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Keep in mind both Britain and the U.S. both had nuclear programs, Britains more advanced that the Americans at first, then when war broke out and the British hesitated to share their research and were very quickly outpaced by the U.S. program, albeit due to their scientists working on "tube alloy's" were deverted to the American program. Essentially the British program was subsumed by the American one. Britain was a fairly wealthy country and it took them a decade with some knowledge gained via the Manhattan project (which took 3 years and a collective allied participation). Without a world war and allied cooperation I think 10 years is quite optimistic and that's before we take in wesworld economics into account. Britain has 50 factory's, Nordmark 21(?), factories being a rough gauge on a nations economic strength.
Aha, this, I can address in detail.
Going to wiki, we find a highly-rounded figure of $100 million for each Iowa-class Battleship. Comparing their given tonnage to our rules, we find that that puts 1 IP at about 22 million dollars or equivalent, plus-minus whatever the difference between an Iowa's Light and Standard tonnage is - it falls under the level of significant figures that interest me. Dividing the Manhattan Project's $2 billion pricetag by 22 million gives us...
*pause*
*frowns at his calculator* Wait, what? That's not at all what I got last time I did this. I got 20 IP then... Mrrgh.
*goes to edit the corrected total number into old reports*
Anyway, yeah, I'd calculated seven and a half years to reach the 'initial test' stage, or 1954 or so, based on my 50% overage of my initial figures. Recalculated, we're looking at something more like 1970.
Oops!
Oops! :D
Yeah, seriously. I mean, I didn't put disclaimers of mathematical incompetence on my sim reports for a while for nothing, but usually I come closer than that. The only thing I can think of is that I'd managed to find some reference to the costs of the Swedish nuclear weapons program and they were a lot lower, but if so, I can't find them again right now.
*shrug*
Well, it serves my Doylist purpose of using up all the industrial production Nordmark can't use even better now, so whatever.
I admit to being a bit amused that this admittedly predictable reaction is following an action that Nordmark only took to increase its own defensive security, though.
Next, Russia does not understand the Nordish 'threat analysis' that has led to the decision to create a strong-to-weak deterrent. The interpretation within Petrograd is that Nordmark is on very positive terms with Britain, Germany, and Russia, which are the only neighboring powers Nordmark cannot handily defeat using solely conventional forces. Ergo, an atomic deterrent can only be aimed at one of those three. Germany and Great Britain have been quite friendly to Nordmark for years, while Russia and Nordmark have a longstanding nonaggression treaty. Therefore, in Petrograd's eyes, the 'need' for atomic weapons indicates that Nordmark's own internal threat analyses paint a very pessimistic snapshot of the future for their international relations. Since there have been very few major changes in the political stances any of those powers, then something internal to Nordmark must be driving that dismal perception. "Might," Russia wonders, "Nordmark be preparing for something that will upset the neighborhood?" These are the questions being asked of Intentions.
Russia is operating under a particularly pessimistic timeline (or optimistic, from the Nordish point-of-view) for interpreting a Nordish atomic arms program. They've caught a few sniffs and snippets (which Valles hinted OOC might be discovered fairly early) and red flags have been raised. The GRU has almost certainly seriously overestimated how much the Nordish have accomplished and how fast they are progressing. As more information comes in, more sensible analysis will be done and the Threat Analysis could be lowered... slightly. This should become more apparent as I post more pieces in this line.
Your cruise-missile submarine concept makes much more sense now you've posted this and the train of thought is obvious.
Can Nordmark affod to build the research facilities, mine and refine the fissle materials, build a warhead, test it (where?), test some more, fine tune the design, develop a weapons system concept(s) for delivery, design the bomb/missile, test said bomb/missile(s), develop launch platform(s), build launch platform, test launch platform, test all three elements combined.
That would take at least 10 years in my opinion and a lot of cash, and if the Army, Air Force and Navy all want a slice of the pie things could spiral quite quickly. Your initial cruise missile concept was quite crude (fitting with the state of development current in WW). What will equivalent concepts look like in 10 years? Without using OTL hindsight who knows, and given the development times you don't want to invest and find you field something everyone else shrugs off as outmoded and less than optimal. If you try and jump the hurdles it costs a lot and takes time. Britain's V-Force took 10 years to develop and field, another 10 years later it was obsolete.
Nordmark has some of the best defensive territory in the world. I doubt any nation could easily conquer the whole and successfully occupy it.
I still don't see the threat.
Nordmark has some of the best defensive territory in the world. I doubt any nation could easily conquer the whole and successfully occupy it.
I still don't see the threat.
The irony is that Russia has been very strongly inclined towards a friendly relationship with Nordmark: there are too many other potential flashpoints in Asia for Petrograd to antagonize those of its neighbors who are friendly, industrious, and orderly. Now though, Nordmark's actions may result in a very strong reaction by Russia, possibly to the point of initiating their own accelerated atomic arms project. Nice job breaking it, hero!
It seems too odd banking your defence on a totally theoretical defence system, its like me ditching half the Royal Navy to research death-ray space stations. Sure the worry is there to a potential enemy but its all on the physicist's blackboard (and who really understands algebra anyway? ) What's going to deter the bad guys more, a conceptual weapon that's never been built or a fleet of costal defence ships and decent tanks and well-trained troops ? (The Belgians advice is you can never have enough concrete! )
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Nordmark's actions may result in a very strong reaction by Russia, possibly to the point of initiating their own accelerated atomic arms project. Nice job breaking it, hero!
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Valles, for testing sites I think that your Northern Greenland or Svalbard options are probably better than the Northern Norway, regardless of the fact that some effort is required to get to those sites, it is further away from curious foreign agents.
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Please don't treat this as 'Well of course everyone knew better'.
I had no such information. I didn't have word one about Russia's viewpoints, friendliness or lackthereof, or decision making - including when I actually asked, lo, these many moons ago on first taking over Nordmark.
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Nordmark's actions may result in a very strong reaction by Russia, possibly to the point of initiating their own accelerated atomic arms project. Nice job breaking it, hero!
Well, how are other nations going to react to such a project by Russia? To be honest, I would think that a reaction to a Russian Nuclear Project is going to be bigger than the Nordish Nuclear Project.
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Hmm. Svalbard is uncomfortably close to Russia, at least in my humble opinion, and Northern Greenland would raise eyebrows (at least) in Canada.
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In a flyby for the photographers of our national press, the naval aviators of the heavy aircraft cruiser Afonskoye triumphantly revealed their new Tupolev Tu-4Ks
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the finest new ship-based strike aircraft now in service in the navies of the world!
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Opponents of the change claimed that 'Sankt-Peterburg' sounded too German
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