Nassau Agreement

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The signatories of the agreement
John F. Kennedy, White House color photo portrait.jpg
US President John F. Kennedy
Harold Macmillan.jpg
British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan


The Nassau Agreement enabled the UK to purchase US Polaris missiles to build a submarine-based nuclear deterrent force to replace the aborted Skybolt joint airborne ballistic missile program. It was concluded on December 21, 1962 between US President John F. Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in Nassau (Bahamas) .

Sense of the agreement

The agreement was intended to ensure the defense of the NATO alliance, especially in Europe, after the United States had promised to withdraw the US medium-range Jupiter missiles directed against the Soviet Union in Turkey in the wake of the Cuba crisis in October 1962 . In addition, the basis for the development of a Multilateral Nuclear Fleet (MLF) should be created. In addition, it led to a cementing of the “ special relationship ” between Great Britain and the USA, which had temporarily clouded over , especially after the American intervention against the British-French action during the Suez crisis in 1956. A similar arrangement with France was rejected by President Charles de Gaulle , who instead pushed for the establishment of a “ force de frappe ” independent of alliance obligations.

Content of the agreement

AGM-48 Skybolt air-to-surface missile
A British medium-range missile (SLBM) Polaris A2 (UGM-27B)
  1. The President and Prime Minister reviewed the Skybolt missile development program. The President stated that it was no longer expected that this very complex weapon system could be completed within the budget and the time allowed for it at the beginning of the program.
  2. The President informed the Prime Minister that for this reason and because other weapons systems were available to the United States, he had decided to abandon plans to build the Skybolt missile for US use. Recognizing the importance of the Skybolt program to Great Britain and bearing in mind that the purpose of the Skybolt offer to Great Britain in 1960 was to help improve and increase the effectiveness of British V-bombers , the President expressed his readiness to An expression of continuing the development of the missile as a joint venture between the United States and Great Britain, with each country bearing an equal share of the future costs until the development is completed. After that, the UK could then place a production order based on its needs.
  3. The Prime Minister recognized the value of the offer but, after careful consideration, decided not to accept it because of doubts expressed about the prospect of success in developing the weapon system and uncertainty about the date of its completion development work and eventual costs.
  4. As a possible alternative, the President suggested that the Royal (British) Air Force could use the Hound-Dog missile . The Prime Minister replied that given the technical difficulties, he was unable to accept this proposal.
  5. The Prime Minister then turned to the possibility that the United States would provide Britain with the Polaris missile . After careful consideration, the President and Prime Minister agreed that a decision on the Polaris missile should be examined in the broadest context of both the future defense of the Atlantic Alliance and the security of the entire free world. They concluded that this issue would provide the opportunity for new and closer arrangements to be drawn up regarding the organization and control of the Western strategic defense, and that such arrangements could, in turn, make a significant contribution to the political unification of the nations of the Alliance.
  6. The Prime Minister made the proposal, which the President agreed to, that a start could be made in the immediate future by assigning parts of the existing armed forces to NATO . This could include the deployment of American strategic forces, parts of the British bomber command and tactical nuclear forces now maintained in Europe. Such forces would be assigned as part of a NATO nuclear force and classified in accordance with NATO plans.
  7. Returning to the Polaris missile, the President and Prime Minister agreed that the goal of their two governments in relation to the deployment of Polaris missiles must be to develop a multilateral NATO nuclear force in close consultation with other NATO allies. You want to do your best to achieve this goal.
  8. Therefore, the President and Prime Minister agreed that the United States would provide Polaris missiles (non-explosive devices) to British submarines on an ongoing basis. The United States will also investigate the possibility of making certain utilities available for such submarines. The UK government will build the submarines into which these weapons will be installed and will also provide nuclear explosive devices for the Polaris missiles. The British armed forces established on the basis of this plan should be assigned and classified in the same way as the armed forces mentioned in point 6. These armed forces and at least equivalent American forces would be made available for inclusion in a multilateral nuclear power of NATO. The Prime Minister makes it clear that these British associations will in all circumstances be used for the purposes of the international defense of the Western Alliance, except in cases where the British Government would decide that the highest national interests are at stake.
  9. The President and Prime Minister are convinced that this new plan will strengthen the nuclear defense of the Western Alliance. Strategically, this defense is indivisible, and it is their conviction that in all ordinary circumstances of crisis or danger, this unit is the West's best protection.
  10. The President and Prime Minister agreed that it is important to have a non-nuclear sword in addition to a nuclear shield. for this reason they also agreed that it is important to increase the effectiveness of their conventional armed forces on a worldwide basis.

Follow the conference

French President Charles de Gaulle

Following the conference in Nassau from December 18 to 21, 1962, US President John F. Kennedy sent a personal letter to German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and French President Charles de Gaulle , in which he gave them the results of his negotiations with the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan set out and made the same offer to the French government that the British side accepted.

This emphasis on the US-British special relationship made France angry. At a press conference on January 14, 1963, President de Gaulle rejected the Polaris rockets offered to him in Nassau, as it were, as an addendum, and affirmed the French go it alone. This led to the failure of a Multilateral Force (MLF) and, on July 1, 1966, to France's withdrawal from the defense organization of the North Atlantic Pact, and de Gaulle announced at the press conference that Britain's application to join the European Economic Community (EEC) would be rejected. The membership negotiations between the EEC and Great Britain were finally broken off on January 29, 1963.

Engineers and scientists at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston in West Berkshire developed the warhead A3T for the British Polaris missiles until 1968. With the Polaris Sales Agreement of April 6, 1963, the purchase of the Polaris A-3P missile was signed between the USA and Great Britain. The first British nuclear submarine, the HMS Dreadnought (S101) , entered service on April 17, 1963. The HMS Resolution (S22) was the first British ballistic missile (SSBN) submarine to be armed with Polaris missiles in 1968 .

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