Letters of Last Resort

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As Letters of Last Resort ( German  letters of last resort ) to four designated by each incumbent Prime Minister of the United Kingdom handwritten letters with instructions for the worst case scenario of a nuclear war .

On board each of the four submarines with ballistic missiles of the Royal Navy each one of the letters is under wraps. If, in the course of a nuclear war, the British government is eliminated and contact with the highest level of decision-making in the armed forces of the United Kingdom is interrupted , the submarine commanders will receive instructions in these letters on how to proceed in this situation, specifically whether they should use their nuclear weapons.

If the letters are not needed - which has always been the case up to now - then they will be destroyed unopened when a new prime minister takes office and replaced with the instructions of the new incumbent.

Unlike the nuclear weapons used by the US armed forces , the British nuclear weapons do not currently have a centralized security system similar to the American PAL system . This means that the crew of a British submarine can arm and launch a nuclear missile without first having to send special authorization codes from the British government. The UK Government does not consider such a system to be necessary due to the design of the launch process on board its submarines. This procedure is the basic prerequisite for the functioning of the Letters of Last Resort system , as this is the only way to ensure that a submarine commander, even in the event of a completely surprising strike against the political and military leadership, which wipes them out before they issue the authorization can initiate the use of nuclear weapons.

According to the American journalist Ron Rosenbaum, these Letters of Last Resort are unique in their function. No other nuclear power is known to maintain a system that can still give instructions for the use of nuclear weapons even after the political leadership has been eliminated. Note, however, the Soviet Dead Hand system, which serves a similar purpose .

Options

According to the BBC 4 documentary show The Human Button , the Prime Minister is advised to select one of four options as an instruction in the letters. The Prime Minister instructs the submarine commander as follows:

  • Strike back with nuclear weapons
  • Don't hit back
  • Make a decision about a setback on your own
  • If possible, place the submarine under the command of a friendly ally. The documentation mentions Australia and the USA .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Statement by the British Ministry of Defense , available at news.bbc.co.uk (English)
  2. ↑ Article British nukes protected by bicycle lock keys on bbc.co.uk (English)
  3. ↑ Ron Rosenbaum, The Letter of Last Resort on slate.com (English)