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On 27 October 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, second-in-command Vasili Arkhipov of the Soviet submarine B-59 refused to agree with his Captain's order to launch nuclear torpedos against US warships and setting off what might well have been a terminal superpower nuclear war.
The US had been dropping depth charges near the submarine in an attempt to force it to surface, unaware it was carrying nuclear arms. The Soviet officers, who had lost radio contact with Moscow, concluded that World War 3 had begun, and 2 of the officers agreed to 'blast the warships out of the water'. Arkhipov refused to agree - unanimous consent of 3 officers was required - and thanks to him, we are here to talk about it.
His story is finally being told - the BBC is airing a documentary on it.
Raise a glass to Vasili Arkhipov - the Man Who Saved the World.
PS - The PBS documentary, 'The Man who Saved the World', is online here:
http://video.pbs.org/video/ [login to see]
The documentary claims the facts of the matter were only 'recently' revealed. This is not quite true; the Boston Globe reported on it 10 years ago in 2002:
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cold-war/sovietsbomb.htm
The Wikipedia article was created in 2005, citing a 2004 book by Noam Chomsky:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vasili_Arkhipov
The US had been dropping depth charges near the submarine in an attempt to force it to surface, unaware it was carrying nuclear arms. The Soviet officers, who had lost radio contact with Moscow, concluded that World War 3 had begun, and 2 of the officers agreed to 'blast the warships out of the water'. Arkhipov refused to agree - unanimous consent of 3 officers was required - and thanks to him, we are here to talk about it.
His story is finally being told - the BBC is airing a documentary on it.
Raise a glass to Vasili Arkhipov - the Man Who Saved the World.
PS - The PBS documentary, 'The Man who Saved the World', is online here:
http://video.pbs.org/video/ [login to see]
The documentary claims the facts of the matter were only 'recently' revealed. This is not quite true; the Boston Globe reported on it 10 years ago in 2002:
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cold-war/sovietsbomb.htm
The Wikipedia article was created in 2005, citing a 2004 book by Noam Chomsky:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vasili_Arkhipov
Military History
Cold War
Cuba
WWIII
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
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SPC David S., sounds like this may have been the event that The Hunt for the Red October was based on. Very interesting story that's going to have me getting lost in Wikipedia for hours!
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