[paulsherwin]

Just to be clear, only the tinfoil hat brigade would claim that the microwave network was built exclusively for military use, with phone traffic and TV distribution as some sort of bogus cover story. It was a multipurpose system from the very start - it was obvious that the military would only need a fraction of the capacity of this very expensive system in peacetime.

Nevertheless, the military aspects were important, and most of the towers were hardened against blast. When they were being designed in the 50s there was a very real fear of all out nuclear war using Hiroshima sized warheads delivered by manned bombers. The towers (including the London one) were designed to stay standing after such an exchange, though they wouldn't be functional without significant repairs. Nevertheless, it was hoped that a national communications backbone could be re-established in weeks rather than years. The towers would not survive an attack with large thermonuclear warheads of course, so this aspect was becoming redundant even as the towers entered service.