French movie action drama on a SSN : Le chant du Loup (The Wolf's Call)

[Prolands]

Originally Posted by gumbeauregard

But then the idea that the nuclear missiles need to be launched from a precisely known position in order to be more accurate to prevent civilian casualties is a bit silly on the face of it.

The entire premise of nuclear deterrence is retaliatory strikes against the civilian population of the opponent.

The movie does not reveal the details of French president's chosen retaliatory option, but my guess is that he had chosen a limited retaliatory strike against a military target. You will notice that when the orders to launch arrive and are plugged into the weapons console only one missile gets activated and only one vertical tube opens.

Its not entirely unrealistic. Many WW3 scenarios assume an escalating nuclear exchange, rather than full on all-missile bombardment. Starting from few tactical nukes, escalating into greater payloads and quantities.

And since the chosen target was military it would make sense to want to limit casualties. Captain's priviledge i guess.