The Man Who Prevented WWIII

gramar

Didn't David Bowie write a song about him before it even happened?

Greybottle

The song 99 Red Balloons was based on a similar incident, but was written a couple of months before the Soviet incident.

Fact following fiction.

dexter_morgan

If WW3 has been prevented, will the next world war be WW4?

Ever watch Countdown to Zero?

It's a documentary that's about nuclear weapons. I don't think this guy is mentioned, but it does talk about just how close we've come to nuclear war. It's really quite bananas.

gramar

More reading here from a former US launch control officer.

death1234567

I wish he had pushed the button so that I could have grown up in a post apocalyptic world where cigarettes and fuel are used as currency, Mad Max style.

whoopsadoodles

I missed the original thread on this. Glad it was bumped

Discodog

The Able Archer episode was covered during the brilliant drama series Deutschland 83.

Pac1Man

There were many less publicised incidents like this throughout the Cold War which makes you wonder how we're still here.

Hande hoche!

gramar wrote: »

More reading here from a former US launch control officer.

That's well worth a read. The term "nuclear monarch" is an apt one.

mad muffin

I wish he did press the button. We would be living in a much better world today.

mad muffin

mad muffin wrote: »

I wish he did press the button. We would be living in a much better world today.

Global nuclear winter would be a much better world than the one we're living in today?

Ara, would you feck off with that nonsense.

mad muffin

Deleted User wrote: »

Global nuclear winter would be a much better world than the one we're living in today?

Ara, would you feck off with that nonsense.

Much better world.

Outlaw Pete

How do we know he wasn't just a big chicken that got lucky?

Either way, cheers dude! Much obliged.

robinph

Why did take them 4 months to report that he died?

jmayo

The Man Who Prevented WWIII

Also that moniker was given at one time to Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov who was in charge of B59 and did not fire the subs ten kiloton nuclear torpedo at primary target the aircraft USS Randolf during Cuban missile crisis, when they thought they were under attack from US depth charges.

I heard the moniker "the Sailor Who Saved America" being given to a soviet submariner Sergei Preminin on K219 who went into a reactor to manually drop the damaged control rods to cool the reactor after K219 had suffered an explosion and fire in missile compartment.
Because the pressure was so high and radiation was so bad he didn't make it out.
3 sailors were killed outright in the explosion.

The sub was close to US coast 600 odd miles north of Bermuda and this happened just around the time

wakka12 wrote: »

Absolutely mad that armageddon was so narrowly avoided, and that one person pressing a button could cause the world to end

Do you really want to be scared ?
Ever since Eisenhower the US president does not have to consult congress, his chief of staff, the Pentagon top brass before ordering a nuclear launch.
This was because there would not be the time if the Soviet Union had attacked.

The nuclear football (briefcase) carried by a military aide has the launch codes and various scenarios.
Now the launch needs to be verified by secretary of defense, but they cannot veto the launch just verify it is the president doing the ordering.

Remind us again who's the guy with his little hand near those codes ?

Somehow it makes the old British method of providing the PMs driver with coins in order to phone the AA or RAC from phone box in event of attack seem very safe indeed.

Mefistofelino

jmayo wrote: »

The Man Who Prevented WWIII

Also that moniker was given at one time to Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov who was in charge of B59 and did not fire the subs ten kiloton nuclear torpedo at primary target the aircraft USS Randolf during Cuban missile crisis, when they thought they were under attack from US depth charges.

Arkhipov was also the executive officer on the K-19 "Widowmaker" when it suffered a major reactor cooling incident in 1961 - he was played in the film by Liam Neeson (as "Mikhail Polenin").



Eric Schlosser's "Command and Control" is a very good history of the US nuclear weapons programme, both the technologies involved and the power struggles over the control of the arsenal.

josip

robinph wrote: »

Why did take them 4 months to report that he died?

Found out by accident

Petrov, who retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel, died on 19 May but news of his passing became widely known only this month, thanks to a chance phone call.
German film-maker Karl Schumacher, who first brought Petrov's story to an international audience, telephoned him to wish him a happy birthday on 7 September only to be informed by his son, Dmitry Petrov, that he had passed away.
Mr Schumacher announced the death online and it was eventually picked up by media outlets.