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The First Cities To Be Nuked
After all of the military command and control centers have been nuked, have you ever wondered which cities would be nuked first? You probably have not, because it is an unpleasant thought, and is something that most people believe would never happen. At one time between Russia and the United States alone, there were more than 20,000 nuclear warheads.
Not that long ago during the years of the Cuban missile crisis, every American feared the worst while the U.S. and the USSR were seemingly ready to end the world as we know it… Since then, stockpiles have been reduced somewhat, but in the big picture it is mostly irrelevant. If anything, the world is more dangerous today as apparently radical nations add their own nuclear weapons to the world’s nuclear arsenal.
Here is a mapped illustration of the top 30 most populated cities (and metro areas) in the United States which could potentially ‘go’ first in a nuclear war…
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Depending on the engagement (who, what, and to what end), military and/or key infrastructure targets might be hit first, but it won’t be long down the target list until major cities are taken out.
In a worst case all-out nuclear engagement, we might assume that all cities could be hit given the number of nukes that are available to countries like Russia and even China.
Leaving out arguments of motivation (or lack thereof) for nuclear war, for the curious here is a map of the thirty most populated cities in America and the thirty largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA), followed by the populations list.
Some of the metro areas (yellow) overlap with their associated cities (red) from the top-30 list, while others are unique – just as some of the cities in the top-30 are by themselves.
The diameter of the region is chosen to indicate a possible evacuation perimeter where people may likely reach while escaping the city region (until they run out of gas in their half-filled [or less] gas tanks). This perimeter is highly debatable and dependent upon many factors, but it’s a starting point to visualize an exodus.
I have included the locations of any operating nuclear power plants located within any of the highlighted zones for added risk assessment. If a given region is nuked, the power grid there will likely go down, which may leave any regional nuclear reactor with only its diesel generators until they run out of fuel…
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CITY LIMITS POPULATION
1. New York (8,175,133)
2. Los Angeles (3,792,621)
3. Chicago (2,695,598)
4. Houston (2,099,451)
5. Philadelphia (1,526,006)
6. Phoenix (1,445,632)
7. San Antonio (1,327,407)
8. San Diego (1,307,402)
9. Dallas (1,197,816)
10. San Jose (945,942)
11. Jacksonville (821,784)
12. Indianapolis (820,445)
13. San Francisco (805,235)
14. Austin (790,390)
15. Columbus (787,033)
16. Fort Worth (741,206)
17. Charlotte (731,424)
18. Detroit (713,777)
19. El Paso (649,121)
20. Memphis (646,889)
21. Baltimore (620,961)
22. Boston (617,594)
23. Seattle (608,660)
24. Washington (601,723)
25. Nashville (601,222)
26. Denver (600,158)
27. Louisville (597,337)
28. Milwaukee (594,833)
29. Portland (583,776)
30. Las Vegas (583,756)
METRO AREAS (population – millions)
1. New York (19.6)
2. Los Angeles (12.8)
3. Chicago (9.5)
4. Dallas-Fort Worth (6.4)
5. Houston (5.9)
6. Philadelphia (5.9)
7. Washington (5.6)
8. Miami (5.6)
9. Atlanta (5.3)
10. Boston (4.6)
11. San Francisco (4.3)
12. Riverside (4.2)
13. Phoenix (4.2)
14. Detroit (4.2)
15. Seattle (3.4)
16. Minneapolis-St. Paul (3.3)
17. San Diego (3.1)
18. Tampa-St. Petersburg (2.8)
19. St. Louis (2.8)
20. Baltimore (2.7)
21. Denver (2.5)
22. Pittsburgh (2.4)
23. Charlotte (2.2)
24. Portland OR (2.2)
25. San Antonio (2.1)
26. Orlando (2.1)
27. Sacramento (2.1)
28. Cincinnati (2.1)
29. Cleveland (2.1)
30. Kansas City (2)
As an aside… Do you remember that TV series “Jericho”? Too bad they cancelled it…
Seriously, who cares enough about Indianapolis to nuke it? I like Indianapolis, but in terms of high-value targets, it’s not even on the radar of serious terrorists.
Nick, the way I read it, the cities on the list are the top 30 most populated cities in the country. I don’t think the OP was evaluating target value, but just showing where the highest population is, which is logical for maximum human elimination (except for EMP which would do far more damage, just not all in one instant).
technically they could nuke New York City cause the US Stock exchange,the UN,and there would be so many casualty’s, it could be D.C. cause our government resides there,or important cities in Michigan cause General Motors (one of the biggest car manufacture)is in Michigan, or whats left of it, it would completely halt the car industry cause if it wasn’t in Michigan it would still halt cause they would be building tank and guns like in world war 2
I am sure right now while we read this sneaky types are collecting data on which factories are closed and which ones are new or still open and adjusting the targeting of the nukes aimed at us. I mean why waste a nuke on a ghost town or a closed plant? We should consider some new potential targets. That island off the East coast that launches private space ships, etc. Worse place in America to be is probably Frederick, MD, but maybe Washington, DC is just as bad. Then there is the Strangelove gambit. Where the sub just sits quietly on the sea bed for a few weeks before launching. That way you get them just after they came out of their bunker for more food.
I’m from Tucson and we’ve always been taught in our schools what to do in a case of nuclear attack. Scary cause there’s much you can’t do. It scares me that we have ratheon here they make nuclear weapons for the u.s. it’s always been a good economy source for the city. But scary to think anyone could nuke these sites in the u.s and the economy would then crumble anyway, thus starving and killing more. If they nuked us in our economy district we could still bounce back cause we can defend ourselves.
I live in Denver, and I know we are not the most populated city. But we would be nuked before more populated areas because of the Air Force Base. Fallout would get me before anything else
what about anchorage alaska. we have one of the best bases in the world.
Anchorage is not a threat, America would probably not get nuked first. India and Pakistan HATE eachother, Pakistan would love to see Mumbai reduced to ash. But yeah, LA, NY, and DC should watch out…
My city is a small town with a large Air Force base involved with pilot training and air cargo. I feel we are a bigger target than the cities. WE are defense and response. Yet we are not on the map. Good thing too. I just don’t believe it.
Defense targets are of little significance when it comes to thermo-nuclear war. Most of our military would be emotionally wiped out by such a strike and be combat ineffective for quite some time. Plus most of your military supplies are either generated or travel through these areas. Taking out the major metropolitian area’s also kills transportation nationwide. If you can’t move fuel, food, and ammo, you can have the biggest army and airforce in the world but it would be absolutely useless….
Bill, those are valid arguments. Makes sense. Pinch off supply and distribution from major hubs (the major cities).
I disagree, notice that N. Korea top targets are Japan, Guam, and Hawaii, all major military command, communication and defense sites.
I disagree as well. Even smaller cities with major highway / rail hubs will be targeted. Any airport with a useable runway able to handle military aircraft will also be under consideration. It’s not like there aren’t enough nukes that they have to be particular.
