Vasili Arkhipov was born to a peasant family in 1926. He enlisted in the Soviet Navy and served on a minesweeper in WWII. He rose to executive officer on the K-19. It was one of the first Soviet nuclear subs. In 1961, the sub had a problem with its coolant system. The engineers had to expose themselves to high doses of radiation to fix the problem. The whole crew was effected. Within a short period, all of the engineers died. 15 of the crew died over the next few years. Vasili died of kidney cancer in 1998. By then, the world knew the role he played in the Cuban Missile Crisis. The K-19 incident was made into a movie “K-19: The Widowmaker”.
In October, 1962, a U-2 spy plane took pictures of Soviet missiles being installed in Cuba. Some of Kennedy’s advisers recommended air strikes on the missiles. Some even called for an invasion (not knowing that the Soviets had tactical nukes that would have been used on the invaders). Kennedy opted for a more peaceful solution. The Navy was ordered to blockade Cuba. Kennedy called it a quarantine. No more ships carrying nuclear missiles or parts would be prevented from reaching Cuba while Kennedy and Khrushchev negotiated their way out of the crisis. A blockade is technically an act of war, so it was a big gamble.
When the crisis began, the Soviets sent four subs to the area. The Americans knew about them. Arkhipov was executive officer on the B-59. On Oct. 27, 1962, sonar discovered the sub and it was trapped by 11 destroyers and an aircraft carrier. They were ordered to bring the sub to the surface. This was done by dropping “signaling depth charges”. These were lower-powered depth charges meant to signal that sinking the sub was not the intention, instead they were a signal that the sub should surface. The crew of the B-59 were suffering from the heat that a broken air conditioning system had brought on. They had been out of communication with headquarters for several days. For all they knew, the war might have already broken out. Those explosions off both sides of the sub could be attempts to sink her. Captain Valentin Savitsky and the political officer decided that the Americans were bent on their destruction. They wanted to fire a nuclear torpedo to destroy their tormentors. The torpedo had the explosive power equivalent to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Savitsky: “Maybe the war has already started up there … We’re gonna blast them now! We will die, but we will sink them all—we will not become the shame of the fleet.” The captain ordered the nuclear torpedo armed. (The U.S. military was not aware that Soviet subs carried these weapons.) However, in order to use nuclear weapons, all three top officers had to agree. Arkhipov consulted with the sub’s intelligence officer who told him the Americans were likely not trying to sink the sub and the war had probably not begun. He argued with Savitsky, insisting the Americans were not trying to sink the sub, they were trying to force it to the surface. He refused to agree to firing the torpedo. Arkhipov (who outranked Savitsky and was in command of the fleet of four subs) ordered the sub to surface. The sub came up, surrounded by Americans. The sub was not boarded, but it was forced to turn around. Robert Kennedy later said it was one of the scariest moments for his brother. Because of Arkhipov, the two leaders had time to come to a peaceful solution to the crisis. Although the sub was not welcomed with open arms back in Russia, Arkhipov’s career was not effected and he rose to Vice Admiral before he retired.
https://www.historyhit.com/vasili-arkhipov-the-soviet-officer-who-averted-nuclear-war/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Arkhipov
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