MORE BANG FOR A BOB: THE DECISION TO ‘GO NUCLEAR’ AND ITS IMPACT ON CHATHAM DOCKYARD

Abstract

The devastation caused by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 signalled a chilling new departure in warfare. The threat of total destruction became the overriding feature of the Cold War, with possession of the latest in nuclear weapons technology defining the World’s dominant powers. In order to retain some vestige of world power status Britain strove to possess its own independent nuclear deterrent. Many of the resulting implications, from the economic and strategic consequences to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, have been subject of historical study already. Some very good works tracing the history of the nuclear deterrent have also been produced, with Nailor’s detailed official history of the Polaris project and the collection of essays by those involved in the project’s implementation in Moore’s The Impact of Polaris, providing just two examples. 4 One area that is rarely considered, however, is the impact of the decision to ‘go nuclear’ on the state-controlled, royal dockyards.