Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear war, has died
1–10 of 147 posts
Re: Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear war, has died
#2When "just doing my job" saves the world.
“My cozy armchair felt like a red-hot frying pan and my legs went limp. I felt like I couldn't even stand up. That's how nervous I was when I was taking this decision,” he told RT.
How well would any of us have done in that situation? It's tempting to think that we'd have said no, don't launch. But picture yourself as a military commander, raised in that lifestyle. Then add the natural inclination to freeze up and make bad choices under pressure.
It's also a lesson in secrecy. We almost didn't hear about this story. It was kept secret for a decade. How many secrets are you sitting on, bound by your NDAs? Will you ever make the important ones public a decade later, or will you decide it's not your position, or that it might affect your career?
It's easy to rationalize that it isn't our position to say anything about what we know. But it's also too easy.
I wish it were possible to make a service that lets you upload encrypted notes that will be made public after your death. But those two requirements conflict.
Re: Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear war, has died
#3and
I'm reminded by the movie WarGames when the nuke officers (not sure the actual designation) are replaced by relays...
I'm just glad the officer-just-doing-his-job expects systems to fail & trust hsi own judgment, instead of our current ever-increasing trust in machines
Re: Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear war, has died
#4Perhaps the better story for this audience is the one about the electrical engineer who nearly caused nuclear war...
Re: Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear war, has died
#5and I'm reminded by the movie WarGames when the nuke officers (not sure the actual designation) are replaced by relays... I'm just glad the officer-just-doing-his-job expects systems to fail & trust hsi own judgment, instead of our current ever-increasing trust in machines
[deleted]
Re: Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear war, has died
#6and I'm reminded by the movie WarGames when the nuke officers (not sure the actual designation) are replaced by relays... I'm just glad the officer-just-doing-his-job expects systems to fail & trust hsi own judgment, instead of our current ever-increasing trust in machines
In Wargames they detected a massive preemptive attack. One of the things that tipped off the officer in this case was that it was such a small scale attack, which doesn't make sense because it leaves the enemy willing and able to respond.
Re: Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear war, has died
#7Another Soviet officer who also probably prevented nuclear war was Vasili Arkhipov.[1]
"On 27 October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a group of eleven United States Navy destroyers and the aircraft carrier USS Randolph located the diesel-powered, nuclear-armed Soviet Foxtrot-class submarine B-59 near Cuba. Despite being in international waters, the Americans started dropping signaling depth charges, explosives intended to force the submarine to come to the surface for identification. There had been no contact from Moscow for a number of days and, although the submarine's crew had earlier been picking up U.S. civilian radio broadcasts, once B-59 began attempting to hide from its U.S. Navy pursuers, it was too deep to monitor any radio traffic. Those on board did not know whether war had broken out or not. The captain of the submarine, Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky, decided that a war might already have started and wanted to launch a nuclear torpedo.
"Unlike the other subs in the flotilla, three officers on board the B-59 had to agree unanimously to authorize a nuclear launch: Captain Savitsky, the political officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov, and the second-in-command Arkhipov. Typically, Russian submarines armed with the "Special Weapon" only required the captain to get authorization from the political officer to launch a nuclear torpedo. However, due to Arkhipov's position as flotilla commander, the B-59's captain also was required to gain Arkhipov's approval. An argument broke out, with only Arkhipov against the launch.
"Even though Arkhipov was only second-in-command of the submarine B-59, he was in fact commander of the entire submarine flotilla, including the B-4, B-36 and B-130, and equal in rank to Captain Savitsky. According to author Edward Wilson, the reputation Arkhipov had gained from his courageous conduct in the previous year's Soviet submarine K-19 incident also helped him prevail. Arkhipov eventually persuaded Savitsky to surface and await orders from Moscow. This effectively averted the nuclear warfare which probably would have ensued if the nuclear weapon had been fired. The submarine's batteries had run very low and the air-conditioning had failed, causing extreme heat and high levels of carbon dioxide inside the submarine. They were forced to surface amidst its U.S. pursuers and return to the Soviet Union as a result.
"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."..."
Re: Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear war, has died
#8This remind me of a recurring theme in "Doctor Who" fictional stories (I'm bing watching right now).
There no such thing as an unimportant person because countless time in the stories the world or even the universe have been saved by ordinary people and nobody will ever know about them.
Only this is real life, this is deeply amazing. I feel so much gratitude and kindnesses for this man. RIP Станислав Евграфович Петров
PS: added emphasis on Fictional stories for clarity.
Re: Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet officer who averted nuclear war, has died
#9Perhaps the better story for this audience is the one about the electrical engineer who nearly caused nuclear war...
Who?