonation of a 100 Mt thermonuclear charge on the ocean floor. Khrushchev heeded the arguments, and canceled the equipment of submarines with a T-15 torpedo. But he did not abandon the idea of testing a thermonuclear bomb. By the XXII Congress of the Communist Party, the power of the bomb was halved from 100 to 50 Mt and on October 30, 1961, a ball was dropped on the Matochkin Strait on Novaya Zemlya. The explosion of the bomb, dubbed "Kuzkina's mother" became the most powerful in the history of mankind. It is difficult to imagine what it could turn out to be for the United States and the entire planet in the event of a project to collapse on the United States by super tsunami, caused by the detonation of a 100 Mt thermonuclear charge on the ocean floor. Khrushchev heeded the arguments, and canceled the equipment of submarines with a T-15 torpedo. But he did not abandon the idea of testing a thermonuclear bomb. By the XXII Congress of the Communist Party, the power of the bomb was halved from 100 to 50 Mt and on October 30, 1961, a ball was dropped on the Matochkin Strait on Novaya Zemlya. The explosion of the bomb, dubbed "Kuzkina's mother" became the most powerful in the history of mankind. It is difficult to imagine what it could turn out to be for the United States and the entire planet in the event of a project to collapse on the United States by super tsunami, caused by the detonation of a 100 Mt thermonuclear charge on the ocean floor. The explosion of the bomb, dubbed "Kuzkina's mother" became the most powerful in the history of mankind. It is difficult to imagine what it could turn out to be for the United States and the entire planet in the event of a project to collapse on the United States by super tsunami, caused by the detonation of a 100 Mt thermonuclear charge on the ocean floor. The explosion of the bomb, dubbed "Kuzkina's mother" became the most powerful in the history of mankind. It is difficult to imagine what it could turn out to be for the United States and the entire planet in the event of a project to collapse on the United States by super tsunami, caused by the detonation of a 100 Mt thermonuclear charge on the ocean floor.
Our armored train is on a side track
However, despite the fact that the idea of conducting hostilities with the use of an artificially caused tsunami was abandoned several decades ago, the geopolitical situation in the world forces us to recall military projects of past years. The US behavior in the world causes only indignation, and NATO's approach to Russia's borders threatens its national security. The leadership of our country has repeatedly stated this from the highest tribunes. Alas, there was no adequate response from the West. In this regard, it may be worth reminding the United States that their favorable geopolitical position, thanks to which they have never fought wars on their territory, can play a cruel joke with them. About this in his loud report “Nuclear Special Forces. Only the BRICS countries will survive,”said Doctor of Military Sciences Konstantin Sivkov a few years ago. Among other asymmetric measures,The answer to NATO's progress towards our borders may be the revival of the project of creating a controlled tsunami. However, it will not be necessary to apply it. It is enough to notify the leadership of the potential adversary about the possibility of its use at any time. The horror of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the United States in 2005, clearly demonstrates how its short-sighted foreign policy could end for the United States. Nothing prevents us from recalling the calculations of A. D. Sakharov and lay in the Atlantic and Pacific rifts at a depth of up to 2 kilometers nuclear warheads, activated remotely. When they are blown up, the resulting tsunami, approaching the US coast, will have a wave height of 400-500 meters (one hundred-story skyscraper). In this case, the depth of irreversible destruction will be more than 500 kilometers. However, let's hope it doesn't come to that,and the new US political leadership will adopt a more balanced and friendly policy towards Russia, curbing its military.
Dmitry Sokolov