Encounter 14 · 14 of 42 · 27 October 1962
The second vote
In a submerged Soviet submarine during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a nuclear torpedo needed three officers to agree. One of them would not.
Sargasso Sea, near the Bahamas · place approximate
What they knew
- They were being hunted and could not raise Moscow.
- A nuclear weapon was on the boat.
- Three signatures were required.
What they could not know
- Whether war had already started above them.
- What Washington would do if a nuclear torpedo sank a U.S. ship.
- How the other side was reading the depth charges: as signals, or as attack.
What was at stake
A local decision that would not have stayed local.
The next move
Arkhipov refused. The boat surfaced and withdrew.
The situation
Vasili Arkhipov had already been deputy commander on K-19 in 1961, when a reactor accident irradiated the crew. In October 1962 he was flotilla chief of staff aboard B-59, a diesel-electric boat being depth-charged with practice charges by U.S. Navy ships enforcing the quarantine. Communication with Moscow had been lost. The captain, under heat and battery strain, wanted to arm a nuclear-tipped torpedo. Launch required three officers to agree.
The three-man rule was a procedure. Procedures fail when everyone in the room wants the same thing. One person did not.
Three signatures. 27 October 1962. B-59.
| Officer | Office | That afternoon |
|---|---|---|
| Valentin Savitsky | Captain | Wanted to arm the nuclear-tipped torpedo. Heat. Battery. Practice charges on the hull. Moscow silent. |
| Ivan Maslennikov | Political officer | The second of three. Launch needed all three. |
| Vasili Arkhipov | Flotilla chief of staff, aboard by chance of assignment | Would not agree. The boat surfaced and withdrew. |
Reconstruction from later testimony and National Security Archive documents of the 2002 Havana conference. The boat’s log is not a public photograph.
What they had
- A three-man rule
- One officer who would not sign
- Foul air and a failing battery
What happened
The incident was not public for decades. Thomas Blanton of the National Security Archive later called Arkhipov the man who ‘saved the world.’ That sentence is later interpretation. On 27 October he was a man who would not agree.
One of three would not sign.
Private. No one else will see it.