A retaliatory strike could not, under international law, include force and must be deemed 'proportionate' to be legal, he said.

But any retaliatory strike cannot legally include force and must be 'proportionate' to remain legal, he added.

The following afternoon the enemy lost over 50 planes in a retaliatory strike against the retiring ships.

The court decided, with some judges dissenting, that, if a threatened retaliatory strike was consistent with military necessity and proportionality, it would not necessarily be illegal.

Under fail-deadly nuclear deterrence, policies and procedures controlling the retaliatory strike authorize launch even if the existing command and control structure has already been neutralized by a first strike.