Nuclear Illusion, Nuclear Reality Nuclear Weapons and International Security since 1945

Series Editor: Professor John Simpson, Mountbatten Centre for International Studies, University of , UK During the second half of the last century, the practical aspects of national policies remained shrouded in state secrecy laws. This was an area where political and technical issues were intertwined, and understanding required knowledge and expertise of both. Archival material was sparse and most writings on the subject were based on information provided to well-placed journalists and confidential interviews with some of those involved. The result was that for the academic analyst, separating truth from fiction was a very difficult task, especially in the case of the . With the end of the Cold War, archival material became available from all of the five declared nuclear-weapon states on their activities and scholars were able to discuss the previous century’s nuclear reality. A small community of scholars and former practitioners in the UK therefore started to rethink this history by producing a new series of volumes on the evolution of the United Kingdom’s nuclear weapon policies from 1952 onwards, the date of the explosion of its first nuclear device. Thanks to a grant from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Board to the Mountbatten Centre for International Studies at the University of Southampton, Professor John Simpson and his colleagues were able to start a systematic study of the post-1952 period, and to engage with those directly involved in its many aspects. What soon became clear was that in the period 1958–64 the course was set for UK nuclear policy in the next half-century. It is thus appropriate that Richard Moore’s volume Nuclear Illusion, Nuclear Reality: Britain, the United States and Nuclear Weapons, 1958–64 should be the first of the planned chronological volumes arising from this systematic process. This is reinforced by the current salience of debates over the future of the UK’s nuclear deterrent force, and the role of the volume as the lead publication in Palgrave’s wider series of studies on nuclear history.

Titles include:

Richard Moore NUCLEAR ILLUSION, NUCLEAR REALITY Britain, the United States and Nuclear Weapons, 1958–64

Nuclear Weapons and International Security since 1945 Series Standing Order ISBN: 978–0230–21775–1 hardback (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, RG21 6XS, England Nuclear Illusion, Nuclear Reality Britain, the United States and Nuclear Weapons, 1958–64

Richard Moore Visiting Research Fellow, Mountbatten Centre for International Studies, University of Southampton © Richard Moore 2010 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-23067-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-31163-7 ISBN 978-0-230-25140-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230251403 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

10987654321 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 Contents

List of Illustrations viii Acknowledgements ix List of Abbreviations xi Introduction 1 Historiography 5 Macmillan and his ministers 8 Decision-making structures 12

Part I Nuclear Illusion 23 Chapter 1 Policy-making 1958–61 25 Government policy 26 Macmillan, Eisenhower and bilateral defence collaboration 32 Arms control 36 Bombers and ballistic 40 Politics and force levels 46 Political opposition to nuclear weapons 50 NATO strategy 53 Nuclear sufficiency 57 Global war studies 59 NATO and ballistic missiles 62 Holy Loch, Skybolt and Polaris 64 The multi-lateral force and the Kennedy administration 69 Circumstances short of global war 71 Worries about Skybolt 73 Chapter 2 Policy Execution 1958–61 78 Military requirements 79 Fissile material 83 Aldermaston and warheads 85 Using American warhead information 87 Australia 91 Nuclear forces 95 Controlling nuclear operations 101 Megaton 104

v vi Contents

Blue Steel 105 108 Kiloton bombs 112 Skybolt 116 Skybolt warhead 118 Red Beard replacement 122 Defensive weapons 125 Battlefield nuclear weapons 129 The future 133

Part II Nuclear Reality 143 Chapter 3 Policy-making 1961–64 145 Change at the top 147 Nuclear testing 150 NATO and the central front 155 France, West Germany and Europe 157 Defence policy east of Suez 160 Deterrent systems 164 Skybolt 166 Explaining the Skybolt crisis 170 Cuba 173 The Nassau meeting 175 The multi-lateral force 182 Buying Polaris 186 Party politics 189 Chapter 4 Policy Execution 1961–64 194 Military requirements and fissile material 195 Warheads 199 V-bombers 203 Megaton weapons 210 Other nuclear forces 214 WE177 217 Other tactical nuclear weapons 220 Alternative weapons 224 Choice of Polaris 227 Polaris system and facilities 231 Polaris warheads and Aldermaston 236 Conclusions 240 Britain and the United States 243 Other nuclear motivations 247 Contents vii

Technology, strategy and politics 250 Wartime experience and nuclear culture 253 Appendices 256 Appendix 1 Estimated deliverable nuclear weapons stockpile 256 Appendix 2 Estimated fissile materials stockpile 257 Notes 258 Bibliography 301 Index 315 List of Illustrations

