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Most of us probably owe our existence to a pair of Soviets who refused to push a button
Posted on 3/6/22 at 10:54 pm
Posted on 3/6/22 at 10:54 pm
There could have been others.
First from the 1960’s:
And from the 1980’s:
LINK
First from the 1960’s:
quote:
Trapped in the sweltering submarine – the air-conditioning was no longer working – the crew feared death. But, unknown to the US forces, they had a special weapon in their arsenal: a ten kilotonne nuclear torpedo. What’s more, the officers had permission to launch it without waiting for approval from Moscow.
Two of the vessel’s senior officers – including the captain, Valentin Savitsky – wanted to launch the missile. According to a report from the US National Security Archive, Savitsky exclaimed: “We’re gonna blast them now! We will die, but we will sink them all – we will not become the shame of the fleet.”
But there was an important caveat: all three senior officers on board had to agree to deploy the weapon. As a result, the situation in the control room played out very differently. Arkhipov refused to sanction the launch of the weapon and calmed the captain down. The torpedo was never fired.
Had it been launched, the fate of the world would have been very different: the attack would probably have started a nuclear war which would have caused global devastation, with unimaginable numbers of civilian deaths.
And from the 1980’s:
quote:
on 26 September 1983, the world was saved from potential nuclear disaster.
In the early hours of the morning, the Soviet Union's early-warning systems detected an incoming missile strike from the United States. Computer readouts suggested several missiles had been launched. The protocol for the Soviet military would have been to retaliate with a nuclear attack of its own.
But duty officer Stanislav Petrov - whose job it was to register apparent enemy missile launches - decided not to report them to his superiors, and instead dismissed them as a false alarm.
This was a breach of his instructions, a dereliction of duty. The safe thing to do would have been to pass the responsibility on, to refer up.
But his decision may have saved the world.
LINK
This post was edited on 3/6/22 at 10:56 pm
Posted on 3/6/22 at 10:55 pm to weagle99
This post was edited on 3/6/22 at 10:57 pm
Posted on 3/6/22 at 11:15 pm to weagle99
quote:
Stanislav Petrov
Iirc this guy actually got punished for refusing to retaliate what was a false alarm.
Posted on 3/6/22 at 11:34 pm to weagle99
That may coincide with a story that I was told by the guide at the Greenbrier resort (West Virginia) secret bunker tour.
It was a bunker built to keep members of Congress in case of a nuclear attack on DC.
The guide mentioned they went "live" or just ready for immediate use only 2 times: once for the Cuban missile crisis and one other "undisclosed" time.
It was a bunker built to keep members of Congress in case of a nuclear attack on DC.
The guide mentioned they went "live" or just ready for immediate use only 2 times: once for the Cuban missile crisis and one other "undisclosed" time.
Posted on 3/6/22 at 11:43 pm to weagle99
Nuclear torpedo wouldn’t have kicked off nuclear war… nobody would’ve known what happened to those 2 submarines and they would’ve been presumed lost at sea. K-129 sank right off Hawaii, nobody knows what really happened to it
Posted on 3/6/22 at 11:53 pm to weagle99
Maybe that button shouldn't have been created there in the first place
Posted on 3/7/22 at 12:01 am to SEClint
quote:
Maybe that button shouldn't have been created there in the first place
While they present the possibility of global destruction, nuclear weapons are the biggest reason for the longest sustained period of "peace" between global powers in thousands of years. Prior to the invention of the bomb, the world hadn't gone more than 50 years without a major "hot" conflict between great powers since the Pax Romana. Even during the Pax Britannica, major conflicts such as the Crimean War and the Franco-Austrian War occurred. Without the bomb MILLIONS of Americans would have died in Japan and in the ensuing war between the western powers and the USSR that would have occurred. The nuclear arms race is the only thing that kepy actual war from breaking out during the cold war. Without the bomb we'd have been invading Russia by the late-50s.
There's such fear of great powers going to war now that nobody does it. It's nobody worth a damn is going to declare war on Russia unless they do something absolutely insane.
This post was edited on 3/7/22 at 12:04 am
Posted on 3/7/22 at 12:10 am to Roger Klarvin
quote:True, the fear of total nuclear war has forced civility on the world.
While they present the possibility of global destruction, nuclear weapons are the biggest reason for the longest sustained period of "peace" between global powers in thousands of years
This is why we can't have a Ukraine in NATO, and why the Middle East is so 'popular'. Some leaders are hawks, and NEED to flex every so often.
Posted on 3/7/22 at 12:18 am to Roger Klarvin
quote:
There's such fear of great powers going to war now that nobody does it.
2 weeks ago id have agreed
Posted on 3/7/22 at 12:20 am to weagle99
So the world almost ended because of technical difficulties
Wtf
Wtf
Posted on 3/7/22 at 3:54 am to Roger Klarvin
quote:
There's such fear of great powers going to war now that nobody does it
The problem is that humanity has to get this right from now to the end of time. Everyday.
This post was edited on 3/7/22 at 3:55 am
Posted on 3/7/22 at 3:57 am to QJenk
quote:
So the world almost ended because of technical difficulties
Sounds about right
Posted on 3/7/22 at 5:29 am to Roger Klarvin
quote:
While they present the possibility of global destruction, nuclear weapons are the biggest reason for the longest sustained period of "peace" between global powers in thousands of years. Prior to the invention of the bomb, the world hadn't gone more than 50 years without a major "hot" conflict between great powers since the Pax Romana. Even during the Pax Britannica, major conflicts such as the Crimean War and the Franco-Austrian War occurred. Without the bomb MILLIONS of Americans would have died in Japan and in the ensuing war between the western powers and the USSR that would have occurred. The nuclear arms race is the only thing that kepy actual war from breaking out during the cold war. Without the bomb we'd have been invading Russia by the late-50s.
But there’s been so many accidents and near catastrophes, and as our systems age there’s no telling what they’ll do. All it takes is one fricking up and misfiring and that’s that.
Posted on 3/7/22 at 6:27 am to bubblehead26
quote:
Most of us probably owe our existence to a pair of Soviets who refused to push a button by bubblehead26
Nuclear torpedo wouldn’t have kicked off nuclear war… nobody would’ve known what happened to those 2 submarines and they would’ve been presumed lost at sea.
During nuclear testing back in the .50’s, a destroyer fired an ASROC at flank speed. The detonation cracked the hull. You may be right in that nobody would know, but that test suggests otherwise.
As to the subs that sank, conventional torpedoes still could have done that.
Posted on 3/7/22 at 6:50 am to Stealth Matrix
quote:
So the world almost ended because of technical difficulties Sounds about right
Posted on 3/7/22 at 8:54 am to weagle99
Hell going all the way back to the 60s, I partially owe my existence to whatever some random arse dude had for lunch. The odds of being born are stupidly low
Posted on 3/7/22 at 10:04 am to SEClint
quote:
There's such fear of great powers going to war now that nobody does it. 2 weeks ago id have agreed
The problem is most people alive today weren’t alive during a real war between powers. They don’t know the horrors of it so they don’t work as hard to prevent it. It’s just a story in history to them
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