Here is a site with updated maps. Just type your states two letter code up where ‘tx’ is in the web address.
http://www.ki4u.com/nuclearsurvival/states/tx.htm
Those maps are FEMA maps from 1990 – 23 years ago – hardly updated but probably the most reliable guess for an attack from either Russia or China.
dont forget our nuclear submarines location are never known. with 24 nuclear warheads on each sub.each warhead capableof 30 times the explosive power of nagasaki or hiroshima. thier hidden for that senerio. the submarines locations at any given time are only known to a very very few. most comments here focus on ground action. strange to me. maybe everyone thinks its best to keep our nuclear submarines a secret. so ill shut my trap
They don’t want to destroy infrastructure. The enemy will need it. They do want to hit us hard in major locations,wipe out some big cities and ports.
Although they are absolutely military targets, North Korea has probably targeted Japan, Guam, and Hawaii as a function of the range of their delivery systems as opposed to their military value.
Those are top targets because thats the range of their current missile development.
Same here I my city is not on the list but I would make it top 5 we have the a titanium plant only two in the world and a large Air Force base and a few miles out us the Ravenna arsenal so why isn’t niles ohio Evan close lol who made these hits
While those things are important they would not make that much of a nation wide impact if they were attacked. Cities such as New York and Chicago are financial and economic hubs, while a port city like Houston is crucial for our nation’s oil supply and transportation of goods (Food, weapons, ammo etc.) A titanium plant and one of our country’s many air bases is not really a good reason for an attack lol.
If your small town is the small town I think it is, you are correct in thinking that thinking we’re not on the radar is a mistake. I know for a fact that our small town with a *massively* important base is a high-value target, per the Russian map of US nuclear targets.
And thinking that there are only 30 cities is ludicrous. with the START treating “limiting” US and Russia to 450 ICBM-style missiles each (to speak nothing of tactical nukes), 30 cities is just … no. I don’t care how many MSAs you assign to a map, you’re not going to blow through 450 missiles for 30 cities.
Hitting US cities would mean annihilation of North Korea. For example North Korea has no way to prevent a US submarine based missile counter strike that could make South Korea a virtual island. From the point of view of inhabitability North Korea would no longer exist. Neither Kim nor the Chinese would likely desire such an outcome.
On the other hand it costs North Korea, Iran, and whoever almost nothing to saber rattle while it costs the US massively to prepare to defend everything. Given the US financial situation that approach may indeed make sense.
I guess you do not know it but Obama took the nukes off U.S. Submarines a
few years ago. It was part of a treaty with Russia.
Just finished the last six months on a Boomer, better check you facts on what’s out on patrol!!
You can’t confirm nor deny the existence of nuclear weapons aboard any vessel. You should know that unless your talking out of left field.
Maybe you mean there are no nukes on Carriers. The SSBN’s all have plenty of missiles with multiple warheads on each.
That claim is silly on the face of it. Why would we still operate nuke free submarines? Since they are operating, obviously they are functional.
What everyone seems to overlook in any retaliation is that the possibility exists Obama May not give the military any launch codes. He is systematically removing top brass. Old school warriors. If they have much of a delay in response time it will be too late to launch a counter attack. Therefore if our enemies know this beforehand they would have no fear on making a coordinated and timed strike at close range. Effectively reducing our reaction time to an unrecoverable situation. Are you aware that Russian bombers and subs are being paraded off all our coastal regions. No need for long range nukes over the North Pole! They are at our back front and side doors! 20 miles off our shores! No president I know of that served in my lifetime would allow that proximity to be reached! Mystery Babylon is about to have it’s ass handed to it…. Get your hearts in touch with it’s creator and you will understand how this is come to be on our horizons. God bless you all….
First time on the site, could’nt help but notice this ahhh -let’s call it a thought- you had. The launch codes are for launch authority confirmation. They don’t unlock the system. You can launch w/o the codes dude.
I think you’re right. I don’t think the US will make it too the end.
my fiancee has family there u jack ass
Indianapolis is the home of Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS).
Uhhh – no it,s not!!! Or there are 2?! (DFAS’s that is)
Probably because its the HQ of the 38th ID and Camp Attebury is about 50 miles away form Indy.
Nick, Indianapolis houses the Military Finance Center. Everything goes through Fort Ben
I have read the Indianapolis is one of the top ten cities gaining in real estate value in America. There must be growth and prosperity for this to happen, when most of the nation is still hurting from the real estate bubble.
Seriously enough tho I live in Columbus and go to Indy all the time, I would imagine they would be targeted because they are shipping hubs, its hard to go to or from north eastern US without US 70
Indianapolis / Indiana produces tanks and parts of jets
There is no such thing as high value targets in global thermo nuclear warfare. Only primary and secondary targets..The primary target’s being able to break down a countries capacity to wage war both industrial and economical.
If they nuke Las Vegas, they will probably aim more to Area 51 and less to Vegas
Wonder what the odds are of that happening?
You forgot nuking Nellis.
not cool they could all die
I don’t think Pittsburgh should be listed ether, it has no industry left anymore any way
It’s about population.
During the cold war, my location near both Fermi Lab and Argonne National Lab would have meant I was vapor. Now, I hope I have time to get away from the chicago area before fallout begins to sprinkle.
Tampa would be in the top 5 and it is not on your map Central Command is there!
Yes, one would think that there would most certainly be ‘military’ targets first; thanks for bringing that up. It would be quite an exercise to ‘guess’ which locations would truly go first based on all sorts of parameters and the ‘value’ of targets. In addition, the choices would definitely vary depending on who ‘they’ are, and what they’re resources are, and their ultimate goal. The map that I put together here was fairly straight-forward in only identifying population.
Yes nice article, however America is the number one military Base on the planet. And yes Tampa is on the top 10 list due to the Middle East Command and Control Ops center sitting right in the Tampa Bay. So some more information on the military aspect would be nice.
What ever happened to OPSEC?! Or is the AF the only branch that requires the training?!!! I,ve gleaned enough info. from this page alone that I could take America down with a Taser!!! Who needs Nukes??? Now – what information can any of you share concerning Iran or NK (Except that they,re run by dangerous dictators that ya’ll don,t like very much). And which country is the smartest/wisest between you all!!!. Meaning – does anyone (not in intelligence) know where Kims or Amadinijads operational HQ,s are at??? Boy – this country is in serious trouble!!!
Well wondering, no offense, but you are truly going to hate this web page and everything linked to it.
http://bos.sagepub.com/cgi/collection/nuclearnotebook
I worked a classified research project once and it was annoying how these folk often had access to better info than my official sources. Similar with Yahoo where I sometimes found insider details on some of our tactical stuff. Stuff that was even redacted from some manuals, was sitting right on Yahoo in plain text. No, I won’t say anything that isn’t already on a bunch of sites, and may even point to them as a source, but you do need to understand everything our enemy wants (and I do mean everything) is just sitting on a web page. It may be a US based web page, or a .de web page, or even an .ru webpage, but it IS out there already.
While the population within the city limits of Atlanta is small, the Atlanta Metropolitan Area would place #2: 5,475,213 (2009 est.) in the 28-county Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area, designated by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
Plus – forgot to mention the presence of Lockheed . . .
