RN Commander Bob Lineker gave a talk on the development of the nuclear deterrent to Probus Club members at Plas Hyfryd, Narberth.

Bob was born in Birmingham but lived in Kent for the first years of his life before moving to Pembrokeshire with his parents in the early Sixties when aged 12.

After pre-sea training college Bob went to sea as a Navigating Cadet in the Merchant Navy at 17 years of age but transferred to the Royal Navy after his apprenticeship was completed where he qualified as a Weapon Engineer, specialising in submarines. He spent most of his subsequent career involved with the nuclear deterrent. Life in the Royal Navy took him all over the UK and also to the USA for three years, based in Washington.

Bob retired with the rank of Commander in 2004 and finally returned to Pembrokeshire with his wife and dog. He is involved with voluntary work in several local charities and organisations.

At the club’s January meeting, Bob gave an illustrated talk on the development of the nuclear deterrent from its beginnings in the mid-1930s until the present time.

Modern weapons, as well as being much smaller than the Atom Bomb used by the USA in 1945, are now also thousands of times more powerful.

The concept of the deterrent is based on the MAD principle ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’: To prevent either side from launching a nuclear attack, each must realise that by doing so they will face total destruction due to the guaranteed, devastating, retaliation they would inevitably face. The concept thus encouraged both Russia and the West, in the cold war, to build huge stockpiles of weapons to create a balance of terror that kept both powers from initiating nuclear war and involved building a nuclear triad of delivery systems including bombers, land-based missiles and submarine launched ballistic missiles.

So far it seems to have worked, since the last Atomic Bombs used were those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Many treaties have been signed in an attempt to limit proliferation.

Members were very interested, and several questions were put to him which Bob answered as an expert in his field - and all done without crossing the boundaries of the Official Secrets Act.

A vote of thanks was given by Peter Lakey.

The next meeting of the club takes place on February 27, 12 noon for 12.30pm. The speaker is Glyn Bryant who will talk about Laugharne Corporation. If you would like to join the meeting, call Patrick Jones on 07846660904.