Britain and the Bomb: Technology, Culture and the Cold War

Britain and the BombBill Nuttall has written a most interesting and well researched book. It tells the fascinating story of how the Royal Air Force lost control of the UK’s delivery system for nuclear weapons to the submarines of the Royal Navy. This happened as a potentially game-changing supersonic aircraft, the TSR2, was scrapped in 1965 by the new Labour Government of Harold Wilson. The British Piggy Bank was empty. The baton was then passed to the submarines of the Royal Navy with the Polaris system (the missiles bought from the US) and that is still the case today. Inter-service rivalry was a big factor in the discussions of the 1950s, as the Royal Air Force (established in 1918) was the “younger” of the services; the Royal Navy, of course, the senior service of Nelson and all that.A second factor that emerged in the 1970s was that the Polaris system was found to be vulnerable to the Russian ABM system, so the British embarked on a programme called “Chevaline” to modify their weapon’s system to meet the requirement of an “independent deterrent” (forgetting, for a moment, that the missile came from the US). Of course, this is all rather hush-hush and technical details are not given. The US didn’t need to worry about this as they just believed in many missiles to overwhelm the Russians, whereas the UK would just have a few (maybe just one!) submarines patrolling at any one time.So, the book is actually not about the bomb per se (there are many others on that subject) but about the delivery systems. In that sense the title is misleading. The author agrees with the decision to cancel the TSR2, and he thinks the Chevaline work of considerable competence.The wider question of the future of nuclear weapons is not discussed. In the foreword Lord Owen (a former Foreign Secretary) assumes Britain will still have a nuclear deterrent 100 years from now. I query that. There seems to me an alternative; either we all get nukes or those with them now make a start to get rid of them. With Lord Owen’s path there seems to me a very good chance we won’t be here in 100 years.This is a very readable book to begin the discussion.

In addition to telling the stories of the arms race and weapons development, his book takes a very broad view of British culture and its influence on attitudes towards the bomb and, in particular, the cancelation of TSR2. Seen in the context of the cold war through the 1950s and 60s, it manages to give real insight into many of the seemingly odd decisions taken by the UK government in relation to defence. Definitely worth a read!

Ostensibly a book about the UK Government’s decision to cancel the TSR2 supersonic bomber project in 1965. However, it surveys a wide sweep of technological and political history in order to tell a relatively simple tale of a big budget defence project over-running and failing to meet contemporary requirements. Somewhat rambling, repetitive and poorly edited, it presents some useful facts and quotations, but ultimately fails, being neither an authoritative political history nor an insightful technological study.

Really very good. I was at Aldermaston in a lowly position in the 80's and had no inkling at all of the historical development of our own nukes and delivery systems. This book fills those gaps. A very interesting read using material that can only have come into the public domain in the last ten years or less.

Fascinating book although it feels a bit like reading a thesis. Particularly interesting to learn about Chevaline. Recommended for cold war history buffs.

A thoroughly researched book that explains the various political, military and economic tensions that drove some dramatic defence procurement decisions in the Cold War, including the cancellation of TSR2 and all that happened afterwards.

i did not enjoy this book too much TSR2

Excellent book and service