So this is an odd little question I have for you. I have a list of overseas US nuclear weapon deployments during the Cold War, but the names of many of the countries are blacked out. However, they are in a monospaced font and in alphabetical order, so many of them can be puzzled out. The one that has me stymied is this one: it comes between "Canada" and "Cuba" alphabetically, and it has room for no more than 13 characters in the blacked out name. (And it is possible, of course, that it is less than 13 characters.)
Country X received had nuclear bombs deployed from February 1956 through March-May 1956. Which is an impressively small window. Note that I mean literal bombs here, so there must have been some means of using bombers.
Country X also had the Regulus missile deployed from March-May 1956 until October-December 1964. The Regulus was a ship-launched missile with a range of only 1,200 miles or so. It also had the Talos missile deployed from October-December 1964 through December 1965. Talos was a long-range nuclear surface to air missile that was used in naval deployments.
Which suggests that either Country X is a boat (but it would be the only boat on the list) or it is a port of some kind. (Guam and Hawaii both also had Talos and Regulus deployments.) Note that the "name" need not necessarily be a country, per se — non-continental US states (Alaska, Hawaii) are on the lists, as are territories (Puerto Rico), individual islands (Johnston Island), and so on. Note that in the case of Johnston Island, Island has been abbreviated as "Is."
The only thing I came up with that might fit the bill is Christmas Island, but it would have to be abbreviated as "Christmas I."
Any thoughts as to who might fit the bill?
I found this article, "How Much Did Japan Know?" from the January/February 2000 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that seems to deal with the same declassified material you're dealing with.
The article concludes that the blacked-out 'C' location you're looking for is 'Chichi Jima.'
I'll quote the introduction here in its entirety, since it all seems relevant:
THEY SAY YOU LEARN BY YOUR MISTAKES
In the November/December 1999 issue of the Bulletin, we described the Pentagon's recently declassified, top secret history of U.S. nuclear deployments abroad - History of the Custody and Deployment of Nuclear Weapons: July 1945 through September 1977.
Appendix B of that report included alphabetical lists of the countries where U.S. nuclear bombs were deployed between 1950 and 1977, but many of the locations had been blacked out before the document was released.
Based on the best available information, historical hints, and circumstantial evidence, we correctly identified 25 of the 27 blacked out countries. We incorrectly named Iceland as the nuclear storage location beginning with the letter "I." [For more on Iceland, see page 80.]
After the Bulletin was published, the U.S. government took the extraordinary step of suspending its "neither confirm nor deny" policy concerning nuclear weapons, specifically, telling the Associated Press on October 26 that Iceland was not the "I" country blacked out on the list.
Everyone loves a mystery, and now we had two: We had already puzzled over a "C" location, listed between Canada and Cuba, which we had not been able to identify. And what was the real 'I' location, if not Iceland?
E-mail and telephone calls poured in from all corners of the globe. Perhaps the "C" country was Ceylon, suggested a Sri Lankan reporter; maybe the Chagos archipelago (Diego Garcia), another. Suggestions included Chile, Christmas Island, the Canal Zone, Colombia, and many other candidates beginning with "C."
But on Octoher 23, we got an e-mail from Daniel Long, a sociolinguist at Tokyo Metropolitan University, suggesting that the'''C'' location was Chichi Jima, a Japanese island that was occupied by the United States from 1946 to 1968. Then a highly knowledgeable Japanese source who contacted us on October 27 provided a "smoking gun" for Chichi Jima, as well as evidence that nuclear weapons had also been deployed on Iwo Jima.
We have now concluded that the "C" and "I" locations are Chichi Jima and Iwo Jima. After researching the National Archives and the U.S. Navy Archives, exchanging e-mail with experts, and communicating with U.S. veterans who served on or visited the islands, we can now tell the story that the Pentagon managed to keep secret for more than 40 years.
What about Cape Verde, off West Africa? That was a Portugese colony during this period, and Portugal was part of NATO. Amílcar Cabral International Airport has a 10,000' runway. It's possible that it was used as a staging point for ferrying aircraft rather than an actual bomber base.
Were there any bases in the Caroline Islands at that time? Or possibly the Cook Islands?
I'll try to think of more options.
I didn't turn up any ships carrying both Talos and Regulus in a quick search. I think you're looking for a base with multiple ships or submarines based there or maybe a transport carrying said munitions.
Perhaps it refers to the Republic of China (taiwan)? early 1956 would be about a year and a half after the First Tawain Straight crisis and 12 months after the passage of the Formosa Resolution by the US congress.
Also, the Formosa Patrol Force (later Taiwan Patrol Force), which was Task Force 72 of the 7th Fleet, was active in the Straits of Taiwan from 1950-1979. This might tie in with the Regulus Missile deployment, though additional research would need to be done to figure out if Aircraft Carriers, naval aircraft, or appropriate ships were in the task force that could account for the Regulus and Talos missiles.
Also, if the list was created in 1978, that would be just before the Carter administration extended diplomatic recognition to the PRC, so as of 1978 the ROC was still recognized by the US government as the "legitimate government" of China.
Is there an entry for Taiwan on the list? or is Republic of China listed in the R section? If so, that would debunk my theory of your mystery country being ROC.
I'd be curious about the nuclear weapon deployments you have for Alaska. It'd fit into the research for my next book.
Out of curiosity, have you checked the list of Reflex Action deployments? That fits the time period you're talking about.
There is a Crooked Island in the Bahamas
Maybe the Cayman Islands... the bombs and missiles via British subs/planes/whatever?
It's 13 characters...
Did the US ever stage stuff through the Canary Islands? I know that they lost nukes off the coast of Spain, and it's in the right range for following Canada.