On the “too strange to be true but is” front USNI reports a unique Russian approach to circumventing a perceived US threat to nuclear parity.  Russia has perceived all recent US attempts at anti-ballistic  missile systems as a threat to their ability to launch strategic attacks while clearly the number of US ABM missiles remains small.  (This might say more about Russian thought about the use of nukes than be attributed to paranoia.  In Russian wargames, the launch of one or two nuclear missiles against a western power results in their surrender to avoid an exchange.  Chilling approach.)

To overcome the US ability to potentially knock down a Russian nuclear tipped missile, the Russians are building a nuclear submarine that can carry and launch up to six nuclear torpedoes against coastal cities or installations.  The “Status-6” (Kanyon) torpedoes may have a range of thousands of miles, be up to 80 feet long, are nuclear powered and carry a warhead up to 100 megatons.  The intent is not only to destroy the target but make the area uninhabitable.  Some estimate the tsunami from a 100 megaton device would be over 1500 feet high and sweep over 900 miles inland.