60 Years Ago This Week....

Mmmm ~ you are projecting the belief current from 1949 through 1989 backwards to 1945.

http://www.thebulletin.org/article_nn.php?art_ofn=nd02norris provides a listing of nuclear weapons in stockpiles since their first public development in 1945.

To wit:

Global nuclear stockpiles, 1945-2002
Year	U.S.	Russia	U.K.	France	China	Total
1945	6					6
1946	11					11
1947	32					32
1948	110					110
1949	235	1				236
1950	369	5				374
1951	640	25				665
1952	1,005	50				1,055
1953	1,436	120	1			1,557
1954	2,063	150	5			2,218
1955	3,057	200	10			3,267
1956	4,618	426	15			5,059
1957	6,444	660	20			7,124
1958	9,822	869	22			10,713
1959	15,468	1,060	25			16,553
1960	20,434	1,605	30			22,069
1961	24,111	2,471	50			26,632
1962	27,297	3,322	205			30,824
1963	29,249	4,238	280			33,767
1964	30,751	5,221	310	4	1	36,287
1965	31,642	6,129	310	32	5	38,118
1966	31,700	7,089	270	36	20	39,115
1967	30,893	8,339	270	36	25	39,563
1968	28,884	9,399	280	36	35	38,634
1969	26,910	10,538	308	36	50	37,842
1970	26,119	11,643	280	36	75	38,153
1971	26,365	13,092	220	45	100	39,822
1972	27,296	14,478	220	70	130	42,194
1973	28,335	15,915	275	116	150	44,791
1974	28,170	17,385	325	145	170	46,195
1975	27,052	19,055	350	188	185	46,830
1976	25,956	21,205	350	212	190	47,913
1977	25,099	23,044	350	228	200	48,920
1978	24,243	25,393	350	235	220	50,441
1979	24,107	27,935	350	235	235	52,862
1980	23,764	30,062	350	250	280	54,706
1981	23,031	32,049	350	274	330	56,034
1982	22,937	33,952	335	274	360	57,858
1983	23,154	35,804	320	279	380	59,937
1984	23,228	37,431	270	280	415	61,624
1985	23,135	39,197	300	360	425	63,417
1986	23,254	40,723	300	355	425	65,057
1987	23,490	38,859	300	420	415	63,484
1988	23,077	37,333	300	410	430	61,550
1989	22,174	35,805	300	410	435	59,124
1990	21,211	33,417	300	505	430	55,863
1991	18,306	28,595	300	540	435	48,176
1992	13,731	25,155	300	540	435	40,161
1993	11,536	22,101	300	525	435	34,897
1994	11,012	18,399	250	510	400	30,571
1995	10,953	14,978	300	500	400	27,131
1996	10,886	12,085	300	450	400	24,121
1997	10,829	11,264	260	450	400	23,203
1998	10,763	10,764	260	450	400	22,637
1999	10,698	10,451	185	450	400	22,184
2000	10,615	10,201	185	470	400	21,871
2001	10,491	9,126	200	350	400	20,567
2002	10,600	8,600	200	350	400	20,150

Seems pretty clear to me that the US build-up was such that nukes were not our "first line of defense" until 1959 at the earliest.

It's not just my imagination that tells me that in 1945 we did not have a major nuclear warhead production line ready. We didn't have it in 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950. It's 1951/52 when production was ramped up to nearly 400 per year.

USSR was a mighty big country ~ it would take a whale of a lot of nukes to take them out. There simply were not enough of them back in the immediate post war period.

If you ever see him again and you talk about the subject, you should remind him that he is lucky that we let him live.

I doubt I ever will. But if I do I will...

I thought that was common knowledge!

Maybe it is, but I sure did not know about Manchuria, but it makes sense.

The problem is everybody keeps their eye on the heavy water plant in Korea. They should have, instead, kept their eye on the yellow-cake processing operation in Manchuria.

That's also the site where most of their atomic scientists were located.

Although today we think of Japan as an highly industrialized nation, back before WWII Japan's main islands were kept fairly free of heavy and polluting industries ~ those went to the colonies!

Their scientists may have been somewhat in advance of our own since the way they handled their R&D in this field took due consideration of radiation problems. In contrast, we started up the first fissionable pile at Soldier Field in roughly the middle of America's second largest city.

BTW, as a West Pointer and a fan of Patton you are correct about Zhukov.

It was clear that allot of Japanese heavy industry went to Korea. I have not studied enough of Japanese industry in China to comment accurately.

Luckily for the U.S. the Manhattan team was able overtake the Japanese (even though they thought the Germans were the real threat)

Global nuclear stockpiles, 1945-2002