Copyright 2012-2023 The Gentleman's Journal. Robert McNamara acknowledged, after a reevaluation of the circumstances and the risks of confrontation during those fateful days that the United States and the U.S.S.R. were closer [to nuclear war] than we knew at the time.. Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov (30 January 1926 - 19 August 1998) was a Soviet military officer. Two years later he graduated from the Caspian Higher Naval School, serving in the Black Sea and . Savitsky was one of the Soviet commanders above Vasili in the Soviet Navy,and who ordered the launch of the missile to the Americas during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Although they were able to save themselves from a nuclear meltdown, the entire crew, including Arkhipov, were irradiated. It was the most dangerous moment in human history."[21]. Arkhipov argued against launching the torpedo stating they should await orders from Moscow. And the person who likely did more than anyone else to prevent that dangerous day from becoming an existential catastrophe was a quiet Soviet naval officer named Vasili Arkhipov. Had it been launched, the Guardian wrote, the fate of the world would have been very different: the attack would probably have started a nuclear war which would have caused global devastation, with unimaginable numbers of civilian deaths.. But, unknown to the US forces, they had a special weapon in their arsenal: a ten kilotonne nuclear torpedo. Google Analytics knnen Sie hier deaktivieren. Dr Jonathan Colman, an expert on the Cuban missile crisis at the University of Central Lancashire, agreed that the award was fitting. You must understand that everything was top secret. Elena Andriukova: Thats right, my father spoke in public about the events aboard the B-59 for the first time on October 14, 1997, at the Institute of Military History of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. [2] The radiation to which Arkhipov had been exposed in 1961 may have contributed to his kidney cancer, like many others who served with him in the K-19 accident.[16]. Whether my life has changed since then? The Faces of Peace initiative was founded in 2019 as the peace-building equivalent to the Faces of Democracy initiative. . That led to the Cold Wars most volatile confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union 13 days of high-stakes brinkmanship between two nuclear powers that seemed one misstep away from total war. He transferred to the Caspian Higher Naval School and graduated in 1947. But Vasili Arkhipov said no. Vasili was born to a poor, peasant family near the Russian capital, Moscow on 30th January 1926. But the main thing was that the crew avoided a full-scale clash. Support our mission, and make a gift today. Homo sapiens have existed on the planet for about 300,000 years, or more than 109 million days. By Gabriela Rivas. Easy. My fathers decision to save the lives of his detachment and to ensure world peace is a sign of his strength, not his weakness! The Man Who Saved the World: With Jay O. Sanders, Viktor Mikhailov, Olga Arkhipova, Andy Bradick. As a result, the situation in the control room played out very differently. Why a Soviet submarine officer might be the most important person in modern history.. Please consider making a one-time contribution to Vox today. Thomas Blanton, former director of the National Security Archive, said, 'This guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world.''. [28] Offered by the Future of Life Institute, this award recognizes exceptional measures, often performed despite personal risk and without obvious reward, to safeguard the collective future of humanity. [26] Leon Ockenden portrayed Arkhipov in Season 12 Episode 1 of Secrets of the Dead, titled "The Man Who Saved the World". The situation then became even hotter. Most people today may not know the name Vasili Arkhipov. It was posthumous Arkhipov died in 1998, before the news of his actions was widely known. Vasili Arkhipov was born on January 30, 1926, to a peasant family in Staraya Kupavna - a small town on the outskirts of Moscow. The most dangerous of all those days the day when our species likely came closer than any other to wiping itself off the face of the Earth came 60 years ago today, on October 27, 1962. Elena Andriukova: To those people who consider my father a coward I want to say: You havent experienced what he had to go through. Despite being in international waters, the United States Navy started dropping signaling depth charges, which were intended to force the submarine to come to the surface for identification. In a dramatic confrontation, Arkhipov over-ruled Savitsky and, moreover, ordered the submarine to surface, which it did unmolested, and sailed home. Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov (Russian ) IPA vsilj lksandrvt arxipf (30 January 1926 19 August 1998) was a Soviet Navy officer credited with casting the single vote that prevented a Soviet nuclear strike (and, presumably, allout nuclear war) during . My father was the conscience of our homeland! The torpedo was never fired. The US ships began dropping depth charges around the sub. Vasili Arkhipov. Verantwortlich gem 5 Abs. For a brief, pivotal moment, Arkhipov's presence of mind was all that would stand between humanity's existence and its annihilation. They were forced to surface at the behest of the fleet of eleven U.S. Navy destroyers and the aircraft carrier that was engaging them. With no orders or news from Moscow for a week, under tremendous strain and in the appalling conditions, Captain Savitsky suddenly cracked and announced that he was going to use the Special Weapon. The