Yes, the analysis was fairly straight-forward and only accounts for the population of the cities themselves, according to U.S. census data. It does not take into account the ‘value’ of any given military target or other valued infrastructure.
It would be an interesting exercise to analyze this deeper and account for the population of the burbs added to the city population, the value of one target over another, values of major manufacturing centers (what’s left of them), military targets, political, etc.., and it all changes somewhat with regard to motive and intended outcome or purpose (e.g. how much infrastructure to keep intact, or is that even relevant).
No matter what though, we would be economically screwed. Regardless of one nuke, 5, 10, or 30, the financial system would crash around us. It wouldn’t take much these days to trigger it…
Have you ever heard about the Pantex plant near Amarillo Texas? Final disassembly point for nuclear warheads and temporary storage of the same? It’s at the top of the list.
Ya know? The old KGB/Russian Secret Service (and Chinese) have to love sites like this!!! Just added your town to the Strike Computer Matrix Buddy, Thanks for the info… :):):)
That’s just what I was thinking. Nice of us to lay it all out for them, map and all. Even if they already know, at minimum, we’ve just confirmed it… or we’ve given them great new ideas.
Tex, Are you saying that if given a choice between say New York City with 8 million people, and Amarillo, that the aggressor would choose Amarillo as a first strike?
What would be more damaging to a country on a wartime footing? Imagine 8 million people cut off with no food/water/services. This would be a HUGE strain on a nation at war. (I’m not saying NY would be exempt – far from it. They will get ‘hosed’.)
Uhhh – does it really matter whether Amarillo would be 1st or last in a Mushroom Cloud event??? And if it does – please elaborate on why??? Ya know – I think I,d prefer to be hanging out around ground Zero if/when (more @ WHEN) it comes??? Those few that are left will most likely die un-peacfully by disease, famine, starvation or as an ingredient in someone elses soup!!! (Just Food-4-Thought) Pun not intended!!!
Ohhh – and yeh – before some other SA know-it-all American gets to it – famine/starvation are the same thing. Meant to use a slash!!!
Since you are talking about a difference of at most 1 hour, I agree. In the words of Hillary, What difference does it make. You got a rain of 300 or so MIRVS coming down, which one hits the ground first is kind of immaterial.
Odd that Atlanta and Miami are missing…
The list is purely based on city boundary population based on U.S. census data. The cities of Atlanta and Miami are apparently not in the top 30 of population (Atlanta #40, Miami #44)… although if I had accounted for all of the surrounding burbs and metro areas outside of each of the cities themselves, this list would be different in some ways, yes.
A map like this should be based on MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas), not “cities.” A city is limited by city boundaries, while an MSA reflects a metropolis and includes areas outside the city. For example, newspapers are distributed to MSAs, composed of multiple cities.
I will do that next and update this map. Good idea. Others have expressed a similar opinion.
That,s because Atlanta and Miami will be overthrown by illegals and terrorist before the real fun begins…
I am glad that there are no big military bases and no huge cities any where near me. The closest ones are in other states several hundred miles from me.
On the aside note yes I remember Jericho. I loved it and have watched the series several times. I always missed some episodes because the reruns were out of order finally got to watch it on net flix all at once…. Watching Revolution now every week! I always make comments about how they have kept their store bought factory made shoes, clothes etc so nice and new looking! Hubby laughs with me about it…
You have definitely lowered your risk by more ways than one, by being away from any major cities…
I also enjoyed the Jericho series, and wished that they continued the plot. Evidently the ratings from the masses were not enough to keep it going back then. I too watch Revolution, and try to look past the obvious issues with the realism of the show – which is especially apparent when you factor that it is supposed to be 15 years after the power went out. I still enjoy it though.
Yes I think 15 years after lights out we would be wearing either really ratty store bought clothes, hand loomed linen or buck skin. There would be no nice pretty Nikes but instead moccasins or boots/shoes with leather soles. No pretty underwire bras either!!! LOL But it is fun to watch…. I do have a bunch of clothes stored on the in case of side. Instead of taking them to the good will I stored the bags in my storage shed. And tons of yarn, fabric, thread, buttons, snaps,zippers and patterns so I could make clothes on my treadle sewing machine if I had to.
LoL to the deer surviving either a) the survivors all hunting them, or b) the fall out covering them. There will be no deer. There will be no bear. The plants and fish will be unsafe to eat. And the bugs will be everywhere because the birds go first.
yaa hitting new york would be very bad, stock exchanges there, also new york has been a symbol of america forever. And why would they not hit the pentagon, the terrorists did that. And there is a under ground base in colorado springs mountains that is supposed to handle a direct nuclear hit, why is that there. And what about area 51, somethings going on out there, bet they wouldn’t mind blowing it up it has employees flying in out of vegas on its own private jet fleet but the all around shock and awe of hitting major populations would be devastating. And what about hawaii you know we have got to have a stock pile of nukes there that’s half way to asia and a major naval base in the pacific is there, im sure if russia fired off they will send them right over the north pole at us not across the pacific or atlantic and there are so many in that instance of a nuclear war they are going to think of causing major devastation not how much this or that nuke cost unless they tried to cripple us so we surrendered, “fat chance”. Russia also used to have a dead man switch on there nuclear arsenal that if it picks up atmospheric changes and seismic activity at key cities and interprets an attack and no one responds it launches ‘all’ weapons as a last line of attack, kinda like well no one wins type thing. They don’t know if that system is still armed, so you figure one nation has that on there nukes, i’m sure we do too and china does also. All in all it would not take too many nukes to destroy the worlds atmosphere and screw everything up. A hundred nukes could be pretty bad let alone thousands, if they would be that stupid to launch that big a strike around the globe, and i never have seen jericho but i think i am going to look that up on netflix. Well God bless America the place i love and call home…
This post if flawed. Where is cincinnati on the list? It has more people than Indianapolis.
I will be updating this list (and map) hopefully today to reflect adding the metro regions to the city data. This current initial list is derived strictly from population within city limits. Cincinnati is #62 regarding population within its city boundaries.
I have just updated the images and statistics to include MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Areas). I will be adding the nuclear reactors within these areas later…
Ken, the metro list is better! Indianapolis goes from 12 on your first list to not even placing on your metro list.
Many cities (metro areas) could be hit multiple times, depending on the high value targets located within. A 1990 FEMA doc called “Risks and Hazards – State by State” shows possible targets and blast zones in each state. This included both civilian and military targets. A lot has changed since 1990 (less military bases and warheads) but it is the best as to potential targets that I’ve seen in quite a while.
I would think that south Louisiana would be a target given the large number of oil refineries and chemical plants located there. I’m thinking that would actually be a higher value target than say, Indianapolis.
Yeah, and they didn’t even have New Orleans on either list. From Houston to New Orelans along I-10 will be toast looking at targets. Starting with Houston with NASA, the chemical plants/refineries, the port, and population center, 4th in the USA. Then you have Bryan Mound SPR site……down the road a bit Big Hill SPR site, all the plants / refineries…the port around Beaumont/Orange area, then Lake Charles……same stuff……..and West Hackberry SPR…Fort Polk at Leesville…same as you get to Baton Rouge with the plants/refineries, Mississippi River traffic between Baton Rouge to New Orleans……alot of high value in about 300 miles straight across……..
