As Ready As They Can Be D+24 (2 August, 1987) 0200-0250 Zulu

0205 Zulu- In Moscow, General Secretary Romanov selects a retaliatory response option, and the decision is finalized. It will be some 45 minutes until Western TVD completes the necessary preparations. In the meantime, Romanov turns to the handling an assortment of important tasks. The first of which is delaying the Politburo meeting until 0715. 0215 …

D+23 (1 August, 1987) 0930-1100 Zulu

The Northern Norwegian Sea, 100 km southeast of Bear Island 0930 Zulu (1130 Local) One hundred kilometers southeast of Bear Island, the Oscar I class SSGN Minskiy Komsomolets was cruising south at twelve knots. The large submarine’s depth was two hundred meters beneath the surface, and it was on a southern course for the moment. …

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+21 (30 July, 1987) Part III

0545 Hours- COMSUBLANT presents his command’s latest estimates on dispositions and defensive strength of the Soviet SSBN bastions to the National Security Council. The ballistic missile submarines assigned to the Red Banner Northern Fleet were all at sea by 0100 hours of D+21 with the exception of four submarines down for long-term maintenance. The SSBNs …

The North Atlantic D+20 (29 July, 1987) Part II

Author’s Note: Going to have split North Atlantic into 3 parts. Real world commitments have cut my blog writing time down this week,  so we won’t finish North Atlantic until Friday. Not a terrible setback,  but still. 😊 –Mike 0632- Sixty miles southeast of Bear Island, the USS Kitty Hawk turned into the wind and …

The North Atlantic D+20 (29 July, 1987)

In the pre-dawn hours, Strike Fleet Atlantic’s three carrier air wings had completed preparations for the day’s planned missions against targets on the Kola Peninsula. The morning strikes were scheduled for a 0630 launch with another wave of strikes and supporting missions set for later in the day. Each air wing commander had private concerns …

D+18 On The Flanks And At Sea 1830-2359 Zulu 27 July, 1987

For NATO and Warsaw Pact commanders on the flanks and at sea, news of the exchange halted operations for a period of time as preparations for potentially yet another round of nuclear exchanges got underway. In each theater, these preparations were complicated by conditions exclusive to each respective theater of operation. On NATO’s Southern Flank, …

D+18 0401-0800 Zulu, 27 July, 1987 Part II

Freden, FRG 0420 Zulu, 27 July, 1987 (0620 local time) As dawn broke, the decision was made for Major General John Yeosock and his division. Lieutenant General Crosbie Saint exercised his prerogative as NORTHAG’s commanding general and ordered the 1st Cavalry Division to secure Alfeld and Brüggen as soon as possible. Saint clearly wanted to …

The North Atlantic D+17 (26 July, 1987) Part II

Late in the morning of D+17, a Soviet Victor II class attack submarine, one of the few remaining Soviet nuclear subs in the North Atlantic stumbled across a large formation of US Navy surface ships one hundred and seventy miles northwest of the Faroes. The formation was steaming north at thirteen knots. The captain of …

The North Atlantic D+15 (24 July, 1987) Part I

Political developments late in the evening of D+14 necessitated an abrupt halt to SACLANT’s planned operations for the following day. At 0100 on D+15, Admiral Lee Baggett Jr, USN took a phone call directly from President Reagan. The president summarized the hotline conversation he had recently completed with the Soviet general secretary. The situation at …