The Plan For Late September, 2022

Happy Monday, everyone. I hope the weekend was a good one for all of you. Now it’s back to reality for all of us regardless of whether we’re ready for it or not. Oh well, such is life. 😊 I was hoping to get out an entry on the initial negotiations between US and Soviet …

WWIII 1987 Odds and Ends

With D+24 set to launch later this weekend, I felt this would be a good time to catch up on a few blog-related odds and ends.  Sometimes I don’t keep up with the flow of this blog as well as I’d like to. As a result, the pile of loose ends and subjects I haven’t …

D+23 (1 August, 1987) 1215-1500 Zulu

Moscow, USSR 1215 Zulu (1615 Local) The mid-afternoon session of the Politburo concluded earlier than anticipated. The mood had soured very early on and before anyone could think of containment it was too late. Vladimir Dolgikh was the figure that the opposition rallied around, somewhat to Romanov’s surprise. He’d expected another twenty-four hours to pass …

The North Atlantic D+22 (31 July 1987) Part III (Charlie)

NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) was escorted into the Situation Room on the basement level of the White House at 0930 EDT. Upon entering the wood-paneled conference room, Admiral Lee Baggett, US Navy noted more officials, civilian and military, than normal. One of the men seated against the wall in a chair was John …

The North Atlantic D+22 (31 July 1987) Part III (Bravo)

Planning and preparation took center stage in Severomorsk and at airbases and other military installations located from the Kola Peninsula to Arkhangelsk. Long Range Aviation and Naval Aviation bombers, submarines, surface ships and almost every piece of military equipment remaining in the region, and their crews were preparing a maximum defensive effort. Their target was …

The North Atlantic D+22 (31 July 1987) Part III (Alpha)

0405- News of the failed Badger attack on Strike Fleet Atlantic reaches Norfolk. SACLANT agrees with strike fleet commander’s assessment of the situation, which was helpfully included with the initial report. After reading over the telex, SACLANT ordered his staff to  be recalled immediately (it was 2105 hours, the previous evening in Virginia). Then he …

The North Atlantic D+22 (31 July 1987) Part II (Bravo)

Radar-guided and heat-seeking missiles joined the fray next as the four Forrestal Tomcats engaged. With each second that passed, the air battle became even more chaotic. The Soviet raid commander was now fully cognizant his aircraft—and crews—were suffering heavy losses. Once the US Navy fighters moved in to make use of their Sidewinders. In the …

The North Atlantic D+22 (31 July 1987) Part II (Alpha)

0201- The first Tu-16 Badger started rolling down Severomorsk-3’s 2500-meter runway. The twenty-seven bombers and three ECM-equipped Badgers of the regiment were airborne and heading towards a pre-designated rendezvous point over the Barents Sea, 321 kilometers from the northern coast of the Kola Peninsula. 0220- As the Badgers flew north, operations for the morning’s offensive …

The North Atlantic D+22 (31 July 1987) Part I

Aboard the US Navy aircraft carriers of Strike Fleet Atlantic, aircrews and intelligence staff were preparing for the first set of the day’s missions against targets on the Kola Peninsula. 0400 was the scheduled launch time. Surviving radar sites and air defenses near the bomber bases in the central region of the peninsula were the …

D+22 Primer

Here we are, roughly twenty-four hours away from diving back into World War III on D+22. I’ve gone back and forth a bit on how to present the day and its major events because we’re reaching a point where multiple theaters are going to be fused together. But after reviewing the timeline, and outline showing …