United Kingdom (1983: Doomsday)

Before Doomsday
More to come...

Doomsday
At approximately 1:32am GMT on September 26, 1983, American satellites picked up Soviet ballistic missiles heading for targets in Great Britian. Upon confirmation by ground-based radar, an official from the Home Office stationed at RAF High Wycombe in Bukinghamshire, authorized the issue of the dreaded "Four Minute Warning".

Immiedately the alert of imminent nuclear attack was sent to military headquarters, police stations, hopsitals, and other key installations. A nationwide network of sirens were sounded. Radio and television broadcasts were interrupted and the warning was broadcast from an emergency studio located at the BBC Broadcast House in London.

BBC Broadcast (1983: Doomsday)

The entire British nuclear arsenal was launched in a counterstrike against targets in the Soviet Union and elsewhere in China, East Germany and WARSAW pact countries.

Despite the little time available, military personnel managed to evacuate some people before the missiles struck. Among those evacuated were Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Phillip (The Duke of Edinburgh), and their third child Prince Andrew, (who were at Windsor at the time of the attack). They, along with about twenty government officials, were taken in helicopters specially designed to withstand the effects of EMP burst. Prime Minster Thatcher was in Canada at the time of the attack, contact was lost immediatly and she was declared dead (even though she wasn't) on 27th September.

There were three waves of Nuclear detonations accross the UK,


 * The first wave of tactical nuclear weapons detonated across the UK military bases between 1.42am and 1.48am. 150 kilotonnes detonations occured over Portsmouth, Southamton and Plymouth (probably due to their large military bases) as well as two 150 kilotonne detonations of the City of London.


 * 20 minutes later a second wave hit the 15 largest population centres across the UK between 2.09am and 2.17am. These were London (seven seperate blasts), Birmingham, Glasgow (missed, detonated to the west of the city over Dunbarton), Liverpool (missed, detonated over the north of the city near Aintree), Leeds, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Bristol, Manchester, Leicester, Coventry, Kingston upon Hull, Bradford, Cardiff and Belfast.


 * The third and final wave hit the remaining population centres and re-hit some of the population centres hit in the second wave. These hit between 2.27am and 2.46am.

Due to the time of the attack the first many people knew of the attack was a bright flash that woke them up followed by the blast wave that killed them. Of those who were awake at the time of the attack and survived to tell their stories, tell of seeing a new (or in some cases a second or third) sun in the sky followed by hurricane force winds that were burning hot.

The surviving government and military set up a base in the Isle of Wight and from here planned the evacuation of the British Monarchy, Military, Government and people to Southern Africa (They later set up New Britain). Queen Elizabeth II dies in 1984 and King Andrew I is crowned in Osbourne House.

The only Members of Parliment known to have survived were five members of the Scottish National Party who were on the Isle of Lewis at the time of the attack. One of those was Gordon Wilson M.P., the leader of the SNP and a member of the Privy Council, which made him the de facto head of the UK government. The five MPs were rescued by Irish Republic military forces and sent to Ireland. In 1986, they would sign the official merger of the states of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, creating the Celtic Alliance.

Although details of the destruction of London are sketchy, it is believed that at least 12 nuclear detonations occured in the Greater London area, two detonation in first wave (over the City of London), seven detonations in second wave, three more in the third wave. A Celtic Alliance pilot on a reconnaissance flight over the area in 2007 described it as "craters, rubble, and glass". The Greater London area is currently off limits to all but official scientific and military personnel. A comprehensive expedition into the wasteland is scheduled for 2012.

Other major cities hit included:


 * Manchester - second wave, re-hit with third wave
 * Birmingham - second wave, re-hit with third wave
 * Belfast - second wave
 * Edinburgh - second wave
 * Leeds - second wave, re-hit with third wave
 * Sheffield - second wave, re-hit with third wave
 * Bradford - second wave
 * York - third wave
 * Kingston upon Hull - second wave
 * Newcastle - third wave
 * Sunderland - third wave
 * Bristol - second wave
 * Leicester - second wave
 * Norwich- third wave
 * Coventry - second wave
 * Cardiff - second wave
 * Stoke on Trent - third wave
 * Wolverhamton - third wave
 * Nottingham -third wave
 * Plymouth - three or possibly four detonations over naval bases. - first wave, re-hit in third wave
 * Portsmouth - two or possibly three detonations over HMNB Portsmouth (HMS Nelson) area.- first wave, re-hit in third wave
 * Southampton - two or three detonations over port area.- first wave, re-hit in third wave. Also destroyed in the attack was RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 which was still undergoing a major refit after the Falklands war.
 * Reading - third wave
 * Dudley - third wave
 * Northamton - third wave
 * Durham - third wave
 * Luton - third wave
 * Swansea - third wave
 * Bournmouth - third wave
 * Southend on Sea - third wave
 * Swindon - third wave
 * Huddersfield - third wave
 * Oxford - third wave
 * Cambridge - third wave
 * Stockport - third wave
 * Peterborough - third wave
 * Slough - third wave
 * Brighton - third wave
 * Gloucester - third wave
 * Rotherham - third wave
 * Newport - third wave

Several major cities in the United Kingdom avoided complete destruction, due to malfunctioning missiles. These included.
 * Middlesborough (one hit to the north over the North Sea, another over the North Yorkshire Moors)
 * Liverpool (hit to the north of the city, over Aintree)
 * Glasgow (hit to the west of the city, over Dunbarton)

Deaths in the United Kingdom on Doomsday were estimated from 30-48 million.