The Las Vegas area is home to almost 2 + million or more. Just north of Nellis AFB is a massive respository of nukes that most people know nothing about. Hitting the Vegas area would not only disrupt major traffic north and south, but create a hot spot to make chernoble (sp) look like a picnic area on a Sunday afternoon in the park.
Ohhh – I get it now!!! Let me guess, Steve – your ex-wife lives in the “Los Vegas Area” – “Just North of Nellis AFB”?! GOOD-ONE!!! That should take care of er!!!
glad I live in an area that isn’t on this list just got to be ready for the hoard of people coming from Seattle
LoL, since big bridges and overpasses will probably get their own specific warhead, I wouldn’t worry too much about mobs of survivors.
It has Detroit as #18…lol I was just in Detroit a few weeks ago and they need not bother, heck it looks like it already got nuked. And its pop. is nowhere near where they have it at anymore. But if you want to buy a 3000 sf victorian house for a thousand dollars that is the place, just have to shoo out the crack heads and remove the bodies from the yard.
N. Korea targets are Japan, Guam and Hawaii, and for good reason.
Each one of them major military installations.
As a former US Federal Police Officer for US Dept of Energy, and into prepp-ing since 1987 the target-ed cities would fall into several value items, not just population centers. Infrastructure, military, shipping ports, logistics centers, manufacturing centers, energy/refineries/etc. But as we go forward with the current socialist/marxist/communist agenda in the USA, the threat of a full scale nuclear attack gets smaller and smaller, since the American communist will proceed to disarm the American citizens and the US military, so one of 2 nuclear will all it will take to show they mean business….and the average American Joe will surrender…….which most the population already have………
I guess the key word is former. Yes, there is a priority list. And if we were talking about an attack from North Korea with their probable 10 warheads total that would be important, but when you speak of an opponent with more warheads than us, who still has ground based tactical nuke capability (we no longer do) to deal with the NATO forces, we should here in the US expect, once a go ahead decision is made, a first wave of 2 or 3 thousand incoming warheads, covering all the bases. Primary, secondary and tertiary. A second similar wave will probably come in a few hours. It is not going to be fire 40 warheads then wait to see what the response is. Those days are long past.
Good food for thought. Targets (cities vs military) will depend
on who is sending the nukes to us. First/Second world countries
might select the military targets first where third world country
or others would opt for max deaths with the largest cities. Just my
wiew on this.
I agree. It depends on ‘who’. A terrorist for example (say, with a suitcase nuke) will probably go for maximum population (NY). A well thought out and coordinated attack by a major nation state will depend on how many nukes they have and what they want as an outcome (as well as their possible mutually assured destruction).
If I was a terrorist, I would not go off in the city. I would pick a spot upwind of the city, hopefully also upwind of a probable evacuation route. There I would detonate. Remember terror is the goal. Watch their faces as the wind blows the fallout at them and over a primary evacuation route too. Somewhere on I-78 or I-95 for NYC. That the fallout effects wouldn’t be that bad downwind, the media will never convey. The media news will be the fallout is coming, run. Alternatives: The Colorado nerve gas depot is gone. So maybe get as close to a functioning nuclear plant as possible before detonating my own nuke. Give them two things to worry about instead of just one. The whole concept of the nuke going off in town is from folks who can’t think outside the box. Trust me, the enemy can.
Unbelieveable, some of the people on here seem to be offended because “their city” either didn’t make the list or it wasn’t high enough on the list. So, would it make you feel better if you lived in a city or a metro area worthy of being a nuclear target ?
I don’t understand why anyone would waste their time bombing Detoit, Baltimore or Cleveland.
I was thinking the same thing (people seem offended that their city isn’t on the list) and I’m glad you pointed it out. It is bizarre how some people think.
Am I to assume that if there is a war that what ever country attacks the US will consider the population and base their attack atrategy on how many Americans thay can annialate with each warhead as opposed to military considerations. I don’t think so and I might add that there are other cities in North America with populations greater than over half of those on this list.
James, I don’t think that was the focus of this information (an analysis of all possibilities and every possible target and their value versus others). It is a list of the most populated cities and metro regions.
It does open it up for good discussion and opinion though.
“I might add that there are other cities in North America with populations greater than over half of those on this list”
This map and list is clearly regarding the United States, not North America. If you question a U.S. city and/or metro region, I will gladly reply with where it is on the list (or you can search yourself). The data used is from the most recent U.S. census.
wow looks like there would be an elimination of the dependent class of people, and the fly over states would actually begin to matter again
i’m good with it
Our country,s defect comes from within itself. We dont need to look any futher than those we appointed to run our government.
It’s military targets, then infastructure, and then population centers. Just ask current and former people in the know. Obviously, there will be some overlap.
No I haven’t wondered , was I supposed too ? Most likely cause my entire life has been lived on or near a primary target zone. Been lugging a bottle around since legal drinking age , to crack open if the missiles fly . If I am lucky will have a panic sex partner to share it with. If not I will hoist a glass to billions of useless feeders going along for the ride to the shores of the afterlife.
If you’re looking for a relatively safe haven, check out S/W Oregon, from Roseburg to the CA border and from I-5 west to the ocean. Yes, there are a lot of red-diaper-doper-babies and collectivist bed-wetting libs around Ashland, but they are no threat. The rednecks in Medford will neutralize them!
Jericho is a great series. We just finished watching it for the third time.
An evil, corrupt government nukes it’s own cities, lies about it, uses mercenaries to enforce its orders, and patriots become the enemy.
Gee, I wonder why it was cancelled?
What a great way to get Americans to reveal targets! Just keep on commenting and the enemy will know exactly where to hit AND why. You are traitorous scum!
Columbus Ohio has one of the biggest underground ammo dumps in the country,along with Wright Patterson,Ohio is on the list
@TS, Really? Like Russia, China, or other nuclear armed power is so clueless, so inept, and so lacking in their intelligence, that they scour blog comments looking for targets? You are an idiot.
So, your position is that it’s OK to help them out?
FYI: before any nukes are sent there has to first be a biological warfare to weaken the prepared. Something related to Ebola or something like that. Most likely during a harsh winter. Food and water will be contaminated and everyone will be forced to stay in doors. Only those with food storage have a chance. But those people with food storage better have guns as well because you will be a target for the unprepared. Those people that live in the hills are safer. Once everyone is basically against their neighbor and on their hands and knees, the nukes will come.
But no worries, the US has more than anyone else and will use them right back. It will basically shut North Korea, china, and Russian down. But all that think North Korea are the pawns, you have forgotten who hates the US the most because how they are treated. Yup, Mexico.
They have already been busy planting bombs all over underground and in trucks, tunnels, buildings, buses, stadiums, etc. they are just waiting for the green light.
US will still win, but there will be a lot if damage. Who will be saved? Well, tricky answer. But the best things you can do us prepare for you and others, serve other people and keep the day of Sabbath Holy. Paying tithing and praying also helps. Those people will be protected.
