One man saved the world: the unknown drama on submarine B-59

The article recounts an episode of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviet submarine B-59 nearly launched a nuclear torpedo. Captain Valentin Savitsky, having lost contact with Moscow and under attack by American destroyers, gave the order to prepare. Chief of Staff Vasily Arkhipov convinced him to cancel the launch, preventing a nuclear war.

The article, based on the BBC podcast 'The Bomb', tells the little-known episode of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. On October 27, 1962, the so-called 'Black Saturday', the US military tracked four Soviet Foxtrot-class submarines in the Sargasso Sea. Each carried a torpedo with a nuclear warhead of about 10 kilotons. Submarine B-59 lost contact with Moscow for two days. Due to the heat (up to 60 degrees Celsius in the engine room) and practice depth charges dropped by American destroyers, tensions escalated. Captain Valentin Savitsky, seeing enemy ships on the surface, ordered the preparation of a nuclear torpedo, convinced that war had already begun. However, the launch required the consent of three officers. Chief of Staff Vasily Arkhipov, noticing signals from the destroyer USS Cony, convinced the captain to cancel the order. The article notes that the US only learned of this incident decades later, and Arkhipov remained in the shadows of history.