THE DECISION · 27 OCT 1962 · THE SARGASSO SEA
The man who said no
27 October 1962, the deepest hour of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Aboard the Soviet submarine B-59, firing the nuclear torpedo takes three officers. Two have said yes. This is the timeline where the third says yes as well.
27 OCT 1962 · 17:00
October 1962. The United States has discovered Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, thrown a naval blockade around the island, and raised its forces to DEFCON 2, one step below war. Beneath that blockade sits the Soviet submarine B-59: four days out of contact with Moscow, batteries failing, the air inside near fifty degrees and turning foul, hammered for hours by American signal charges. Firing her nuclear torpedo requires three officers to agree. Captain Savitsky, exhausted and certain the war above has already begun, says yes. The political officer Maslennikov says yes. In the timeline recorded here, Vasili Arkhipov closes his eyes and says yes as well.