These cold war calculators were produced by the West German slide rule manufacturer, Nestler. All three appear to be designed for military use, rather than civil defence or war gaming purposes.
Commander’s Weapons Effect Estimator
The Commander’s Weapons Effect Estimator would allow military commanders who were considering using nuclear weapons to estimate the damage done to various targets by air burst and ground burst nuclear weapons. One side could calculate the damage resulting from an air burst; the other from a surface burst. I do not think that any of the scales deals with fallout. The amount of fallout generated would be the main difference between air and surface bursts.
Commanders Yield Estimator/ Fallout Predictor
The Commanders Yield Estimator/ Fallout Predictor appears to have been intended for military commanders who might have had to estimate the cratering and radiation [NIGRA - Neutron-Induced Gamma Activity] resulting from an observed enemy attack. The could also use the estimator to calculate their distance from the strike [flash to bang time]
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Commanders Radiation Guide
The Commanders Radiation Guide is a radiac [radiation] calculator. It does not deal with blast or thermal effects.
“The Radiation Guide is used to perform a variety of calculations. For example, given a measured exposure rate at a specified time, it will calculate the exposure rate due to fallout at any other time. It can be used to normalize exposure rate measurements made at different times to a standard time (usually one hour after the explosion). It estimates the exposure to personnel as a result of working in an area at specified times after an explosion. It estimates the decay of neutron induced gamma activity [NIGA]. Finally, a table on the back side of the calculator indicates the approximate reduction in the radiation exposure that could be expected in various shelters: a frame house, basement, foxhole, APCs, tanks and bunker. In essence, it is a different (earlier?) version of the Army’s ABC-M1A1. Unlike the Commander’s Radiation Guide however, the ABC-M1A1 did not estimate the decay of neutron activation products.”
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