That Really Close Call Back in 1962 — The Cuban Missile Crises and the Submarine B-59 Incident

That Really Close Call Back in 1962 — The Cuban Missile Crises and the Submarine B-59 Incident,On October 14th, 1962 US spy planes captured images of a number of Soviet nuclear missile sites in Cuba.  The Soviets, under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev, had begun construction of the sites upon request of Fidel Castro after the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and in response to the US construction missile sites in Turkey.  The prospect of Soviet nuclear missiles less than 100 miles away from the US mainland terrified American government officials, and US President John F. Kennedy took immediate action to prevent any further Soviet weapons and equipment from reaching Cuba.On October 21st Kennedy ordered a quarantine Cuba, setting up a massive naval blockade to prevent any more Soviet transport ships from entering Cuban waters.  To challenge the blockade the Soviets dispatched four Foxtrot class diesel electric submarines, each armed with the deadly T-5 nuclear torpedo. The T-5 torpedo featured a 10 kiloton nuclear warhead which could theoretically devastate a city harbor or cause significant damage to a naval surface fleet. Equipped with the torpedoes, the Soviet could possibly blast their way through the blockade. Of course the incident involved much more than just Cuba, a naval blockade, and some Soviet submarines. Across the globe Soviet and American forces began to deploy nuclear armed bombers, attack submarines, and mobile ballistic missiles in preparation for what would be an all out nuclear war. The international atmosphere was tense, and all it would take is a small spark to ignite a nuclear holocaust.  That small spark almost occurred with one of the Soviet submarines, called B-59, and with the fate of the world in the hands of one man.The submarine flotilla was ordered not to directly challenge the American blockade, but hang out near the North American coast and await orders from Moscow.  One of the submarines, B-59, was located by a fleet consisting of an aircraft carrier and 11 destroyers. B-59 submerged and immediately a cat and mouse game began between the submarine and the American fleet. The Americans dropped special signalling depth charges, which had a very small explosive charge, not enough to damage the submarine, but enough to rattle the boat and remind it’s crew that they were aware of their presence. The Americans did not intent to damage or sink the submarine, however the submarine crew didn’t quite see it that way, believing they were under full attack. It had been days since B-59 had been in contact with Moscow, and the longer it spent submerged, the more it’s batteries drained.  Eventually B-59′s batteries had drained to the point that the air conditioning unit shut down, causing CO2 to build up in the cabin and temperatures to rise as high a 110 F. The submarine’s officers met to decide what to do next.Under Soviet protocol, in absence of orders from Moscow, it was up to a submarine’s captain and political officer to decide whether to fire it’s nuclear torpedoes or not. The captain of B-59, Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky, believed that war had started and that they should surface and launch their torpedoes. The boat’s political officer, Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov, concurred. However on board was another officer, Captain Vasili Arkhipov, commander of the submarine flotilla and second in command of B-59. While Arkhipov was the same rank as Savitsky and 2nd in command of B-59, Arkhipov was in command of the entire operation and senior officer, thus his approval was needed in order to launch. Arkhipov decided to veto Savitsky’s decision. A tense argument ensued but Arkhipov refused to budge on his decision. With the battery running dry, Savitsky ordered B-59 to surface and await further orders from Moscow. B-59 was sighted by American ships, and ordered to return to the Soviet Union.The Cuban Missile Crises came to a end not with a nuclear holocaust, but with a compromise. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in Cuba if Kennedy removed the missiles in Turkey. The Cuban Missiles Crises was the closest the world has ever come to all out nuclear war, and the B-59 incident was the spark which almost ignited that war. Amazingly the world never knew about the incident until 2002, when Commander Vadim Pavlovich Orlov, a crew member of B-59, held a press conference revealing the events. The crew of B-59 returned home in disgrace, being captured by the Americans was viewed by the upper brass of the Soviet Navy as dishonorable. Despite this blight on his career, Vasili Arkhipov continued to served honorably in the Soviet Navy, achieving the rank of Vice Admiral and retiring in the 1980′s. He passed away in 1998. -- source link
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