Warsim's Point

Rag you might want to consider a soviet SSBN hunt of some sort.

Was watching a program on John Walker and did a little reading on him. Was caught in May of 1985 which might be considered a tad early however he had access to US ship store inventory lists, ship positions and may have even had specific sub positions thanks to his son.

I think even with the early discovery its safe to assume that even with a mass repositioning for the next war patrols (assuming 90 day patrols) that Northern Fleet could have guessed right given the historical data they might of had.

Hm that is very interesting... did a google search and found some interesting stuff. Not living in the US, most of this info was new to me

http://rf-web.tamu.edu/security/secguid ... Walker.htm
http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_ ... ker/1.html
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/ex ... s/kalugin/

Anyone got more detailed info?

Yeah Kalugin was featured on the program about Walker and have seen him several times on on Discovery.

The thing with Walker was he was the Soviet Unions best asset (known anyways) and the reason he was caught was the ex wife ratted him out. I think many like to discuss what a low life he was (which is true) but that hardly explain's his capture as he'd been doing it successfully for years.

Kalugin openly discussed what a PITA Walker was because they considered him flakey. His drops were meticulously planned and included many confirmational steps. He was provided with pictures, maps and extensive directions on how to accomplish his tasks. He was required to walk through and there was no physical contact with the guy until many years after.

At the same time he was providing some pretty extensive data. His son was a comms officer on Nimitz and therefore could provide position data. He brother had access to Navy shipping detailsl and the other accomplice had provided significant data on US crypto gear. He developed this ring himself. His son even joined the Navy with the expressed purpose of doing this. This is not to mention that he wasn't recruited, he walked into Soviet embassy and volunteered with gift data!

Given this the guy wasn't a shirker. I think folks focus on his low character because it easier to explain and diverts attention as to why this joker wasn't caught. His KGB handling was excellent if not insane but for the most part alot more credit should be due to him. He was a lowlife and a traitor but a successful one at that.

I think given this a few scenarios should probably be developed with this in mind. He was caught months before your war takes place but given the duration and nature of his efforts its pretty safe to assume the Soviets had a very good idea given historical data of what the US Navy (at least) would be up to and where they would be up to it.

Anyways check out the program. Its on discovery channel and can probably be found in the local library or via a torrent somewhere.

if i could stick my oar in, three scearios that i would love to see in the best harp3 battlest currently available...

1.) A Baltic Scenario, possibly in the opening phases of the war, leveraging the full might of BALTRAP vs. WP fleets, maybe with amphib/airborne ops vs. Kopenhagen as a centrepiece. In the Global War Game '85 conducted by the Naval War College, Denmark was identified as the most vulnerable NATO member, and was the sight of the fiercest naval action.

2.) a 'polar transit' sceario, exploring the possibility of sending PACFLT subs via the the north pole le to support operations in the Norwegian sea, etc. lots of interesting ASW bits in the aleutians and under the ice.

3.) an AAW 'attack on NORAD' scenario (hear that drum beating again_

For that last bit, check out "Boom"

For 1/. am currently working on one along those lines, centred very much on Denmark but set in 88. Still has a long way to go mind before ready for some testing....................

Thanks for the input Right now I'm working on the Norway and North Cape scenarios, after that I'll do the Centfront ones, followed by the Med and the Balitcs. After that... lets see



I actually built and released one a good while back but pulled it in order to bake it more into the storyline. It should be up again soon.



The subs will be needed in the PAC I think hehe




This would have to be a nuclear scenario, but I'm not sure if it is really feasible since the Soviets didn't really have the ability to strike the CONUS effectively back then.

- BOOM is a wicked scenario, really enjoyed it. an 'attack on NORAD' could IMO however be both nuke and none-nuke. let me explain...

WP had a (possibly decisive) advantage over NATO in that political targets had strategic implications, which was not really true in reverse due to the structure of WP society. in a nutshell this means that public opionion had a real net effect on NATO strategic policy, even in wartime, while the reverse was not true at all. STAVKA (while it existed) was acutely aware of this, and there are many true and ficitonal scearios around actual 'operations' around this. One example of this thinking is the Cuban missile crisis (no groaning please , where in reality the Soviets achieved a strategic victory (the tearing up of the Monroe Doctorine, removal of the Thor first strike IRBMs from Turkey and Norway) ....although o/c arguably they lost the PR war (yes this is another topic, moving on)

Any damage that STAVKA was able to inflict on NORAD defences (that. o/c/ was discernable to the public) would certainly force a considerble redeployment of assets - probablly in excess of what was needed, esepecialy if Ragnar is right and the strategic aviation had already been abandonded already (a view i disagree with - strategic aviation is indeed not usually a 'first strike' weapon, but the 'second arm' of the triad usally intended for follow-up stirkes after the first ICBMs go in. Alaska was a marvellous target of opportunity for the Soviets - quite a few targets, very good potential for POLITICAL damage, very few retalitory opportunities. I would imagine RAIDS on NORAD installations in the NW as absoluetly valid hypothesis, IF loses could be kept low (something we have to see...)

btw, on the same topic, another thing i have been wondering about was the vulnerability of those NORAD radat (PINETREE, DEW) installations to Speznatz strikes. I have met (probablly) ex-Speznatz types (they run a 'taxi service' from Moscow Int'l) in Russia, who do tell fascinating stories that are without much context. I know in Austria we were really afraid of them. Given the disposition of many of the PINETREE sites (NE Canada) and some of the Alaska sites, I think those could have bee taken out without much trouble....comments anyone?

- BALTRAP scenario would be great (especially with closed Swedish airspace). my very first attempt at scenario construction was actually a way to ambitious pure WP - SWEDEN scenario (invasion) , way too large, however I got to test those marvellous hidden road dispersal bases.... Definetly a stroyline that would be nice to see done by a pro.

Flanker, would be great to see your scenario...does it include coastal batteries?

- Ragnar, guess you have plans for PACFLT. I'm just curious as to the viability of such a 'polar transit' plan....great backdoor, IMO

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