Throw caution to the wind. With great risks, come great rewards. Fortune favors the bold. English expressions like these have always celebrated men and women of action. But perhaps we should be celebrating cooler heads. Perhaps we should be studying the cautious, the careful and the patient among us. Vasili Arkhipov was all of these things. Because of his caution, patience and restraint, he stopped World War III and saved the lives of millions.
In the early 60s, the US and the Soviet Union were in a face-off. The Soviets were sending nuclear missiles to Cuba, and the US was trying to stop them. Vasili Arkhipov was the 2nd in command on a nuclear submarine near Cuba.
The situation inside the sub was tense. The air conditioners weren’t working, and the temperature was above 45 degrees. The food was low, and the sailors were limited to one glass of water a day. They were exhausted.
It was under these difficult conditions that US ships tried to force the sub to the water’s surface. The US ships fired practice explosives that were loud, but couldn’t damage the submarine. The Soviet sub had been out of contact with Moscow and didn’t know if this was a real attack or not.
The captain was starting to lose it. He had no way of knowing if WWIII had begun. He decided to fire a nuclear torpedo at one of the US ships. Luckily, it was not the captain’s decision alone. The rules said that the captain, Arkhipov, and one other officer had to also agree before a nuclear torpedo could be fired. Arkhipov stood his ground and refused the captain’s order to attack.
If Arkhipov’s sub had fired that torpedo, it would have started a global nuclear war that we still would be suffering from today. The world owes a debt of gratitude to Arkhipov, a true hero and a model of patience and restraint.
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from Deep English » Blog http://deepenglish.com/2015/08/russian-hero-vasili-arkhipov/
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