Vasily Aleksandrovich Arkhipov ( rus, Василий Александрович Архипов, p=vɐˈsʲilʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ arˈxʲipəf, 30 January 1926 – 19 August 1998) was a
Soviet Naval officer credited with preventing a Soviet nuclear torpedo launch during the
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
. Such an attack likely would have caused a major global thermonuclear response.
As
flotilla
A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' (fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet.
Composition
A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class ...
Commodore as well as executive officer of the diesel powered submarine , Arkhipov refused to authorize the captain and the political officer's use of
nuclear torpedo
A nuclear torpedo is a torpedo armed with a nuclear warhead.
The idea behind the nuclear warheads in a torpedo was to create a much bigger explosive blast. Later analysis suggested that smaller, more accurate, and faster torpedoes were more efficie ...
es against the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
, a decision which required the agreement of all three officers. In 2002, Thomas S. Blanton, then director of the U.S.
National Security Archive
The National Security Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located on the campus of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1985 to check rising government secrecy. The Nat ...
, credited Arkhipov as "the man who saved the world".
Early life
Arkhipov was born into a peasant family in the town of
Staraya Kupavna
Staraya Kupavna (russian: Ста́рая Купа́вна, Old Kupavna) is a town in Noginsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Shalovka River (Klyazma's tributary) east of Moscow. Population: .
History
Under th ...
, near
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. He was educated in the
Pacific Higher Naval School
The Makarov Pacific Higher Naval School () is one of the Russian Navy's two higher educational institutions under the Ministry of Defense of Russia, with this school being located in Vladivostok in Eastern Russia, the only naval educational inst ...
and participated in the
Soviet–Japanese War
The Soviet–Japanese War (russian: Советско-японская война; ja, ソ連対日参戦, soren tai nichi sansen, Soviet Union entry into war against Japan), known in Mongolia as the Liberation War of 1945 (), was a military ...
in August 1945, serving aboard a minesweeper. He transferred to the
Caspian Higher Naval School
The Azerbaijan Higher Naval Academy () is an educational institution of the Azerbaijani Naval Forces. It is part of the education system of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan. It was originally founded in 1939 In Soviet times, it was called the ...
and graduated in 1947.
Early career
After graduating in 1947, Arkhipov served in the submarine service aboard boats in the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
, Northern and Baltic Fleets.
[
]
''K-19'' accident
In July 1961, Arkhipov was appointed deputy commander and therefore executive officer
An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer, o ...
of the new ballistic missile submarine ''K-19''.[ 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. This leak led to a failure of the cooling system. Radio communications were also affected, and the crew was unable to make contact with Moscow.
With no backup systems, captain Nikolai Zateyev ordered the seven members of the engineer crew to come up with a solution to avoid ]nuclear meltdown
A nuclear meltdown (core meltdown, core melt accident, meltdown or partial core melt) is a severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating. The term ''nuclear meltdown'' is not officially defined by the Internation ...
. This required the men to work in high radiation levels for extended periods. They eventually came up with a secondary coolant system and were able to prevent a reactor meltdown.
Although they were able to save themselves from a nuclear meltdown, the entire crew, including Arkhipov, were irradiated. All members of the engineer crew and their divisional officer died within a month due to the high levels of radiation they were exposed to. Over the course of two years, 15 more sailors died from the after-effects.
Involvement in Cuban Missile Crisis
On 27 October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a group of 11 United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
destroyers
In navy, naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a Naval fleet, fleet, convoy or Carrier battle group, battle group and defend them against powerful short range attack ...
and the aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
located the diesel-powered, nuclear-armed near Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
(The B-59 was one of four Foxtrot submarines sent by the USSR to the area around Cuba). Despite being in international waters
The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regiona ...
, the United States Navy started dropping signaling depth charges, which were intended to force the submarine to come to the surface for identification.
By then, there had been no contact from Moscow for a number of days, and although the ''B-59''s crew had been picking up U.S. civilian radio broadcasts earlier on, the submarine was too deep to monitor any radio traffic, as it was busy trying to hide from its American pursuers. Those on board did not know whether war had broken out or not. The captain of the submarine, Valentin Grigoryevich Savitsky, decided that a war might already have started and wanted to launch a nuclear torpedo.
