Meet the New Holocaust Missile and Armageddon Submarine

Names Like Minuteman, Peacekeeper, and Sentinel Are Diabolically Dishonest

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Ever think about names of U.S. weapons of war? Rarely are those names honest. I do applaud the relative honesty of Predator and Reaper drones, because those names capture the often predatory nature of US foreign policy and the grim reaperish means that are often employed in its execution. Most names are not so suggestive. For example, US fighter planes carry noble names like Eagle, Fighting Falcon, or Raptor. Nuclear bombers are an interesting case since they can carry thermonuclear bombs and missiles to kill hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of people. So we have the B-52 Stratofortress (a great 1950s-era name), the B-1 Lancer, the B-2 Spirit, and the new B-21 Raider (the name has historical echoes to the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in 1942).

Reaping what we sow? Just reaping? Whatever the case, the U.S. way of war is grim

Shouldn’t these bombers carry names like Megadeath or Mass Murder?

Think too of nuclear missiles. The Air Force’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) have had names like Titan, Minuteman, Peacekeeper, and now the new Sentinel. But since these missiles carry warheads that could easily kill millions, wouldn’t a more honest name be The Holocaust ICBM? For that’s what these missiles promise: a nuclear holocaust.

Consider too the Navy’s Ohio-class nuclear missile-firing submarines (SSBN) with their Trident missiles. (Trident – gotta hand it to the Navy.) Just one submarine can carry 20 Trident II missiles, each with up to eight warheads, each warhead being roughly equivalent to six Hiroshima bombs. Again, roughly speaking, each of these submarines carries an arsenal equivalent to one thousand Hiroshima bombs. And the US has fourteen of these submarines.

Instead of the Ohio-class of submarines, shouldn’t they be called the Armageddon-class? Or the Apocalypse-class? The Genocide-class?

With a bit more honesty, perhaps it wouldn’t be so easy to sell these horrific weapons to Congress and the American people. Then again, when the bottom line is higher budgets for the Pentagon and more jobs for Congressional districts, I guess America will buy most anything. Even Holocaust missiles and Armageddon submarines. And for upwards of $2 trillion over the next 30 years as well.

If they don’t bust the budget, perhaps they’ll destroy the world.

William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools and blogs at Bracing Views. He can be reached at wastore@pct.edu. Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission.

7 thoughts on “Meet the New Holocaust Missile and Armageddon Submarine”

  1. “Shouldn’t these bombers carry names like Megadeath or Mass Murder?” Metallica team?

    1. The really cool names and designs on the noses of our planes have gone the way of the woke.
      This isn’t the era of ww2.
      Can you imagine a plane full of 20-something Metallica headbangers blasting tunes with a fully painted jet?
      Their issues with recruitment might go away even.

        1. Woo Hoo!
          This website allows videos!
          (I’ve been hoping they let them to stay up)
          Can you imagine the investigation you’d cause today?
          Perhaps Afroman would be OK (come to Bevington Iowa-the Briarpatch-on July 2 for our 4th celebration to see him ;-)
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeYsTmIzjkw
          personally I’m listening to some Snotty Nose today (and watching the TikTok hearings; great efing TV)
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6aHYIvSYqM and some Anna Popovic today (I free trial spam darn near every streaming service; ef those ads and low-fi feeds….lol.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMj-vor7M_I

  2. How about, “f*ck you” and “f*ck is all”. ” I love the feeling of nuclear radiation in the morning”. “I’m melting, I’m melting”. “Your eyes have that certain glow to them”.

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