Vasily Alexandrovich Archipov

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Vasily Alexandrowitsch Archipow ( Russian Василий Александрович Архипов , English transcription Vasiliy Arkhipov ; born January 30, 1926 in the village of Sworkowo, Moscow Governorate , Soviet Union ; † August 19, 1998 in Kupawna , Russia ) was a Soviet naval officer in October 1962, the Soviet naval officer in October 1962 consent to a nuclear torpedo launch during the Cuban Missile Crisis likely prevented World War III from breaking out.

Life

After surfacing, an American helicopter orbited B-59 in October 1962

Archipov came from a peasant family. His father was Alexander Nikolajewitsch Archipow, his mother Maria Nikolajewna, née Kosyrewa. After nine years of schooling, he entered the 10th grade of the Leningrad Marine Special School in 1942 and in December 1942 in the preparatory course of the Pacific Officers College. In 1945 he took part in combat operations against the Japanese as an officer student on a mine-defense vehicle of the Pacific Fleet . After the end of the Second World War , he was assigned to the Caspian Red Banner Officer College of the Naval Forces SM Kirov in Baku together with the officer students of the 3rd year of study , which he graduated in 1947. Until December 1975 he worked in various positions from the commander of combat section 1 ( navigation ) of a submarine to submarine division commander in the North , Black Sea and Baltic fleets. 1951 and 1953 finished Archipow special training for officers on submarines and 1968 further academic courses of the Soviet Navy. From 1975 to 1985 he was the commander of the Caspian Higher Naval War School. Then he retired.

Archipov was stationed on the Soviet submarine B-59 (Б-59) of the class Project 641 , which was armed with nuclear torpedoes . On October 27, 1962, this submarine was encircled by US destroyers in international waters without previous aggressive behavior and attacked with training depth charges in order to force a surface for identification. On the one hand, the American armed forces were not aware of the nuclear armament of the submarine; on the other hand, Valentin Savitski , the submarine's commander, assumed that a war might have already started due to the fire.

The approval of three officers on board the submarine was necessary for firing the weapons, namely Archipov (commandant of the naval association), Savitsky (boat commander) and the political officer Ivan Maslennikov . Archipov was the only one of them to refuse to use the nuclear weapons on board in the event of an attack, and he was finally able to convince Savitsky to allow the submarine to appear to await further orders from Moscow. As a result, the submarine B-59 did not fire any nuclear weapons.

Archipov died of kidney cancer on August 19, 1998 . The disease is probably due to a radiation accident on board the nuclear submarine K-19 Class Project 658 due, one and a half years before the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was not until the fall of 2002 that it was officially announced at a conference in Havana on the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis that a man named Archipov had saved mankind from nuclear war .

Awards

Posthumously Archipow was awarded the Italian Rotondi National Prize Angeli del nostro tempo in 2003 and 2005 .

At the beginning of July 2018, the city of Bonn received an application from citizens to rename a square named Archipov-Petrov-Platz, named after Archipow and Stanislaw Petrow , who had probably also prevented a nuclear war . However, the application was rejected.

Popular culture reception

Both the American feature film Crimson Tide - In Deepest Danger from 1995 and the international production K-19 - Showdown in the Deep (2002) refer to Archipow in terms of content and are inspired by the real incidents on B-59 and K-19 .

The hardcore punk band Converge also refers to the story of Archipow in the song title and text in their piece Arkhipov Calm (on the studio album The Dusk in Us , 2017).

See also

Movie

  • Nick Green, directed by The Man Who Saved the World - The Secret of the Cuban Crisis Documentary. (Documentation, with interviews with Archipov's wife. Cooperation between Russia, Denmark and the USA) German version (2012), 45 min.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mathias Zschaler An angel on the pusher in mare No. 113, p. 32ff, December 2015 / January 2016, ISSN 1432-928X
  2. ↑ a b c http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/zforum/02/sp_world_blanton101602.htm ( Memento from June 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ National Security Archive at George Washington University : Chronology of Submarine Contact During the Cuban Missile Crisis. Retrieved November 21, 2008 .
  4. ↑ a b National Security Archive at George Washington University : The Submarines of October. October 31, 2002, accessed November 21, 2008 .
  5. ^ A b The Times : Headlong into the flames. October 22, 2006, accessed September 27, 2008 .
  6. ↑ Michael Evans: The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962: Press Release, October 10, 2002. Retrieved October 6, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Kevin Sullivan: 40 Years After Missile Crisis, Players Swap Stories in Cuba . October 13, 2002, ISSN  0190-8286 ( washingtonpost.com [accessed October 6, 2018]).
  8. ↑ Федерация мира и согласия. Archived from the original on January 25, 2012 ; Retrieved January 17, 2013 (Russian).
  9. ↑ Commemoration of two world savers , Neues Deutschland, August 31, 2018
  10. ^ Medienwerkstatt Bonn: Citizens' application in Bonn. Medienwerkstatt Bonn, August 26, 2018, accessed on October 19, 2018 (d).
  11. ↑ Uwe Werner Schierhorn: Will there be an Archipov-Petrov-Platz in Bonn? August 30, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2018 .
  12. ^ Archipov-Petrov-Platz rejected for Bonn , Neues Deutschland, 7 September 2018
  13. ↑ pitchfork.com: Converge's Jacob Bannon Untangles the Meaning of Every Song on His Band's New Album, The Dusk in Us , November 7, 2017, accessed March 24, 2019.
  14. ↑ The man who saved the world | ZDF Enterprises. Retrieved October 6, 2018 .
predecessor Office successor
KAdm Yevgeny Glebov 13. Commander of the KWWMKU
1975–1985 		KAdm Albert Akatow
personal data
SURNAME Archipow, Vasily Alexandrovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Arkhipov, Vasiliy; Архипов, Василий Александрович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Soviet officer who most likely prevented a nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Sworkovo village, Moscow Governorate , Soviet Union
DATE OF DEATH August 19, 1998
Place of death Kupavna , Russia