Typically, Soviet submarines armed with the " Special Weapon" only required the captain and the political officer to authorize a nuclear launch, but unlike the other submarines in the flotilla, all three officers on board the ''B-59'' had to agree in order to authorize the launch. This was due to Arkhipov's position as Commodore of the flotilla; before launching the nuclear torpedo, captain Savitsky was also required to get Arkhipov's approval. The officers who needed to agree to the nuclear launch were captain Savitsky, political officer Ivan Semyonovich Maslennikov, and executive officer Arkhipov. An argument broke out between the three of them, with only Arkhipov against the launch.
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''. According to author Edward Wilson, the reputation Arkhipov had gained from his courageous conduct in the previous year's ''K-19'' incident played a large role in the debate to launch the torpedo. Arkhipov eventually persuaded Savitsky to surface and await orders from Moscow. His persuasion effectively averted a nuclear war
Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear w ...
which would have likely ensued if the nuclear weapon had been fired. The ''B-59''s batteries ran very low and its air conditioning failed, which caused extreme heat and generated high levels of carbon dioxide inside the submarine. It surfaced amid the US warships pursuing it and made contact with a US destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
. After discussions with the ship, ''B-59'' was then ordered by the Russian fleet to set course back to the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
In 1997 Arkhipov himself wrote that after surfacing, his submarine was fired on by American aircraft: "the plane, flying over the conning tower, 1 to 3 seconds before the start of fire
turned on powerful searchlights and blinded the people on the bridge... when he commanderblinked and blinked his eyes and could see again, it became clear that the plane was firing past and along the boat. And the subsequent similar actions (there were 12 overflights altogether) were not as worrisome any longer."
Aftermath
Immediately upon return to Russia, many crew members were faced with disgrace from their superiors. One admiral told them "It would have been better if you'd gone down with your ship." Olga, Arkhipov's wife, said that "he didn't like talking about it, he felt they hadn't appreciated what they had gone through." Each captain was required to present a report of events during the mission to Marshal Andrei Grechko
Andrei Antonovich Grechko (, ; – 26 April 1976) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union (from 1955). He was Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 1967 to 1976.
Early life
Grechko was the thirteenth child born to a family of Ukrainian peasant ...
, who substituted for the ill Soviet defense minister.
Grechko was infuriated with the crew's failure to follow the strict orders of secrecy after finding out they had been discovered by the Americans. One officer even noted Grechko's reaction, stating that he "upon learning that it was the diesel submarines that went to Cuba, removed his glasses and hit them against the table in fury, breaking them into small pieces and abruptly leaving the room after that."
In 2002, retired commander Vadim Pavlovich Orlov, a participant in the events, held a press conference revealing the submarines were armed with nuclear torpedoes and that Arkhipov was the reason those weapons had not been fired. Orlov presented the events less dramatically, saying that Captain Savitsky lost his temper, but eventually calmed down.
Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the Lis ...
, US Secretary of Defense at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
, stated in 2002 that "We came very, very close o nuclear war,closer than we knew at the time." Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr. (; born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger; October 15, 1917 – February 28, 2007) was an American historian, social critic, and public intellectual. The son of the influential historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. and a s ...
, an advisor for the John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
administration and a historian, continued this thought by stating "This was not only the most dangerous moment of the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
. It was the most dangerous moment in human history."
Later life and death
Arkhipov continued in Soviet Navy service, commanding submarines and later submarine squadrons. He was promoted to rear admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
in 1975, and became head of the Kirov Naval Academy. Arkhipov was promoted to vice admiral in 1981 and retired in the mid-1980s.
He settled in Kupavna (which was incorporated into Zheleznodorozhny, Moscow Oblast
Zheleznodorozhny (russian: Железнодоро́жный) is an inhabited zone and former city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located east of Moscow. It was technically abolished and merged into the city of Balashikha in January 2015.Law #209/2014 ...
, in 2004), where he died on 19 August 1998.[ 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.]
Nikolai Zateyev, the commander of the submarine ''K-19'' at the time of its onboard nuclear accident, died on 28 August 1998. Both Arkhipov and Zateyev were 72 at the time of their deaths.