Red Beard undergoing vibration trials. missile awaiting test firing. Blue Streak missile with re-entry vehicle. missile and Vulcan bomber. Harold Watkinson. Peter Thorneycroft. Sir . Sir . Lord Mountbatten at missile launch. Early sketch of a Skybolt missile. Missile compartment of a Polaris . Mountbatten and Sir Solly Zuckerman. Weapons development timeline. Map 1 Nuclear weapons production. Map 2 British nuclear forces, end 1962.

viii Acknowledgements

I should like to thank staff at Cambridge University Library, the Mount- batten Archive at the Hartley Library in Southampton, the RAF Museum at Hendon, the Archives Department at the UEA Library in Norwich, the Library of Congress in Washington and in particular the Public Record Office in Kew. Whoever has masterminded the changes made at the PRO in recent years – new opening hours, the online catalogue and the enlightened policy on digital photography – deserves special thanks for making it possible for me to work much more happily and effectively. The late John Slater collected a wealth of documentary material on British nuclear history, focusing in particular on the period 1958–64, and I have had the benefit of access to his extensive papers, now at the Mountbatten Centre in Southampton. This book would have been much harder to write without Slater’s painstaking and scholarly work. Ian Clark and Eric Grove taught me to love nuclear history. Lorna Arnold is an inspiration to everybody in the field, and I feel privileged to have heard her speak, for example on the Windscale accident of 1957. Kate Pyne and the incomparable have given freely and patiently of their time and expertise, and my mistakes are many times fewer as a result. Nick Hill and Dave and Lesley Wright have brought the British rocketry community together every year at Charterhouse, and their vision and hard work has allowed a most enjoyable and stimulating exchange of views there and in the pages of . Some of the material here on Skybolt and Polaris has previously been presented at Charterhouse, and I have learned a great deal from the resultant discussion. I am grateful to everyone at the Mountbatten Centre, and especially John Simpson and Angela Murphy, for their extensive support. As an (occasional) visiting research fellow, I have been made to feel very welcome indeed by John and his team; John has also offered much useful comment and encour- agement for this book in particular. Iain Goode, Steve Roper and Ray Nolan in MoD helped with the declassification of documents, especially on WE177. In the course of my research, I have spoken with or emailed Brian Burnell, Tony Buttler, Steve Clifton, John Coker, Mike Fazackerley, Dave Forster, Jock Gardner, Chris Gibson, Brian Jamison, David Mackenzie, Chris Maddock, Richard Maguire, Frank Panton, Michael Price, Mark Smith, Kristan Stoddart, Jerry Stocker, Richard Vernon, John Walker and Robin Woolven, and I am very grateful for their kindness, insights and

ix x Acknowledgements information. Chris in particular has been enormously helpful, but Brian Burnell must head the list: he has worked indefatigably in the PRO, his knowledge is encyclopaedic and he has been exceptionally generous with facts, opinions, advice and copies of documents, always at his own expense. Massive thanks meanwhile to my father and Ed Wynn, whose extensive comments on the text led to huge improvements to its read- ability. Ann Barradell-Black insisted on a happy ending. I owe the biggest debt of all to my wife Alison, who has been more supportive – in this book, and in everything I do – than I shall ever deserve. I love her com- pletely. But the book is dedicated to Joseph and Lilia. My generation has, so far, managed to live with nuclear weapons without using them, and I pray theirs can too. If understanding the past can ever help in this regard, then perhaps it will have been worth writing. List of Abbreviations

1L First Lord (of the Admiralty) 1SL First Sea Lord A/ Assistant to ABM Anti-ballistic missile ACAS(Ops) Assistant Chief of the Air Staff for Operations ACAS(OR) Assistant Chief of the Air Staff for Operational Requirements ACdre Air Commodore AD/AArm3 Assistant Director Air Armaments 3 (MoA) ADM Atomic demolition munition AFB (US) Air Force Base AGPS Australian Government Printing Service AM AOC-in-C Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief ASW Anti-submarine warfare AVM Air Vice-Marshal AWE Atomic Weapons Establishment (present-day name of AWRE) AWRE Atomic Weapons Research Establishment BAC British Aircraft Corporation BAOR British Army of the Rhine BJSM British Joint Staff Mission (at the embassy in Washington) BMEWS Ballistic Missile Early Warning System BNDSG British Nuclear Deterrent Study Group CA Controller Aircraft CAS Chief of the Air Staff Cdr Commander CDS Chief of the Defence Staff CENTO Central Treaty Organisation CGWL Controller Guided Weapons and Electronics CIA Central Intelligence Agency CIGS Chief of the Imperial General Staff CINCSAC Commander-in-Chief, (USAF) Strategic Air Command CINCUSNAVEUR Commander-in-Chief, US Naval Forces Europe

