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Vasili Arkhipov

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Re: Vasili Arkhipov

#21

Post by jjh42 »

fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #20
austinz wrote: post #19

Well, I'm glad the worst is over. It's chilling how many near misses there were. How many more near misses might we have endured, had the Cold War gone on, before the one not-any-kind-of-miss that would have destroyed human civilization?

I've been reading a lot of Bamford lately for obvious reasons. Apparently, the CIA, NSA, and Chair Force were quite provocative during the Cold War. Something like twenty US aircraft were shot down by the Soviets (over Soviet airspace).

I find it amazing the US officials thought it a good idea to drop small (trainer) explosives on a nuclear armed USSR sub during one of the tensest standoffs of the Cold War.

Is it only in retrospect that this seems poorly thought through?

Re: Vasili Arkhipov

#22

Post by ekianjo »

arbuge wrote: post #15
shurcooL wrote: post #6

It's a lonely and sad thought that the biggest heroes whose immense sacrifices and contributions to the well being of everyone around them are celebrated by... the blissful ignorance of everyone else. Except in movies. There, we get to see and experience it all.

It is also a scary thought that a decision on nuclear war was/is in the hands of a few individuals.

It still is. Most nations' Commanders in Chief (i.e. the Presidents) have the power to order a nuke launch by themselves. Of course they have advisers and so on, but that does not mean they have less of a power.

Re: Vasili Arkhipov

#23

Post by ekianjo »

shurcooL wrote: post #6

It's a lonely and sad thought that the biggest heroes whose immense sacrifices and contributions to the well being of everyone around them are celebrated by... the blissful ignorance of everyone else. Except in movies. There, we get to see and experience it all.

> Except in movies. There, we get to see and experience it all.

Well, movies often get the facts and the characters wrong (on purpose). Movies usually are adapted to fit to audiences who have no real understanding of History so things are made simple for them.

This being said, K-19 was a decent movie (despite the inaccuracies) and I'd recommend anyone to watch it AND read what actually happened.

Re: Vasili Arkhipov

#25

Post by smsm42 »

guantes wrote: post #3

This is another interesting story about a Russian who may have saved the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov

Yes, when I first read the story I was kind of scared when thinking what could happen if he would just think "my duty is to pass the warning, higher ups would sort it out". Now of course everybody says "we'd caught it up anyway", but who knows what would actually happen.

Re: Vasili Arkhipov

#26

Post by vl »

ekianjo wrote: post #22
arbuge wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is also a scary thought that a decision on nuclear war was/is in the hands of a few individuals.

It still is. Most nations' Commanders in Chief (i.e. the Presidents) have the power to order a nuke launch by themselves. Of course they have advisers and so on, but that does not mean they have less of a power.

All nuclear submarines carry all launch codes on board - as indicated in this article, 3 top officers can access them together.

Re: Vasili Arkhipov

#27

Post by smsm42 »

jjh42 wrote: post #21
fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been reading a lot of Bamford lately for obvious reasons. Apparently, the CIA, NSA, and Chair Force were quite provocative during the Cold War. Something like twenty US aircraft were shot down by the Soviets (over Soviet airspace).

I find it amazing the US officials thought it a good idea to drop small (trainer) explosives on a nuclear armed USSR sub during one of the tensest standoffs of the Cold War. Is it only in retrospect that this seems poorly thought through?

They didn't just do it for sport, they tried to get it to surface and there aren't that many way to talk to a submarine that doesn't want to be found and is too deep to hear radio communications. They wanted the sub to surface, probably to enforce the blockade over Cuba. The captain of the sub erroneously decided that they're being attacked, because he had no communications with outside and didn't know what's going on. Arkhipov persuaded him not to rush and surface, and find out what's going on before firing.

Re: Vasili Arkhipov

#29

Post by packetslave »

Oh look, another title edit that adds nothing and takes away from the original title that actually told us why we should care about Vasili Arkhipov. Get it together, mods!

Re: Vasili Arkhipov

#30

Post by Stratoscope »

packetslave wrote: post #29

Oh look, another title edit that adds nothing and takes away from the original title that actually told us why we should care about Vasili Arkhipov. Get it together, mods!

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what the original title was?
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