Personal life
Arkhipov was married to Olga Arkhipova until his death in 1998. They had a daughter named Yelena.
Arkhipov was known to be a shy and humble man. In a 2012 PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
documentary titled ''The Man Who Saved the World'', his wife described him as intelligent, polite and very calm. Much of what is known about his personality comes from her. According to her, he enjoyed searching for newspapers during their vacations and tried to stay up-to-date with the modern world as much as possible. In this same interview, Olga alluded to her husband's possible superstitious beliefs as well. She recalls walking in on Vasily burning a bundle of their love letters inside their house, claiming that keeping the letters would mean "bad luck".
In popular culture
The character of Captain Mikhail Polenin, portrayed by Liam Neeson
William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on ''The I ...
, in the 2002 film '' K-19: The Widowmaker'' was closely based on Arkhipov's tenure on Soviet submarine K-19
''K-19'' (Russian: К-19) was the first submarine of the Project 658 (Russian: проект-658, lit: ''Projekt-658'') class (NATO reporting name ), the first generation of Soviet nuclear submarines equipped with nuclear ballistic missiles, s ...
. Similarly, Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has been described as an actor who reconfigured "the concept of classic movie stardom". Throughout his career spanning over four decades, Washington ha ...
's character in ''Crimson Tide'' (1995) is an officer who refused to affirm the launch orders of a submarine captain. Leon Ockenden portrayed Arkhipov in Season 12 Episode 1 of ''Secrets of the Dead
''Secrets of the Dead'', produced by WNET 13 New York, is an ongoing PBS television series which began in 2000. The show generally follows an investigator or team of investigators exploring what modern science can tell us about some of the great m ...
'', titled "The Man Who Saved the World". It was aired 23 October 2012 on the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
.
The 2021 novel ''Red Traitor'' by Owen Matthews
Owen Matthews (born December 1971) is a British writer, historian and journalist. His first book, ''Stalin's Children'', was shortlisted for the 2008 Guardian First Book Award, the Orwell Prize for political writing, and France's Prix Médicis E ...
includes Arkhipov as a major viewpoint character, and is dedicated to him.
The musical group Converge
Converge may refer to:
* Converge (band), American hardcore punk band
* Converge (Baptist denomination), American national evangelical Baptist body
* Limit (mathematics)
* Converge ICT, internet service provider in the Philippines
*CONVERGE CFD s ...
dedicated a composition called
Arkhipov Calm
to Arkhipov in 2017.
Awards and honors
In recognition of his actions onboard B-59, Arkhipov received the first "Future of Life Award," which was presented posthumously to his family in 2017. Offered by the Future of Life Institute
The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is a nonprofit organization that works to reduce global catastrophic and existential risks facing humanity, particularly existential risk from advanced artificial intelligence (AI). The Institute's work is mad ...
, this award recognizes exceptional measures, often performed despite personal risk and without obvious reward, to safeguard the collective future of humanity.
In 2002, Thomas S. Blanton, the director of the U.S. National Security Archive
The National Security Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located on the campus of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1985 to check rising government secrecy. The Nat ...
, said that Arkhipov "saved the world".
See also
* Stanislav Petrov
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 fa ...
, a Soviet duty officer at a missile warning station who averted a possible nuclear war in 1983
* National Security Archive
The National Security Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located on the campus of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1985 to check rising government secrecy. The Nat ...
, its director, Thomas S. Blanton, has undertaken substantial research on Arkhipov's involvement during the Cuban Missile Crisis
* List of nuclear close calls
A nuclear close call is an incident that might have led to at least one unintended nuclear detonation or explosion, but did not. These incidents typically involve a perceived imminent threat to a nuclear-armed country which could lead to retali ...
References
External links
PBS special on the crisis: ''The Man Who Saved the World''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arkhipov, Vasili Alexandrovich
1926 births
1998 deaths
Cold War military history of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
Cuban Missile Crisis
People from Orekhovo-Zuyevsky District
People of the Cold War
Recipients of the Medal "For Distinction in Guarding the State Border of the USSR"
Recipients of the Medal of Zhukov
Recipients of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 3rd class
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
Recipients of the Order of the Red Star
Soviet admirals
Soviet military personnel of World War II
Soviet submarine commanders
War scare