"A small nuke that decimates some of our ships out in a vast ocean, away from populations, will not be viewed with same world wide hysteria-agitation as a nuke deployed on land targets"
Are you quite SURE about that? I think anyone, anywhere using a nuclear weapon is going to find few that would advocate its use under almost any circumstances.
I can tell you that even some of the kooks on the left will finally get the picture if a NUKE wipes out a carrier with 5000 men and women on board.
If we fail to respond with overwhelming force to something like that, we deserve to lose.
I can only guess but nuking a few warships out in the ocean, away from population centers, will not be viewed with as much revulsion-condemnation as using a nuke on land forces. Nuking the ships will kill only combatants, there will be no collateral damage