NationStates Jolt Archive


How Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov saved the world

Neo Bretonnia
14-01-2009, 20:30
Ever seen the movie "Crimson Tide?" If you haven't, the movie is about a fictional international crisis in which a United States nuclear missile submarine is given orders to launch nuclear weapons at a renegade faction in Russia. At that moment, an enemy sub attacks just as a new message was being received from Washington, but was cut off.

The captain wanted to go ahead and launch, but the Executive officer wanted to find out the contents of the lost message before proceeding, on the chance that it was an order NOT to launch. This provides the conflict for the movie, as both had to agree in order to release nukes.

Something like that happened in real life, only it was the other way around:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Alexandrovich_Arkhipov


On October 27, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a group of eleven United States Navy destroyers and the aircraft carrier USS Randolph entrapped a nuclear-armed Soviet Foxtrot class submarine B-59 near Cuba and started dropping practice depth charges, explosives intended to force the submarine to come to the surface for identification. Allegedly, the captain of the submarine, Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky, believing that a war might already have started, prepared to launch a retaliatory nuclear-tipped torpedo.
Three officers on board the submarine — Savitsky, Political Officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov, and Second Captain Arkhipov — were entitled to launch the torpedo if they agreed unanimously in favour of doing so. An argument broke out among the three, in which only Arkhipov was against making the attack, eventually persuading Savitsky to surface the submarine and await orders from Moscow. The nuclear warfare which presumably would have ensued was thus averted.

At the conference commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis held in Havana on 13 October 2002, Robert McNamara admitted that nuclear war had come much closer than people had thought. Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, said that "a guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world."

:eek:

That guy should be honored.
No Names Left Damn It
14-01-2009, 20:33
You have a new av, replacing the one you've had for months. You're a changed man, Neo B.
Sdaeriji
14-01-2009, 20:38
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov

Stanislav Petrov, a similar case. A computer error resulting in a false detection of American nuclear launch at his satellite post, which he correctly evaluated as a computer error. His decision not to react prevented a Soviet retalitory strike and saved the world from nuclear war.
South Lorenya
14-01-2009, 20:48
Stanislav Petrov is first. Arkhipov is a close second.

Neither received the recognition they deserve.
Neo Bretonnia
14-01-2009, 20:59
You have a new av, replacing the one you've had for months. You're a changed man, Neo B.

Well you know, it's time for change, right?

Stanislav Petrov is first. Arkhipov is a close second.

Neither received the recognition they deserve.

Agreed, these men should both be honored.

But in a way I feel more strongly about Arkhipov... Here's a guy making a decision under the most difficult possible circumstances... he's under fire, outnumbered by his co-commanders, probably being threatened, and stuck to his guns. That's a kind of courage you just don't see often.
Bluth Corporation
14-01-2009, 21:05
Old news.

We students of Russian and Soviet history knew about this a long time ago.
Fighter4u
14-01-2009, 21:16
In Aleksandr Mozgovoy's 2002 book, Cuban Samba of the "Foxtrot" Quartet: Soviet Submarines during the Year 1962 Caribbean Crisis[1], a participant of the events, retired Commander Vadim Pavlovich Orlov, presents the events less dramatically (the captain lost his temper, but the two other officers calmed him down).

Hmm... who do we believe?

Note the quote comes from below Neo Bretonnia own quote on the wiki page.
Zombie PotatoHeads
15-01-2009, 02:04
Old news.

We students of Russian and Soviet history knew about this a long time ago.
So? Does that make you feel all warm inside cause you knew it first?

I daresay many of us knew about him. I certainly did, but couldn't remember his name. Doesn't mean we should dismiss anyone wishing to remember and commenerate this, well, hero.
No other word comes close to discribing what he is.


iirc, he got into a bit of shit when they got back to Russia and was pushed to one side and quietly ignored. Poor sod. He saves the world from nuclear armageddon and didn't even get a T-shirt for his troubles.
Skallvia
15-01-2009, 02:22
Wow, I had no Idea any of that happened...He deserves a Medal or something....Maybe a Peace Prize....
Ryadn
15-01-2009, 02:59
I thought this was about Denis Arkhipov. :(
The Romulan Republic
15-01-2009, 03:00
Its hard to imagine the preasure he would have been under if they thought the war might already have started.

A massive number of lives saved because they didn't fire. It definitely shows that caution and restraint can be as important a quality in a soldier as being ready to kill or to follow a superior's judegement.
United Chicken Kleptos
15-01-2009, 03:14
It's communist propaganda!!!11zOMGz run for your lives!!11

*takes cover*
The Brevious
15-01-2009, 09:00
We students of Russian and Soviet history knew about this a long time ago.You shouldn't keep it so close to yourself ... share and share alike!
Ferrous Oxide
15-01-2009, 10:09
Ever notice how all this shit came from the Soviet side?
Non Aligned States
15-01-2009, 10:32
Ever notice how all this shit came from the Soviet side?

Only if you happen to be the sort never to bother looking up the whole story (http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/issues/accidents/20-mishaps-maybe-caused-nuclear-war.htm).

Because if you were the type to look, you wouldn't be making a fool of yourself with half-assed declarations.
Chumblywumbly
15-01-2009, 10:37
Ever notice how all this shit came from the Soviet side?
With analysis like that, why aren't you teaching history at Harvard?
Risottia
15-01-2009, 10:43
Also, there is the crew of the soviet Hotel-class K-19 sub. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-19

On 1 February 2006, former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev proposed in a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee that the crew of K-19 should be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for their actions on 4 July 1961.[2] In late March 2006, Nikolai Zateyev was formally nominated for the award.