New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Who is Vasili Arkhipov, and How Did He Save the World?

On October 27th, the United States dropped some practice depth charges on a Soviet submarine located near the blockade.

They were non-lethal charges meant to draw out the submarine, but the Soviets didn't know that.

And speaking of things people didn't know, the US didn't know that this submarine was armed with a nuclear warhead. Convinced they were under attack, the ship's captain, Valentin Savitsky, ordered the ship to fire its warhead.

Had that missile been fired, the dominoes would have fallen and likely nuclear war would have broken out across the planet.

But protocol said all three officers on board the ship that day had to give the okay to launch the warhead, and one of them did not: A guy named Vasili Arkhipov, who is arguably the reason we're all alive today.

Thank you Vasili Arkhipov, the man who stopped nuclear war | Edward Wilson | Comment is free | theguardian.com