Aftermath
Due to the education about nuclear war that the British people had been given since the 1960's most people realised that the best place to be was undercover or inside. It had been decided by government scientists that it would be best to stay undercover for a minimum of three days, five would be better. Many survivors survived due to this education.

Many people however had no choice but to go outside and move around the irradiated landscape, particularly in areas on the outskirts of bombed cities.

Within a week of the attack law and order had almost totally collapsed throughout the country, records of this time are scarse due to the chaos however it is known that certain areas former military units and police units became feral bandits and started attacking bands of survivors for food, water, medical supplies.

It is estimated that of the UK population of 56.3 million approximatly 20 million died within 1 hour of the attacks, mainly due to the blasts and severe burns, another 12-14 million died within two weeks from radiation poisoning and lack of clean water. Many more died during the winter due to the cold and disease that struck many evacuation camps. By September 1984 the UK population is estimated to be between 16 - 18 million people, most living in coastal Wales, Northern England and Scotland.

The population continued to decrease due to radiation related diseases, famine and other contagious diseases such as Cholera and TB, it reached its low in early 1989 at roughly 14 million.

By 2010 the population of the area formally known as the UK stands at roughly 20 million, mostly in the Celtic Alliance.

After the attacks many warlords (usually former military or police force officers) began building small empires based on fear and hunger, it took several years for these warlords to either be overthrown by their subjects or replaced by more democratic system of government.

Successor States


 * East Britain - established 1984
 * Woodbridge - established 1986
 * Celtic Alliance - established 1986
 * New Britain (In Africa) - established 1987
 * Essex - established 1991
 * Southern England established 1992
 * Kingdom of Northumbria - established 1993
 * Knigdom of Cleveland - established 1995
 * Rheged - Small independant townships
 * Scottish New State - Fascist police state.

Evacuation Order
As soon as the attacks were over the surviving military, Government and Monarchy evacuated to the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England. The Isle of Wight survived the attacks fairly well with only light radioactive fallout. The island was picked for evacuation to because it was hoped that it would act as a natural barrier to refugees who may try to storm the refuge for its supplies. Several thousand refugees tried to make there way to the Isle of Wight believing it to be a safe haven, However many died as they failed to find seaworthy boats and tried to swim.

The Isle of Wight retained some form of order in the days following Doomsday especially after the arrival of the Royal Family (Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Phillip and Prince Andrew). The Royal Navy assisted in carrying some refugees to the Isle and it became home to the British Provincial Administration which was headed by the acting Prime Minister William Whitelaw. In 1984, Queen Elizabeth II died and Andrew was crowned King Andrew in a quiet ceremony at Osborne House.

In early 1987 radio announcements accross all bands tell anyone who wants to be evacuated to the New Britain and can make it before 1989 are to make their way to the Isle of Wight, due to the radioactivity in the lower atmosphere comming from London and other central English cities that had been nuked, as well as the destroyed recievers accros the country the radio announcment only reaches as far north as the M4 corridor. This leads to only 17,000 people getting to the Isle of Wight by 1989 and not the expected 100,000+ that the military were expecting. Due to the lack of people arriving scientists mistakingly believe that the UK has been hit much harder than they expected.

In the next three years the Isle of Wight was a base for Royal Navy ships searching for a suitable new home for the British people and when they eventually secured an area of South Africa it was the base for the evacuation of the country. The last Evacuation ship left for New Brtain in 1992

Military
Across the UK many military bases were hit with tactical nuclear weapons (less than 10 Kiloton). They are believed to have been launched from Soviet nuclear submarines based in the North Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean.

Many of the Royal navy vessels were destroyed in attacks on Plymouth, Portsmouth and Southampton. However, many vessels out at sea survived the attack and assisted in the evacuation of the UK to the Isle of Wight and on to New Britain, where they became part of the Navy of New Britain.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) was particulary badly hit with almost every airbase hit with tactical nuclear weapons, many older planes in the sky at the time of the attack crashed due to the EMP, those which had hardened electronics discovered their air fields had been destroyed on return to base, flew until they ran out of fuel and then crashed, many airmen bailed out into the irradiated countryside and died of radiation poisoning. by the 30th September 1983 95% of the RAF personnel had been killed or seroiusly injured.

The British Army was also hit badly with it's bases and even training grounds hit, it was estimated that four-fifths of the army died with 1 hour of the attacks, many survivors were on home leave and on returning to their bases found then obliterated. Of the surviving leading commanders of the army, several set up survivor states, as well as some small military dictatorships and some founded the racist True British Army.

Weather at time of attack
Wind was from the north east blowing at between 15-20 MPH coming off the North Sea. Along the North Sea coast thick sea fog was drifting upto 10 miles inland. In Scotland, Wales, Cumbria, Cornwall and Devon thick cloud was producing heavy rain. Over London and South east England the skies were clear and the temperature was below freezing.