In 1962, This Man Saved The World By Preventing A 3rd World War

Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov, a Soviet Navy Officer, single-handedly saved the entire world from an upcoming devastating fate. Arkhipov, then 36, did something that was beyond atrocious for an officer of his rank. He disobeyed orders!

Here’s a quick summary:

And that one act stopped a worldwide nuclear war from starting, which would have easily destroyed anything of the shredded humanity that we were left with after World War II.

The background:

The time was 1960’s, only about one and a half decades after WWII, and the entire world was already dreading another World War, this time armed with nuclear weapons. Politically divided into two groups led by the USA and the USSR, most of the countries of the world were engaged in the Cold War. And the international waters were full of ships and submarines from both parties, ready to pounce on a moment’s notice.

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Cuban Missile Crisis:

In 1962, the then Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev and Cuban President Fidel Castro reached a “secret” agreement to deploy Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba, to protect both countries against the USA’s advances. It was also a defense mechanism against the American Jupiter ballistic missiles placed in Italy and Turkey, which could have destroyed Moscow within a quarter of an hour. Needless to say, the USA didn’t quite like this arrangement, and a 13-day long confrontation in late October of 1962 began between the USSR and the USA.

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About the man:

Vasili Arkhipov was the second commanding officer onboard of the nuclear-armed Soviet submarine B-59 in the Caribbean sea. Before that, he was an executive officer of the ballistic missile submarine K-19, infamously known as “Hiroshima” for the number of accidents it suffered. He, alongwith the crew of the submarine, saved K-19 from a nuclear meltdown after its only coolant reactor failed. Arkhipov suffered severe radiation injuries in the same incident, which killed most of the crew.

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Here’s what happened:

– B-59, a nuclear-armed Soviet sub headed towards Cuba
B-59, as a part of a group of 4 attack submarines of the USSR, each armed with 22 torpedoes, one of which was a nuclear torpedo, made way towards Cuba in October 1962.

– The Captain had the authority to launch the nuclear torpedo
The Captains of submarines had the permission to fire the nuclear weapon if a situation arises, with only the consent of the political officer. They would not have to wait for orders from headquarters in Moscow.

– A US battleship began throwing depth charges
On 27th October, USS Beale, an American destroyer, begun throwing depth charges in the sea to make the Soviet submarines surface. Meanwhile in an attempt to hide from the Americans, B-59 was too deep under the sea to receive any radio signal, either from Moscow or from the American ships.

– B-59’s Captain ordered to launch the nuclear torpedo
B-59’s Captain Savitsky thought the depth charges were a result of a war already broken out, and ordered the nuclear torpedo to be launched.

– Arkhipov opposed the decision
Now, though, rules said he only needed his political officer’s consent, who was more than willing, the presence of Arkhipov onboard changed the game. Due to his earlier contribution onboard of K-19, Arkhipov had a say in the matter.

– He made the Captain wait
As you can guess, he said no. He also convinced the Captain eventually to surface and await orders from Moscow, and made the biggest save of the world!

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The later life of Arkhipov:

Arkhipov served in the Soviet Navy till mid-1980’s. He was promoted to the position of rear admiral in 1975, and died in 1998, at the age of 73, largely due to the nuclear radiation he was subjected to while onboard of K-19. In 2002, Robert McNamara, the then US Secretary of Defense, said in an interview with the Guardian,”We came very, very close,” while talking about the Cuban missile crisis,”closer than we knew at the time.”

Had it not been for Arkhipov, I would probably not even be here to write about this, or you, reading this article!

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