North Korea -- What should be do?

Quote: AZDuffman

No nation besides the USA has made a nuke on their own without direct assistance or espionage.

The Manhattan project had three partners. Britain transferred its lab and technology to Canada to protect it from the war (That eventually became the Chalk River facility in Canada). This lab worked with the US on development and processed the uranium that was used in the first bombs. This was pre viable computers and the massive calculations required were farmed out to students in universities in both Canada and the US in small pieces. These partial solutions were then assembled into the final solution by the project engineers. My father worked on this farmed out math. Officially they didn't know what they were working on but there was much speculation.

N Korea delivery device could be one of their small subs (possibly with some modifications.. Literally detonate the bomb in a sub. Don't need a torpedo. Threaten only port cities but is still a significant threat.

Quote: rxwine

N Korea delivery device could be one of their small subs (possibly with some modifications.. Literally detonate the bomb in a sub. Don't need a torpedo. Threaten only port cities but is still a significant threat.

I agree
There are all kinds ways to deliver a bomb if you think outside the box. Bomber or missle is so last century thinking. Fallout is a real danger and can cover a very wide area.

Quote: rxwine

N Korea delivery device could be one of their small subs (possibly with some modifications.. Literally detonate the bomb in a sub. Don't need a torpedo. Threaten only port cities but is still a significant threat.

The M08 naval mine that blew a big hole USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) in 1958 seemed like it was a WWI mine. But even ancient technology can be very effective.

Quote: rxwine

N Korea delivery device could be one of their small subs (possibly with some modifications.. Literally detonate the bomb in a sub. Don't need a torpedo. Threaten only port cities but is still a significant threat.

Talking major mods and would be limited to threatening Japan, I don't see them moving a nuke to even Hawaii.

Quote: AZDuffman

Talking major mods and would be limited to threatening Japan, I don't see them moving a nuke to even Hawaii.

Probably not, but Philippines or Guam is not totally out of the question. All their submarines are diesel electric. Ranges are estimated at 2800km or less.

You could launch a smaller sub from a ship as well. That would give it more range.

Quote: rxwine

You could launch a smaller sub from a ship as well. That would give it more range.

But it would be a lot easier to detect.

Back in the 1960's there were no ICBMs, and it was assumed that USSR would follow the USA in developing a working nuclear submarine. At one point under President Kennedy, it was believed that the greatest security threat to the USA was a submarine delivered nuclear warhead.

The K-19 (NATO reporting name Hotel-class submarine), was the first generation nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear ballistic missiles, specifically the R-13 SLBM. The keel was laid down in 1958, and on its initial voyage on 4 July 1961, it suffered a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. With no backup system, the captain ordered members of the engineering crew to find a solution to avoid a nuclear meltdown. Sacrificing their own lives, the engineering crew jury-rigged a secondary coolant system and kept the reactor from a meltdown. Twenty-two crew members died from radiation sickness during the following two years.

Quote: Pacomartin

But it would be a lot easier to detect.

How so? If they used an ordinary looking large cargo or fishing vessel out in the open sea, not a military ship. Maybe we track every single vessel of theirs, I don't know.

Like when we ship unusual cargo across the states, you don't make anything obvious for anyone trying to find it.

Quote: rxwine

How so? If they used an ordinary looking large cargo or fishing vessel out in the open sea, not a military ship. Maybe we track every single vessel of theirs, I don't know.

Like when we ship unusual cargo across the states, you don't make anything obvious for anyone trying to find it.

Why drop the sub overboard just sail the ship as close as you can get and set off the bomb. If you have suicide bombers very hard to stop them. If you don't have intel on a bomb it would never be stopped on the open seas.