story of Vasili Arkhipov was shown on BBC's documentary "Vasili Arkhipov: the Man who Saved the World." . Arkhipov received no praise after the crisis was resolved at least officially. The Soviets wanted to shore up their nuclear strike capabilities against the U.S. (which had recently placed missiles in Turkey, bordering the Soviet Union, as well as Italy) and the Cubans wanted to prevent the Americans from attempting another invasion of the island like the unsuccessful one theyd launched in April 1961. Elena Andriukova: When my father was commissioned in 1962 he was a person of strong character. Anderson was the first and only casualty of the crisis, an event that could have led to war had President Kennedy not concluded that the order to fire had not been given by Soviet Premier Nikolai Khrushchev. Ba nm k t sau khi Vasili Arkhipov mt . He always thought that he did what he had to do and never considered his actions as heroism. Whats more, the officers had permission to launch it without waiting for approval from Moscow. Click here to find out more. However, in one interview Orlov gave Arkhipov a great deal of credit for talking Savitsky down. With the United States and the Soviet Union on the brink of nuclear war, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the tensest moments in modern history. Soviet Navy officer Vasili Arkhipov, 1955. Trapped in a diesel-powered submarine thousands of miles from home, buffeted by exploding depth charges and threatened with suffocation and death, Arkhipov kept his head. Mr. Arkhipov had come a long way from the peasant family that lived near Moscow in which he had grown up. While politici. Think of the radiation accident aboard the K-19 submarine, for instance. Soviet submarine B-59, in the Caribbean near Cuba. The K-19 was then towed home. Vasili Arkhipov was a Soviet naval officer who, upon making a split second decision, prevented the Cuban Missile Crisis from escalating into a nuclear war. It is with this in mind, Gentlemen, that we introduce you to our new contributor, Donough OBrien, who will be imparting his wisdom on obscure and unknown Gentlemen from throughout history withextractsfrom his book Who? The most remarkable people youve never heard of. [2] After a few days of conducting exercises off the south-east coast of Greenland, the submarine developed an extreme leak in its reactor coolant system. In reaction to the bombardment of the U.S. Navy, two of the three officers in command of the Soviet B-59 submarine decided to launch a nuclear torpedo. A special kind of private club where members receive offers and experiences from hand-picked, premium brands, as well as invites to exclusive events and the Bookazine delivered directly to their door. VASILI ARKHIPOV: THE GUY WHO SAVED THE WORLD. But Commander Zateyev refused help, fearing Soviet military secrets would be compromised. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book, No. Whatever reasons the Soviets and Cubans had, the Americans now needed to deal with this tremendous perceived threat to their national security. From what little they knew of what was happening above the surface, it seemed possible that nuclear war had already broken out. The same day, US U-2 pilot Maj. Rudolf Anderson was shot down while on a reconnaissance mission over Cuba. I am a corporate slave for over 2 years now doing digital marketing for Australian-based clients. Easy. They had a daughter named Yelena. Dia dilatih di Sekolah Tinggi Angkatan Laut Pasifik dan berpartisipasi dalam Perang Soviet-Jepang pada bulan Agustus 1945, yang saat itu dia bertugas di . All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. In 2002, during a conference dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis, intelligence officer Vadim Orlov revealed details of those events, including how close the world came to a nuclear holocaust and Arkhipovs role in preventing it. While the action was designed to encourage the Soviet submarines to surface, the crew of B-59 had been incommunicado and so were unaware of the intention. The musical group Converge dedicated a composition called "Arkhipov Calm" to Arkhipov in 2017. His heroic moment during the Cuban Missile Crisis didnt become public knowledge until 2002. Cut off from communication with the outside world, the panicked Soviet sailors feared that they were now under attack. Orlov presented the events less dramatically, saying that Captain Savitsky lost his temper, but eventually calmed down. However the order for a launch needed 3 approvals and Arkhipov refused. On Oct. 27, disaster was near: the Soviets, who had a base on the island, shot down an American U-2 spy plane, killing the pilot. This inspired Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, to declare "the lesson . This website uses cookies. The only true freedom any of us have is in our t The detonation of this weapon formed a huge plume of radioactive water from its detonation force of some 4.8 kilotonnes. The Soviets and their fellow communist allies in Cuba had secretly reached a deal to place those missiles on the island in July. For world peace! [10], Although Arkhipov was only second-in-command of the B-59, he was the Commodore of the entire submarine flotilla, which included the B-4, the B-36 and the B-130. That was 1945 and my father was deputy commander of Military Brigade 1. That close call sobered both leaders, leading them to open back-channel negotiations that eventually led to a withdrawal of Soviet missiles in Cuba, a later pullback of US missiles in Turkey in response, and the end of the closest the world has yet come to total nuclear war.
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