Preface
I wrote this in late September 2023, and updated it on 27 January 2024. The questioner likely was motivated by the Russia - Ukraine war. Um Russian Special Military Operation. Invasion of Ukraine by Russia? You get the idea.
Has the U.S. recently moved nuclear bombs to the UK?
No, the United States hasn’t moved nuclear weapons to the UK. Well, not yet and even if we eventually do, not for awhile. More on that in a moment. First, a bit about why it might not even be necessary.
The UK already has nuclear weapons
England developed nuclear bombs in 1953, and has been able to deliver them on submarines since 1969. That is to say, the UK already has nuclear weapons on its nuclear-powered submarines. According to the sometimes lefty or maybe just contrarian Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (the cheery people with the Doomsday Clock), 120 of the UK’s stockpile of 225 nuclear warheads are operationally available.
UK as nuclear monad?
No, I'm not referring to monads in Haskell, nor in APL!
The UK is the only “nuclear weapons state” which has a single nuclear platform: Four Vanguard-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs). To be precise, the SSBNs are the nuclear platform and the submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) are the nuclear delivery system.
The UK limits its SSBNs to carrying no more than 40 nuclear warheads at a time. Prior to 2010, each submarine carried 48 nuclear warheads. The reduction from 48 to 40 was probably a strategic decision rather than a tactical one, i.e. there is still room for the extra warheads.
The nuclear warheads are named Holbrook. All 120 have the same name. More on that in a moment too.
Only one of the four submarines is at sea at any time. Two stay in port, while a fourth undergoes routine maintenance and repairs. This is why it makes sense to have 120 operational warheads (SLBMs): 40 go with the one submarine at sea. 40 remain on each of the two submarines anchored at dock but ready to be deployed if needed. Since the fourth submarine is undergoing maintenance, it wouldn’t do to have nuclear warheads on board! So, 40 x 3 = 120
Nuclear triad
In contrast to the UK, the US has a nuclear triad. That means that the US can dispatch nuclear warheads in three different ways: by Polaris submarine, by airplane, and by land.
“Land” doesn’t mean putting a nuclear bomb on a flatbed truck and just driving it up to wherever needs to be bombed, shoving it over the side, then driving away and detonating remotely from a safe distance. Instead, nuclear-tipped ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) get the nukes where they are needed. ICBMs are launched from one continent, travel quite low, though always above ground, to hit a target on another continent. ICBMs can be conventional too, i.e.have non-nuclear bombs. There are a few genuine and many CGI videos of ICBMs in action (most are courtesy of defense contractors). All depictions are impressive.
ICBMs are distinctly different from nuclear bomb delivery by airplane. In the latter case, the planes are flown to the destination, then the nuclear missiles are dropped from a height and detonate slightly above their targets.
US nukes in the UK
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| CNDUK No US Nukes Day of Action demonstrators |