Get ready for the biological war first. Cities are: San fransisco, Los Angeles, New York and SLC.
DARPA has offices in Indianapolis..of course they would nuke Indy!
Ummm…really? Theyre not going to nuke DC first? I seem to remember something about that being our capital and where our leaders reside. Maybe that was something else
–> unless some of your leaders are part of the plot–> now that is sinister.
A bunch of crooked politicians, hardly worth a nuke. They will be hiding in their holes like the slithering snakes that they are.
An enemy would destroy what could hurt them first, probably military targets.
To cause most maximum economic damage though, they would hit New York City, the financial capital, and it just so happens to have the highest population density as a bonus.
“2 Cause Maximum Economic Damage???” Uhhhh – at last glance we were somewhere in the neighborhooc of 16,000,000,000,000,000 (That,s quadrillion Peso’s) in the red. I’m thinking that they could satchel-Bomb a Circle-K or Wallmart and we’de be done fer!!!
Yellowstone Park nuke. Game over…
That is thinking “outside the box” for sure. I wonder how many nukes it would take to set off that super volcano.
Or just “HAARP” it!!!
You are thinking outside the box of the mainstream. That is not encouraged here. LoL, yeah. Or some well injection equipment and soapy water into an earthquake fault line. All considered.
I’ll be OK! I am all in favor of Nuking Detriot even if we do it ourselves!
You’re killin’ me here! ROFL! …yeah, nukin’ Detroit would be a major waste of time… I’m thinkin’ it would be the safest city to live in in a nuclear war
I’ve seen Detroit…It looks like it suffered a first strike already.
Why waste a nuc on one city -maybe 100 square miles- when you can mess up 10,000 square miles by detonating at 150 miles high? And you don’t have to aim too well, either. EMP will take out electricity and communications for a month to many years.
Indianapolis, I will let u guess the reason. Don’t think I will say.
Detroit??? Looks like its been nuked already!! Why waste the missile ?
Has it ever occured to you “WHY” Detroit “Looks like it,s been Nuked already and a Third World City”???
Might it have anything to do with Detroit being the home of America,s 1st Mosque, Islamic Community and Luis Farakan??? I don,t think the G-D of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (And Jesus) likes allah very much!!!! (Bet ya never thought of that one hunh?!)
Whether by our side, their side or whatever side, the enemy will need plausible deniability or suffer a disasterous counter strike; as opinion, the most logical choice would be biological cleverly masked as something natural.
I wanna be at ground zero. The rest of the people can fight it out. At least I’ll die quickly & be with Jesus Christ.
Strange game. The only winning strategy is not to play. (Joshua)
Ok should be on the list. The crossroads of the entire countrys oil pipelines. Various AF, army bases.Home to aircraft repair centers incl awacs.
part of keystone pipeline.etc
what about omaha thats where the president goes in case of attack because of the bunker
I suspect all of the 40 or so command bunkers are pretty well targeted.
I think that the hampton roads area being a retired Navy man that the Hampton Roads (norfolk) area of Va would be a prime target. Being home to the worlds largest Navy Base, a master jet base, an amphib base, an Air Force base and a couple of Army Bases nearby just to mention a few.
300 or so miles off the coast of NJ is a big line of undersea cliff. To expect an enemy to ignore that is silly. You depth charge that cliff line with some nukes, everything from Boston to South Carolina is going under 50 feet of water (and in the case of Virginia, for many miles inland too). See that, you didn’t even need to launch anything and half the US is simply gone.
“The end result would be that they would become a green, glowing, glass plain”
I wonder about that… given the present occupier of the WH.
In any event, it was an interesting exercise to document and map the top 30 cities and metro areas of the country – hopefully a set of data that some might find useful.
Bottom line? America is cruising for a bruising.
Detroit is losing people, why would they nuke a dying city. I’ve visited Detroit and its got some really cool stuff, but it’s a waste of a nuke.
Some of the sites on this list assume an attack by a world power ICBM (Russia/China). But the most likely would be 3rd world wannabes, like Iran, N.Korea, etc. They would most likely use scuds or cruise missles hidden in containers on cargo ships. That means most targets would be within 300-600 miles of an ocean-going freighter.
Concur, but note my depth charge comment above.
Im pretty sure one of the first targets would be about a mile down the Road from me! They call LLNL, Look it up!
Doubt it. Killing engineers and scientists is something that could easily be done after the war. It has happened before. Ask the Poles, etc.
Now if they were to cleanse the bay cities…
im wondering about valued targets are around iowa and nebraska
i live on the eastern border of northern iowa…
and i had some deep thoughts and images on if the city i go to everyday was struck by a thermy…
I would like to know WHO came up with this map and HOW the PANTEX plant outside Amarillo, Texas didn’t make the list. Considering it is the ONLY production AND decommissioning facility in the US for our own nukes. Growing up around here all my life, we always heard from the people that worked there that Pantex would be #2 target for Russia. It would make sense, considering its usage and capabilities. Thoughts?
“Here is a mapped illustration of the top 30 most populated cities (and metro areas) in the United States”
(It looks like the map highlights population centers.)
“military and/or key infrastructure targets might be hit first, but it won’t be long down the target list until major cities are taken out.”
(It would be helpful to also see the map include military targets.)
I think most of this discussion is irrelevant, since there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that the current president of the US would ever use nukes against an aggressor, especially a communist or Islamic one. You have to remember that his overriding goal is the end of the USA as we know it. I don’t think there’s any doubt that he would accept that change any way he could get it.
Do the yellow areas indicate nuclear fallout, if so I might survive. Or does it not really matter becuase of nuclear winter, etc.
I think the attack would be high altitude to cause an EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse) in an effort to disable the electronics on both the East and West coasts. The United States would fall into anarchy and it would tear itself apart. No need for invasion or direct strike. Which would minimize the possibility of retaliation. Combined with a convention strike taking out the United Nations. It would throw the whole country and possibly the entire world into chaos. But that is just my opinion.
This is likely the most plausible scenario. It could be pulled off by just one organized terror group or dunghole country, using scuds from container ships.
Well shielded container ships, cause trust me someone is probably looking for such every day.
LOL they don’t think to hit any of our command and control or nuke sites?
LAST ONE OUT TURN OFF THE SATELLITES!
Colorado Springs is also missing from this list. Yeah I know it’s not one of the 30 most populous cities, but with NORAD, Cheyenne Mountain, Peterson AFB, Fort Carson, etc., it’s just as much of a target as Denver.
I know this may seem like a strange post…but I just need to get this out.
I have had 2 “dreams” or “visions” or whatever you’d like to call them. The first one upset me because it happened on a beautiful sunny morning about 4 months ago. I was sitting in the kitchen having a cup of coffee when all of a sudden, like a movie playing in front of me, I saw a nuclear bomb explosion. That is all I saw. A few nights ago, I woke up panicked. I had a dream that my husband and I were driving on a bridge over water when off in the distance we saw a nuclear bomb explosion. I would guess that it was approx. 30 miles off in the distance. I remember saying, “don’t look at the blast” and worrying about getting somewhere where we could wash off before trying to find our family. We ended up in a place with many rooms off of a long corridor with people moaning in pain from exposure to the radiation. That’s it.
