Soviet submarine B-59
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2018) |
 B-59 near Cuba with a US Navy helicopter circling above, circa October 28–29, 1962 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Soviet Union | |
| Name | B-59 |
| Builder | Admiralty Shipyard |
| Laid down | 21 February 1960[1] |
| Launched | 11 June 1960 |
| Commissioned | 6 October 1961 |
| Decommissioned | 19 April 1990[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Foxtrot-class submarine |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 91.3 m (299 ft 6 in) |
| Beam | 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | |
| Range |
|
| Complement | 70 |
| Armament |
|
Soviet submarine B-59 (Russian: Б-59) was a Project 641 or Foxtrot-class diesel-electric submarine of the Soviet Navy. It played a key role near Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when senior officers—out of contact with Moscow and the rest of the world, believing they were under attack and possibly at war—considered firing a T-5 nuclear torpedo at US ships.[2]
Background[edit]
On October 1, 1962, the submarine B-59, as the flagship of a detachment with its sister ships B-4, B-36 and B-130, sailed from its base on the Kola Peninsula to the Caribbean Sea in support of Soviet arms deliveries to Cuba (an operation known to the Soviets as Anadyr).
On October 27, units of the United States Navy – the aircraft carrier USS Randolph and 11 destroyers – detected B-59 near Cuba. US vessels began dropping depth charges of the type used for naval training which contained very little charge and were not intended to cause damage.[citation needed] The purpose was to attempt to force the submarine to surface and be identified. There was no other way to communicate with the submarine. Messages from the US Navy to state the type of depth charges being used never reached B-59 or, it seems, Soviet naval HQ.
Nuclear close call[edit]
B-59 had not been in contact with Moscow for several days. The submarine's crew had been picking up US civilian radio broadcasts, but once they began attempting to hide from pursuers the vessel had to run too deep to monitor radio traffic and those on board did not know whether or not war had broken out. The captain of the submarine, Valentin Grigoryevich Savitsky, believing that being depth-charged meant that war had started, proposed to launch a nuclear torpedo.
The three most senior officers on board were Captain Savitsky; the political officer Ivan Semyonovich Maslennikov; and commander of the deployed submarine detachment Vasily Arkhipov, who was equal in rank to Savitsky but senior officer aboard B-59. They were only authorized to launch the torpedo if all three unanimously agreed to do it. B-59 was the only sub in the flotilla that required the authorisation of three officers in order to fire the "special weapon". The other three subs only required the captain and the political officer to approve the launch, but on B-59 Arkhipov's position as detachment commander meant that he also had to give his consent. Of the three officers, Arkhipov alone opposed the launch, and he persuaded Savitsky to surface and await orders from Moscow.
The submarine's batteries had run very low and its air-conditioning had failed, and eventually B-59 had to surface. It surfaced amid the US warships that were pursuing it and made contact with the US destroyer USS Corry. After discussions with the ship, B-59 was ordered by the Russian fleet to set course back to the Soviet Union.[3]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ a b Project 641.
- ^ Savranskaya, Svetlana V. New Sources on the Role of Soviet Submarines in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Journal of Strategic Studies 28.2 (2005): 233-259.doi:10.1080/01402390500088312
- ^ "A Russian submarine had a 'Crimson Tide' moment near Cuba". 20 May 2022.
References[edit]
- "Projet 641 Liste des unités" (in French). 2014-10-27. Archived from the original on 2014-10-27. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
- Polmar, Norman, Cold War Submarines, The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines. KJ More. Potomac Books, Inc., 2003. ISBN 1-57488-530-8
- Peter A. Huchthausen (2002). October Fury. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-43357-6.
- "Cuban Missile Crisis: The Man Who Saved the World", Secrets of the Dead, PBS TV documentary, October 24, 2012
- William Burr and Thomas S. Blanton, editors (October 31, 2002) "The Submarines of October. U.S. and Soviet Naval Encounters During the Cuban Missile Crisis", National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 75
- Ketov, Ryurik A. "The Cuban Missile Crisis as seen through a periscope." Journal of Strategic Studies 28.2 (2005): 217-231. doi:10.1080/01402390500088304