Maritime Issues In Avoiding Nuclear War

Abstract

Current naval standard operating procedures in the nuclear weapons states may be producing excessively casual deployments of nuclear warheads on the high seas, unnecessarily increasing risks of nuclear escalation in local conflicts. Examples that can be cited include the Soviet submarine that ran aground on the Swedish coast and reported British nuclear deployments near the Falklands. At the same time, any total moves toward nuclear-free zones would endanger some very valuable oceanic deployments of submarines carrying ballistic missiles, the backbone of mutual deterrence Some proposals are offered for making nuclear deployments at sea conform more with the real interest of all the states involved.