Re: What will happen during a war?
Also why each of the 4 Vanguard Class UK SSBNs (aka "bombers" - those that carry ICBMs in this case Trident II D5) all carry "letters of last resort" handwritten letter from the Prime Minister to the commander of each submarine outlining the steps to be taken should Britain be eliminated in a nuclear war (reception of Radio 4 LW being one of the methods of discerning this)
No one knows whats in said letters (apart from those who wrote them) as everytime we changed PM the letters are replaced and the former incinerated.
Options would likely consist of "find a safe country for the crew" "Scuttle the sub" "atomic retaliation" (though there may not be anyone left to shoot at by that stage) or "Its up to you"
It does give rise to the potential that a "Mad Dog" PM might order a nuclear holocaust in retribution and then be removed from office whilst an SSBN is on patrol...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