Had I had one “vision” I wouldn’t have taken it seriously. But 2…and so very detailed. I was just wondering if anyone else has shared those dreams?
Wouldn’t they hit sac and col. Springs ?
Why would they target Dallas? I live about 2 miles from DFW airport and theres really nothing special here. Anybody?
The Kennedys?
Dallas has the second largest internet exchange hub in the US (After NY). Fort Worth has a huge Naval Air Station and Joint Reserve Base.
MAD is so 19th century… today it’s all about First Strike
Well then, I would be dead. I live in the north eastern area.
To those claiming our enemy doesn’t use blogs and such for intelligence, consider this: OSINT. opsec people. Come on.
anyhow this is a likely scenario to them nuke warfare.
1715 hours: us intelligence officials are briefed on irans new cooperative pacts with north Korea. Int operators believe north Korea will supply Iran with a 1-750kt yield nuclear device which will be delivered via cargo ship using a short range ballistic missile or cruise missile.
1719: president is briefed and orders the sac, norad and others to defcon 2.
1723: surprise launch is detected by norad before ground alert forces can mobilize. Origin, 100 miles off the coast of Delaware.
1724: a bunch of classified stuff happens, and the incoming missile is incepted by our advanced global missile defense abilities, theater missile defense or another advanced technology that won’t be discussed here.
1730: USA +Israel/NATO declare war on Iran and north Korea. Having just seen the awesome missile defense capabilities of the USA, both Russia and china remain neutral.
1740: norad launches joint usa/Canada task force to deploy to the mid east.
1755: the nations of Israel and UK commence air raids to deny n Korea the ability to produce nuclear weapons
1809: Germany, France, Japan and other NATO allies deny Iran the ability to produce and assemble delivery platform.
I left a lot out, due to opsec. However, generally in the case of anyone except Russia, we decisively win. Russia, yes absolute mad doctrine at play. The pool of gas metaphor was great
C’mon Putin or Pakistan’s factories are probably making Iran’s nukes as we read this. That lets Iran swear truthfully to the world that they have no interest in making nuclear weapons. Iran has ICBMs of their own. Their new warheads will probably mount just fine.
The real question for us becomes survival. We may survive here a lot longer if we do nothing when Israel or the Vatican are nuked. Yeah, some people may get upset. But, maybe staying out of it and just letting what happens happen is the smarter way to go.
Just to add, we have missile defense tech about to be declassified that is easily 20 years ahead of anyone. Imagine our TS stuff.
Jericho was awesome.
The sad truth is in the event the united states were to be in a nuclear attack, the entire world would be in renin for decades. The US would be unable to grow crops to feed most of the world as it does right now. since the US has become a consumer country supplied by many countries, the world would fall into financial hardships unseen before. India, Pakistan, China, North Korea, and the Russians would either stop the attacks with the US in ruins, or continue to rage war with each other. It wouldn’t mater at this point anyway. Nuclear fallout would affect the whole planet because of wind drifts in the atmosphere. Crops and water supplies would be largely contaminated across the globe. Massive earthquakes would start due to the missiles that hit. Tidal waves would destroy many low coastal areas. What the missiles didn’t kill or destroy, starvation, radiation, and diseases from dead bodies and animals would take it place. The population of the world would be greatly reduced and changed forever. I wish them the best of luck.
You left out the miscarriages, still births and not viable infants and damaged sperm for the next 30 years or so.
This is a little off topic but applies to a degree. About 8 months ago I was drawn to better understanding several possible events which might be connected…probably are connected; and it’s changed my entire lifestyle since. I’ve become somewhat of a hermit trying to learn about extraterrestrial life possibilities, economic collapse, and the likelihood of nuclear war. If in fact extraterrestrial life forms are true (I have no proof but I’m intrigued) and if they are sending us warnings of pending destruction then it leads me to ponder that the political moves to destroy the economies of the world will end up in all out war. The gloves are coming off, nuclear missiles will be the weapon of choice. I can’t say of any certainty that my thoughts are even close to accurate. I do believe the human “powers” in governments know all of this, along with the greedy elite control freaks which govern the governments of the world. In the mean time, I’m prepping like something is going to happen and happen soon at that. It’s an unction I have, a very disturbing feeling. Things just aren’t right these days…and the feeling has been getting heavier as the days go by. The truth is that I started feeling this way when our national debt hit the point of no return several years ago but I did not take the impact of all of the possibilities until earlier this year. Does anyone else feel this unction that life as we know it is about to change permanently? I’m concerned for my daughter if 21 years of age…I’m seriously planning a way to be around to help get her through it. By the looks of the map, Indiana is not an ideal location.
I found this map interesting. I agree with the author that these major cities would likely be 2nd or 3rd volley targets, but that they would most certainly be targeted.
I doubt if they would be nuked, however. More damage could be done (and for far less cost) with weaponized smallpox and/or EMPs against these targets.
I could only see Russia or Russia+China even surviving the first volley or two in a Nuclear exchange with us having enough left for this phase, and then it would still be a maybe.
————-
On another note, it is disturbing how few young Americans now even have the slightest concept of what was at stake during the Cold War (if they even know what the Cold War was). A lot of them that even do have a miniscule understanding of the strategies of Nuclear Warfare have the false notion that 1 bomb going off could cause an apocalyptic nuclear winter.
Wow you all give out a lot of intel, OPSEC folks don’t make it easy for the bad guys.
I didn’t read all comments so I hope I’m not repeating here, but as to the debate of would we be hit in smaller communities with military bases, rail junctions, etc I tend to agree first targets would be high population cities for maximum human loss and even more strategically motivated to bring transportation, supplies, and the economy to a crushing halt. Remember though, this would probably be all any enemy could muster. By the time it would take to launch secondary strikes at smaller targets, enemy launching capabilities would be expended due to the retaliatory strike from the U.S. If (and this is a definite big IF with our current administration) we enact a planned retalitory strategic plan, once any more than say five preemptive launches are detected, the US would launch a massive counter strike that would cripple any secondary targeting effort. Smaller nations like N. Korea wouldn’t even have a large enough arsenal and the awareness factor would play with them. If anything launched out of N Korea, that was determined to be capable of reaching US soil you can bet the hesitation factor for error would be reduced almost to no hesitation. The retalitory strike from the U.S. to N. Korea, may come close to zero survivors there. With larger possible enemy’s like Russia or China, there would not be small initial launches. They would come in the hundreds and would trigger a massive response in the hundreds as well. The odds are since time to initial launch and target destination is around 12 minutes initial launches ( preemptive and retalitory) would probably end up being close to equal with retalitory getting the possible edge with the “launch everything” natural psychological mentality.. End point being, there won’t be time for smaller “surgical” initial or secondary launches on the smaller city targets. Your gonna hit high population city’s where in addition to high human concentration you have fuel refining and storage, central switching stations for communication and electricity, transportation hubs, economic backbone, government, and most distribution storage and terminals hubs. Thus why most larger military bases are located in rural areas with low impact targeting value. A lot of the military will survive. It will be denigrated and weak with a very high probability of becoming regionalized under no national command and very autocratic. Hollywood is not far off in some of the ways it depicts that in some movies and shows.