xi xii List of Abbreviations

Cmnd. Command paper (i.e., UK government white paper) CND Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament CO Commanding Officer D Ops(B&R) () Director Operations (Bomber & Reconnaissance) DAArm Director Air Armaments (MoA) DAWD Director Atomic Weapons Development (MoA) DAWDP Director Atomic Weapons Development & Production (MoA) DCAS Deputy Chief of the Air Staff DDOR1 (Air Ministry) Deputy Director Operational Requirements 1 DDOR2 (Air Ministry) Deputy Director Operational Requirements 2 Debs. Debates Dept Department DGAW Director-General Atomic Weapons (MoA) DGD (Admiralty) Director Gunnery Division DNOR (Admiralty) Director of Naval Operational Research DOR(A) (Air Ministry) Director Operational Requirements (A) DOR(C) (Air Ministry) Director Operational Requirements (C) DRPC Defence Research Policy Committee ECM Electronic counter-measures ed. dir. Editorial director ed. Editor edn Edition EEC European Economic Community ENI External neutron initiation FBM Fleet Ballistic Missile FO Foreign Office FPC Future Policy Committee FRUS Foreign Relations of the United States ft Feet GCapt Gen General GPS Global Positioning System GW Guided weapons List of Abbreviations xiii

H of M (Admiralty) Head of Military Branch HE High explosive HMG Her Majesty’s Government HMS Her Majesty’s Ship HMSO Her Majesty’s Stationery Office HoC House of Commons HoL House of Lords HTP High-test peroxide IANF Inter-Allied Nuclear Force ICBM Inter-continental ballistic missile IMD Increased Military Demand in Inches IRBM Intermediate-range ballistic missile JCS (US) Joint Chiefs of Staff JFK (US President) John F Kennedy JIGSAW Joint Inter-service Group for the Study of All-out War JOWOG Joint Working Group JPS Joint Planning Staff JRSWG Joint Re-entry Systems Working Group kg Kilogrammes kt Kilotons (thousands of tons of TNT equivalent) LABS Low-altitude bombing system lb Pounds (weight) LOX LtCdr Lieutenant-Commander LtGen Lieutenant-General MC (NATO) Military Committee (document) MC Medium capacity (ratio of HE to overall weight of a bomb) MCIS Mountbatten Centre for International Studies, Southampton University MGen Major-General MIRV Multiple independently-targeted re-entry vehicles MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mk. Mark MLF (NATO) Multi-lateral force MoA Ministry of Aviation MoD Ministry of Defence MoS MP Member of Parliament xiv List of Abbreviations

MRAF Marshal of the MRBM Medium-range ballistic missile Mt Megaton (millions of tons of TNT equivalent) mtg Meeting NAC North Atlantic Council NASA (US) National Aeronautics and Space Administration NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation nm Nautical miles NRDC Nuclear Requirements for Defence Committee OAW Operational Use of Atomic Weapons (Working Party) OR ORP Operational readiness platform pers. comm. Personal communication PRO Public Record Office PS/ Private Secretary to PSAC (US) Presidential Scientific Advisory Committee Pu Plutonium QRA Quick-reaction alert R&D Research and development RAE Royal Aircraft Establishment RAF Royal Air Force RIIA Royal Institute of International Affairs RN Royal Navy ROF Royal Ordnance Factory RUSI Royal United Service Institution RV Re-entry vehicle SA/AC Scientific Advisor to the Army Council SAC (USAF) Strategic Air Command SACEUR (NATO) Supreme Allied Commander Europe SACLANT (NATO) Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic SAGW Surface-to-air guided weapon SAM Surface-to-air missile SEATO South East Asia Treaty Organisation sec Seconds SHAPE (NATO) Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe SHAPEX An annual staff exercise at SHAPE SINS Ship’s Inertial Navigation System SIOP Single Integrated Operational Plan List of Abbreviations xv

SIPRI Stockholm International Peace Research Institute SofSAir Secretary of State for Air SPO (US Navy) Special Projects Office SSGW Surface-to-surface guided weapon SSN Nuclear-powered (usually hunter-killer) submarine TNT Trinitrotoluene TSR Tactical Strike and Reconnaissance (aircraft) TTCP Tripartite Technical Cooperation Programme U235 Uranium-235 (highly-enriched uranium) UE Units effective (no. of front-line aircraft in an RAF squadron) UEA University of East Anglia UK United Kingdom UKAEA United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority UKDEL UK Delegation UN United Nations UP University Press US United States USAEC United States Atomic Energy Commission USAF United States Air Force USN United States Navy USS United States Ship USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics V-bombers , , (aircraft) V-force RAF V-bomber force VAdm Vice-Admiral VCAS Vice-Chief of the Air Staff VCNS Vice-Chief of the Naval Staff VLF Very low frequency WS (USAF) Weapons System This page intentionally left blank