Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
What will we do when there is a confrontation between
Russia and NATO and it will happen? Do we roll the dice and take a chance on a nuclear war? This by far the biggest crises we have ever faced. Back in the Cuban
missile crises Kruschov was not nuts, Putin is nuts. All we can hope is someone refuses his orders.
18 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
The Man Who Saved the World
The Man Who Saved the World, premiering Tuesday, October 23 at 9 pm ET on PBS (check local listings), tells the unsung story of Soviet naval officer Vasili Arkhipov, the Brigade Chief of Staff on submarine B-59, who refused to fire a nuclear missile and saved the world from World War III and nuclear disaster.
Vasily Arkhipov
Василий Александрович Архипов
Born: 30 January 1926; Zvorkovo, Moscow Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died: 19 August 1998 (aged 72); Zheleznodorozhny, Moscow Oblast, Russia
Vasili Aleksandrovich Arkhipov (Russian: Василий Александрович Архипов, IPA: [vɐˈsʲilʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ arˈxʲipəf], 30 January 1926 – 19 August 1998) was a Soviet Navy officer credited with preventing a Soviet nuclear strike (and, potentially, all-out nuclear war) during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Such an attack likely would have caused a major global thermonuclear response.
As flotilla chief of staff and second-in-command of the diesel powered submarine B-59, Arkhipov refused to authorize the captain's use of nuclear torpedoes against the United States Navy, a decision requiring the agreement of all three senior officers aboard.
In 2002, Thomas Blanton, who was then director of the U.S. National Security Archive, said that Arkhipov "saved the world".
{snip}
Василий Александрович Архипов
Born: 30 January 1926; Zvorkovo, Moscow Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died: 19 August 1998 (aged 72); Zheleznodorozhny, Moscow Oblast, Russia
Vasili Aleksandrovich Arkhipov (Russian: Василий Александрович Архипов, IPA: [vɐˈsʲilʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ arˈxʲipəf], 30 January 1926 – 19 August 1998) was a Soviet Navy officer credited with preventing a Soviet nuclear strike (and, potentially, all-out nuclear war) during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Such an attack likely would have caused a major global thermonuclear response.
As flotilla chief of staff and second-in-command of the diesel powered submarine B-59, Arkhipov refused to authorize the captain's use of nuclear torpedoes against the United States Navy, a decision requiring the agreement of all three senior officers aboard.
In 2002, Thomas Blanton, who was then director of the U.S. National Security Archive, said that Arkhipov "saved the world".
{snip}
Stanislav Petrov
Petrov at his house in 2016
Born: Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov; 7 September 1939
Vladivostok, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union; Died: 19 May 2017 (aged 77); Fryazino, Russia
Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (Russian: Станисла́в Евгра́фович Петро́в; 7 September 1939 – 19 May 2017) was a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces who played a key role in the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident. On 26 September 1983, three weeks after the Soviet military had shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, Petrov was the duty officer at the command center for the Oko nuclear early-warning system when the system reported that a missile had been launched from the United States, followed by up to five more. Petrov judged the reports to be a false alarm, and his decision to disobey orders, against Soviet military protocol, is credited with having prevented an erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States and its NATO allies that could have resulted in a large-scale nuclear war which could have wiped out half of the population of the countries involved. An investigation later confirmed that the Soviet satellite warning system had indeed malfunctioned. Because of his decision not to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike amid this incident, Petrov is often credited as having "saved the world".
{snip}
Petrov at his house in 2016
Born: Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov; 7 September 1939
Vladivostok, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union; Died: 19 May 2017 (aged 77); Fryazino, Russia
Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (Russian: Станисла́в Евгра́фович Петро́в; 7 September 1939 – 19 May 2017) was a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces who played a key role in the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident. On 26 September 1983, three weeks after the Soviet military had shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, Petrov was the duty officer at the command center for the Oko nuclear early-warning system when the system reported that a missile had been launched from the United States, followed by up to five more. Petrov judged the reports to be a false alarm, and his decision to disobey orders, against Soviet military protocol, is credited with having prevented an erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States and its NATO allies that could have resulted in a large-scale nuclear war which could have wiped out half of the population of the countries involved. An investigation later confirmed that the Soviet satellite warning system had indeed malfunctioned. Because of his decision not to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike amid this incident, Petrov is often credited as having "saved the world".
{snip}
Insane despots cannot be allowed to put their hands on nuclear missiles.
