Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov

  • Birth

    I was born on January 30th, 1926 to a poor, peasant family near Moscow in the town of Staraya Kupavna
  • Hero Award

    I was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union
  • K-19 Accident

    In July 1961, I was appointed deputy commander or executive officer of the new Hotel-class ballistic missile submarine K-19. the submarine developed an extreme leak in its reactor coolant system.Commander Zateyer ordered the seven members of our engineer crew to come up with a solution to avoid nuclear meltdown. This required us to work in high radiation levels for extended periods.
  • kennedy

    Kennedy never took the time to explain to the people of Okinawa why he had turned their island into the first Asian territory to become a target for nuclear war, the first Asian territory to have these weapons on its soil.
  • Arkhipov refused

    Only Arkhipov refused to authorize the captain's use of nuclear torpedos against the United States Navy, a decision requiring the agreement of all three senior officers aboard.
  • involvement incuban missile crisis

    I was in a group of 11 United States navy destroyers and aircraft carrier USS Randolph. I was also commander of the B-59 submarine.
  • vasile

    the U.S. version of events, the crisis starts on October 15 withphotographic confirmation that the Soviet Union had secretly built sites for medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic missiles on Cuba
  • Refusing to fight

    I was the one person who refused to start a devastating nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States.I did not believe in such a war.
  • Refused a war

    Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov was the one person who refused to start a devastating nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States
  • Khrushchev sending missles to cuba

    The reason that Khrushchev sent missiles to Cuba was becasue the Soviet Union lacked a credible long range ICBM deterrent against a possible US attack.
  • possible mutual destruction

    The u.s. and the soviet union were on the brink of possible mutual destruction