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A comment under a WorldBuilding.SE answer to the question What's the quickest way to tell if most of the people on Earth have disappeared? refers to the BBC Newsbeat article Trident: What are the letters of last resort? describing the instructions for the Trident nuclear submarines what to do in case Britain has been 'wiped out' by a nuclear attack:

When are the letters opened?

"The submarine has to make a judgement that the UK has been hit by a nuclear strike," according to Prof Seligman.

"The commander does that by trying to make contact with the UK via Naval Command or listening out for radio signals."

It's thought one of the key tests is whether the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 is still broadcasting.

If all the checks fail, the commander will go to the safe, remove the letter and find out what the orders are.

Is the claim correct that listening out for BBC radio signals (or more specifically the Today program) is one of the official means of determining that the UK has been hit by a large nuclear attack?

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    not that the claim is made in terms of - 'it is thought' –  Apr 25 '18 at 11:38
  • @Orangesandlemons That's exactly why I'm asking for confirmation of the claim –  Apr 25 '18 at 11:50
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    yeah, I'm just pointing out that there's a good chance you'll not find anything definitive when the claim itself is not a definitive claim. Nothing wrong with the question :) –  Apr 25 '18 at 11:54
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    Your title asks if the silence of Radio 4 is THE trigger. But the article says "one of the key tests...". In other words the commander should consider the absence of a regularly broadcast live radio show as evidence (and probably consider other radio stations too) but if "Today" goes off the air it's not going to trigger an attack if everything else is normal. – DJClayworth Apr 25 '18 at 14:19
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    I would assume that at least most of the official tests for determining when to launch nuclear weapons are kept secret to avoid them being spoofed or attacked. I don't think this is a claim that can be definitively answered in regards to *current* tests, but there's always a chance it was a semi-official test at some point. – Giter Apr 25 '18 at 15:21
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    It's also important that "The submarine has to make a judgement". In other words there isn't a simple checklist of things that the commander follows. Which is what we would expect. – DJClayworth Apr 25 '18 at 16:43
  • I am vaguely recalling this being the major plot point in a movie ca 1960. – Daniel R Hicks Apr 25 '18 at 22:58
  • There is a more likely cause of BBC Radio 4 not being audible on long wave by submarines - namely that the [ancient equipment fails and there are no replacements](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/oct/09/bbc-radio4-long-wave-goodbye); another is that the submarine may be out of range. And the Radio 4 Today programme could not have been the original test, since when I was young the longwave frequency was used by BBC Radio 2 – Henry Apr 26 '18 at 07:15
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    The BBC Radio 4 transmissions on LW and MW are not very powerful and can under normal conditions not be received far from the UK. If you are close enough to be able to rely on the lack of Radio 4 reception being a sign of the entire UK having been nuked, you are probably close enough to see the smoke and definitively close enough to the UK to make regular radio contact with the land-based headquarters. – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo Apr 27 '18 at 14:38
  • The actual procedure is almost certainly classified. The BBC doesn't publish classified information like that. As a result, the article is likely disinformation. – Christian Apr 28 '18 at 07:47

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