North Korea the smart money is on regime change, not nuclear strikes.
Nuking NK raises liability issues for the fallout reaching Russia, China and Palin’s homeland of Alaska. In the 1950s and 60s the US legal strategy was to deny any fallout spilled outside the test areas. As a defense in civil court, that might not work as a strategy anymore. Even if you can avoid Russia launching it’s own nukes in protest over the irradiating of Vladivostok, the civil suits and dollar claims will be off the scale. Not to mention the huge class action lawsuits coming out of Alaska.
Yes, if NK finds some gasoline and decides to roll South, we may have to make a decision. But allowing them to over-extend their grab may be the smart play then do a conventional war again, but this time with China’s help. Squeeze play.
i am in Charlotte NC we have all most a million people in our city sounds like not a big deal but my parents live here and i live in New York City i am the first person to die then Los angles Chicago so on then Charlotte i need to move if a nuclear war happened and my parents.
Buffalo/Niagara Falls should be on here too. Niagara Falls has an Air Force Base with hundreds of planes and Niagara Falls produces tons of power for the whole eastern US and Canada
A logical ‘first strike’ strategy would be hit the things that can hurt us first. Air bases, nuke launch places, identified sub locations, major navy bases, etc., then observation points such as satellites, or space stations, and C4I nodes. Remove those and killing the population is not important. Neither would be underground depots of warheads without any way of launching them. Sure, at one time ballistic submarines were untrackable when at sea. Those days are gone. At any time, we know where their subs are, they know where our subs are. Maybe one or three nuclear launch sites survive and somehow launch afterwards (thereby revealing exactly where they are) but an hour or two later *maybe much less*, those places or ships won’t exist anymore. The question then becomes are we willing to absorb 10 nukes detonating here?
Some enemies love symbolism, so if they had a tactical nuke they would rather nuke (and waste it) on the statue of Liberty, than on something useful like the Niagra Falls Power plant or Hoover Dam. Other enemies are more pragmatic and would go for the infrastructure first and laugh at the idea of wasting a nuke on a statue.
Other enemies see virtually no need for nukes at all if they can hack into our SCADA systems.
I had always thought(the way I would do it)is to take out electrical systems of a country that relies so heavily on them. I think a cyber attack against key computer systems followed closely with a nationwide EMP attack would greatly cripple the US so much that we would have to withdraw energies from the rest of the world just to take care of ourselves.
With the number of nukes on the table so to speak and this is just pure hypothesis as all of this is anyway. Wouldn’t it be possible to carpet bomb the entire continent, eliminating all the gaps with lower yield devices. Perhaps wasteful by all means, but with a strong certainty of eliminating anyone or anything of consequence – pretty much genocide.
Don’t forget the Manzano Mtns. and Los Alamos Labs here in NM. Lots of things going on here in which the government depends. New Mexico would be nuked as well, and it is not just about population, but intelligence.
Who gives a shit about which cities will or won’t be hit?
Life is going to end as we know it! It’s not going to be one or two ICBM’s hitting us…it’s going to be hundreds. It’s not like Japan where we only needed two to halt the war, you really think Russia or N. Korea or whomever is going to just fire one? Or 5? Even 10? They are gonna fire them all off and so are we. Who cares which city gets hit.
All I know is I don’t want to survive and see the suffering of those that do.
You’re all idiots for thinking any one city is safer than another.
Basic breakdown of social services after the first one hits and we all go to hell, say nothing about the next 99 falling on us!
I don’t care about which country has the most nuclear weapons, I’m worried about the country who only has one.
I see louisville listed. I must disagree as to a first strike target. There’s not much strategic here except the bridges on the Ohio and maybe the Ford truck plant. There is Fort Knox, but it is 60-70 miles away and no longer has an armored division. There is Fort Knox thehold armory that reportedly has no gold. I see louisville as a secondary or lesser target. Regrettably, in an all out exchange Louisville would most likely be hit. Kentucky is a different story. I believe areas in Kentucky would be survivable.
If you truly want to live and are that worried about nuclear attack, move to the tiny town of Roseburg, Oregon. Yeah that place that was just on the news…. we are probably the safest place in the whole united states…Portland is far enough away that the fallout most likely won’t reach us. And until the shooting at UCC, nobody had ever heard of this little town. very unlikely that “bad guys” would target anywhere remotely close to Roseburg. We hold nothing of interest to the military, nor the overall survival of the western civilization. Hell, we barely are surviving as a town with all the recent lumber shut downs.
Nukes are the last generation’s war. While a terrorist might like to use a few for shock & awe value, real countries (Russia, China, etc) know full well that most of USA society is an artificially supported creation, and to kill it off for sure (without radiating themselves), all they really need to do is get the power grid down, and keep it down. Maybe use a small number of tactical nukes on the larger active military bases and biggest metro areas, just in case the faker in DC is replaced in a coup with a real leader.
Seriously guys, nobody but a moron would waste a nuke on D.C. or N.Y. All nukes would rain down Between the top of the Sierra/Rockies and the Appalacin chains (where the U.S. has it’s nukes). Wasting a nuke on D.C. nets you 542 senators and congress persons (7 of which can’t vote, and the rest of which can’t get together on anything more significant than endorsing the boy scouts. Even if you throw in the congressional staffers, you’ve an understrength undertrained brigade(throw in the pentagon and langely and now we’re up to a division or 2) of do nothings arguing over who gets to be in the rear echelon. N.Y. is a landing zone/dispersal point. Not to mention it’s too close to Newark and it’s refinery, fuel that can be used for any landing/invasion. Sure in the movies and T.V. it’s all about killing people, but in the real world it’s about resources and preventing couter strike or “payback”. Yes their are plenty of middle eastern enemies that would love to …, but they genrally don’t have nukes let alone a delivery system.
I didn’t read all of the comments because I’m in a rush, but I’m willing to bet that no one has said anything about Norfolk, Va being the first to get nuked. Norfolk has the biggest navy base in the world, so I’m 99.9999% sure that it would be a critical target, along with NYC (population and economy) and DC (government and population).
I feel that the world leaders are not doing their best to stop nuclear armageddon.
If all these US cities are attacked,China will be erased off the world map.
All the major cities ie Shangahi,Beijing,Hong Kong,etc,will bite the dust.
The US public better lynch the guys who started the nuclear war ie the US president and his henchmen/women.
China wont press the nuclear button first.
There will be NO nuclear conflagration…
We must all desire this…
There are greater powers than man watching this world…we are little children playing with matches in their eyes.
Children may be punished though for misuse of their new radioactive toys.
What has this world come to when so many leaders are OK with nuclear genocide ??? Maybe most of the world leaders should consider that there will be no place left on this earth that will be fit for human habitation after a nuclear war ! What are there brains made with anyway—SHIT ???
Crops will not grow if the ground is destroyed—what will there be to eat or drink ??? GOD is the only one capable of stopping this NONSENCE.
