We will die, but we will sink them all — we will not become the shame of the fleet.” Thankfully, the captain didn't have sole discretion over the launch. All three senior officers had to agree, and Vasili Arkhipov, the 36-year-old second captain and brigade chief of staff, refused to give his assent.
“We're gonna blast them now! We will die, but we will sink them all – we will not disgrace our Navy!” The combination of depth charges, extreme heat, stress, and isolation from the outside world almost lit the fuse of full-scale nuclear war.
Vasily Aleksandrovich Arkhipov (Russian: Василий Александрович Архипов, IPA: [vɐˈsʲilʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ arˈxʲipəf], 30 January 1926 – 19 August 1998) was a Soviet Naval officer who prevented a Soviet nuclear torpedo launch during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Vasili Arkhipov is known as "The Man Who Saved the World" for his courageous efforts while serving on a Soviet Submarine during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Vasili was responsible for stopping a potentially catastrophic incident during the Cold War, a time of great unrest between the United States and the Soviet Union.
At a time when the probability of nuclear war is as nearly as high as it was during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it is crucial that we recall the story of Vasili Arkhipov, a Soviet submarine officer who prevented a Soviet nuclear strike against U.S. surface warships during that very crisis in 1962.
Three years after his death, Director of the American Research and Archival Institution, Tom Blanton while commenting on the move of Arkhipov said; “A man called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world.”
DEFCON stands for Defense Readiness Condition. Levels range from DEFCON 1 to DEFCON 5, with DEFCON 1 being the highest level of readiness. To the public's knowledge, the U.S. has never reached DEFCON 1. The U.S. Joint Military Command and the Joint Chiefs of Staff set the current DEFCON level.
Type of Hero
Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov (30 January 1926 – 19 August 1998) was a Soviet Navy officer credited with preventing a Soviet nuclear strike (and, presumably, all-out nuclear war) during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Such an attack likely would have caused a major global thermonuclear response.
He convinced the sub's top officers that the depth charges were indeed meant to signal B-59 to surface — there was no other way for the US ships to communicate with the Soviet sub — and that launching the nuclear torpedo would be a fatal mistake.
In brief, the popular version of the story is that the Soviet early-warning satellites generated an alarm, which Petrov recognized as false thereby averting a truly catastrophic full-scale nuclear war.
Savitsky put his key into the launch panel, while Arkhipov put his into his mouth, and swallowed it. Now, the only way to launch the missile would be to cut him open!
DEFCON 2 represents “a readiness posture requiring a further increase in military force readiness which is less than maximum readiness; certain military deployments and selected civil actions may be necessary in consonance with the command's mission,” according to the Joint Chiefs memo.
"We will bury you" (Russian: «Мы вас похороним!», romanized: "My vas pokhoronim!") is a phrase that was used by Soviet First (formerly General) Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, the de facto ruler of the USSR, while addressing Western ambassadors at a reception at the Polish embassy in Moscow on November 18, 1956.
"Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all." "I appeal for cessation of hostilities, not because you are too exhausted to fight, but because war is bad in essence." "We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children."
“Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” Hemingway was 18 years old when he volunteered to be an ambulance driver for WWI.
Many nuclear historians agree that 27 October 1962, known as “Black Saturday”, was the closest the world came to nuclear catastrophe, as US forces enforced a blockade of Cuba to stop deliveries of Soviet missiles.
Colonel (later General) Paul Tibbets was the pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the “Little Boy” atomic bomb over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
Georgy Zhukov, in full Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, (born December 1 [November 19, Old Style], 1896, Kaluga province, Russia—died June 18, 1974, Moscow), marshal of the Soviet Union, the most important Soviet military commander during World War II.
Marinesko thus became the most successful Soviet submarine commander in terms of gross register tonnage (GRT) sunk, with 42,000 GRT to his name.
World War II
From the beginning of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, Arkhipov fought in the Battle of Brody and the First Battle of Kiev. From August he commanded the 10th Tank Regiment of the 10th Tank Brigade, and in December became brigade deputy commander.
During the September 11 attacks, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ordered the DEFCON level be increased to 3, and also a stand-by for a possible increase to DEFCON 2. It was lowered to DEFCON 4 on September 14.
There are five levels, from DEFCON 1 to 5. DEFCON 5 is the lowest state of readiness, while DEFCON 1 is maximum readiness, meaning a nuclear war is about to begin or already has begun. Although speculation abounds, officials never publicly state which DEFCON level the country is under, for security reasons.
In fact, DEFCON 5 is the lowest state of readiness. The highest state is DEFCON 1.