What are you going to do ??? RELY on the UNITED NATIONS ??? WHAT a Fri–in
JOKE that is. The STUPID LIBERAL Politicians have brought the world to this crisis point by thinking they can fix the worlds problems with MULTICULTURALISM. ISLAM is The Enemy of Christianity and has been for 1200 years. The Pope would like to see another CRUSADE so he can take over Jerusalem as King. The World Banks want the survivors as Slaves. See UN Agenda 21.
@ Canadian on nuclear war
10 of 10 on the Rant-O-Meter, true words.
Scares the hell out of me.
NRP
One extremely high value target not shown is the nuclear town of Loa Alamos, New Mexico, where weapons are designed and assembled. Also not shown, but likely a primary target, is Kirtland Air Force Base in neighboring Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here, the thousands of our nation’s standby weapons are stored and maintained. Also located here is the nuclear facility of Sandia National Laboratory. The nation’s only gov’t subsidized Nuclear Museum, although not a target in its own right, is also located in the city.
Kehkou – We totally disagree. I can’t see any strategic gain in nuking a design plant or a factory that has no ICBMs or organic launch capability. Capturing it? Enslaving the workers? Looting the assets? Sure. Nuking it? LoL what a dumb thing to do.
Regarding the OP of which city would be first, well it would depend on the scenario. As KaOs points out, in a massive strike scenario, one with hundreds if not thousands of detonations, well it really wouldn’t matter who got to be first in the line at the Pearly Gates that day. He or she will soon have lots of company.
Regarding a limited strike designed to make America surrender (or call for a cease fire, which is legal even if surrender isn’t), well I simply don’t think you are going to accomplish that with only one detonation. Totally annoy and anger us? Sure. Make us want to surrender? Not hardly.
Would a terrorist organization do that just to be annoying? Well sure. They do stupid stuff all the time. Which city or location they would pick for their single and only nuclear explosion would possibly depend just as much on which terrorist group we are speaking of. A group opposed to sculpture may pick Mount Rushmore, while one hating concrete and architects may pick Falling Waters. If you hate banks, maybe Raleigh is the target you seek. Terrorists opposed to skiing may pick Aspen. Much is made of the Muslim terrorists of various groups. Supposedly they all hate both Christians and Americans and Jews (which collectively take up a big portion of humanity, LoL). If one of those groups got an atomic bomb I am sure they would debate long and hard (possibly violently too) as to which they preffered as the lone target. Which would do more for their cause? Washington, DC, Tel Aviv or the Vatican City? Decisions, decisions.
So what does that leave us which would keep this thread alive? Some kind of scenario where only 4 or 5 nuclear bombs go off. Obviously the last one or two would go off in the place causing the first ones to go off is/was located. Ah, but who is first? Was it Macao or Toronto or Buenos Aires? No it was someplace in the US. Someplace both famous and strategically important. Podunk, New Jersey? Nah, I don’t think so. No one is that smart. Again, I think ‘who is behind the attack’ would have a lot to do with where it happens. Some religious fundamentalist terrorist group managing to get a few working nukes into the US would probably love to nuke Las Vegas and maybe the Mustang Ranch too. How attractive is Troy, NY to such a group? Probably not very much, but if that was what it had to be, then InshAllah, as Godo wills. But what of a group less crazy?
Who would that be? Well, let’s see, what if the next head of Opec was Iran? What if North Korea;s ruling familes wanted to hurt us before collapsing? We saw a brief stutter in our oil supply during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. A small nuke going off at the Lousiana LOOP would probably have some impact on domestic production. Fourchon or Galliano, being land targets would be more spectacular on the news at 10PM, but gee, the loop is offshore and that pretty much translates to poor security, so it is a soft target that feeds the other two. Put it on the sea bed mud near the pumping or control platforms and you could get some nice radioactive rain inland too… That would sting PAD District 3 pretty good. PAD District I (East Coast) and PAD 5 (West Coast and Hawaii) have their own weak points. They each have their attractions. North Korea might love to see a sudden halt to fuel shipments to Hawaii. Point Barrow may be well guarded, but gosh Batman, that is a long pipeline to guard… However the West coast distribution is about automobiles and not so much about heat in the winter. In PDA District 1 a high percentage of the US population depends on oil and gas for heat in the winter, as well as to run their automobiles. A nuke detonation affecting the pipelines and terminals in Maine would be as disruptive to Canada as it would be to Boston. Possibilities…
Yeah sure everyone wants to talk about nuking cities or missile bases to destroy military weaponry. I say yawn to that. Use stolen or purchased nukes and 3rd party cutouts to launch your attack and hit the infrastructure if you have only a few devices. Which one is first? LoL if the devices are on timer or command detonated (perhaps with a chip cleverly designed to pull on and and only trigger on at the next AMC satellite broadcast of the Walking Dead or the next broadcast of Sherlock, etc.) so they all go off at once, well what is first? Do you give credit to the poor sanitation worker closest to one of the incineration zones, or do you only care about which towns?
Really, NORAD isn’t on here? *Tsk tsk*
@Chel,
From the first paragraph: “After all of the military command and control centers have been nuked, have you ever wondered which cities would be nuked first?”
The intent was (is) to hypothesize locations other than the obvious military installations, etc..
You might also be interested in the following:
Map Of Military Installations, Ranges, & Training Areas In The United States
“After all of the military command and control centers have been nuked, have you ever wondered which cities would be nuked first?”
I am just not seeing the need to nuke the individual cities. I mean if the military is essentially destroyed or reduced to being tied to little bases and depots with no more C3I and no more fuel supplies coming in, what would the point be of nuking cities at random?
Once you have knocked out the 16 or so C3I centers (Pentagon, Battle Mountain, Camp David/site R, Site Q, etc & also nuking Bolling, Ft Meade, Langley, Pearl Harbor, etc) what is left of the military would essentially be little State militias. If you are the Governor of NY which takes food priority, NYC or Ft. Drum? If you are the Mayor of Las Vegas, you would probably be making some kind of deal with the Commander of Nellis AFB, something mutually useful and not involving large amounts of jet fuel. I anticipate lots of little break away republics and kingdoms forming once the US military command and control centers were destroyed. Lots of internal trade. Fuel coming in through Louisiana may be traded for food or protection, etc.
Meanwhile the attacker no longer facing a cohesive force sits back and picks which towns have things worth looting and which ones don’t. Indeed they may license raids by third countries. Perhaps give North Korea a permit (for a slight fee) to take women from Seattle Washington, or Canada permission to take lumber from Oregon, or authorize VA to use the Marines left in Quantico to raid W. VA for coal in the winter time, etc.
Once C3I is destroyed they take out the electric grid, not with EMP but with 1,000 paratroops hitting the ground at places like Niagra Falls, Hoover Dam, etc. They shut down the highways with road blocks and demo charges on key bridges so nothing rolls without both permission and tolls.
Don’t worry about the cities. The attacker can ignore them. Without food or water coming in and with no sanitation plants working within a month or two they will be ghost towns with skeletons laying everywhere.