<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>On October 27, 1962, a Russian naval officer stood between the Cold War escalating into a full-blown nuclear conflict.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>That day was one of the most dramatic in the Cuban Missile Crisis.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Just days before US President John F. Kennedy announced to the American people that Russian nuclear missiles had been detected on the communist-run island, just 150km from the US mainland.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/louvre-museum-robbery-suspects-arrested-over-theft-of-crown-jewels/2f3f79a9-725a-46c8-8c5a-304cd3f28f3b" rel="" target="_blank" title="Suspects arrested over theft of crown jewels from Paris' Louvre museum"><strong><span>Suspects arrested over theft of crown jewels from Paris' Louvre museum</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He ordered a naval blockade of Cuba as a group of Russian cargo ships, suspected of carrying nuclear weapon parts, headed there.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kennedy instructed his naval commanders to threaten the Soviet vessels with "search or sinking". </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Unknown to the US military was a force of four Russian submarines that had stealthily sailed around the American warships.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-october-27-what-happened-on-this-day/80f85aad-a3ce-4e10-947f-d0fa24097a66" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Aboard one of them - the B-59 - was a senior Soviet naval officer named Vasili Arkhipov.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He was thrust into one of the momentous events of modern history when a US destroyer suddenly detected the submarine.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/broome-western-australia-stabbing-murder-police/f9b42b2a-9379-44d7-b844-513042be9b3e"><strong><span>Man charged with murder after woman stabbed</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It began dropping non-lethal depth charges to encourage the B-59 to surface.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But its captain- with his submarine cut off from radio communications with Moscow - had no idea of the American intentions.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He thought he was witnessing the start of world war three and ordered the B-59 to full action stations.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Fearing it was only a few minutes before more American depth charges would destroy his submarine and crew, the captain ordered the arming of a 10-tonne nuclear torpedo.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While he required no direct orders from the Kremlin to take the dramatic step, there was a key condition: all three senior officers on board had to agree to deploy the weapon.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The captain and the vessel's political officer wanted to fire the torpedo against the US ships, but Arkhipov, the second in command, opposed them.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>If the weapon had been launched, it would probably had invited a swift US counter strike, possibly escalating to full-blown conflict and the destruction of mankind.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>During a heated argument, Arkhipov convinced the captain that the American depth charges were intended not to destroy the B-59.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The submarine rose to the surface where it was met by US warships, but the Americans did not board or search it.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the months after the Cuban Missile Crisis, many in the Soviet military regarded the crew of the B-59 as cowards who should have gone down fighting.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But Arkhipov continued his rise in the Russian navy, later being promoted to Rear-Admiral. He died in 1998.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The lesson from this is that a guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world,'' Thomas Blanton, director of the US National Security Archive at George Washington University, told the Boston Globe in 2002.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/today-in-history" target="" title="For more from our Today in History archive, click here."><strong><span>For more from our Today in History archive, click here</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span></span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Apple App Store</span></em></strong></a><span> </span><strong><em><span>and</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Google Play</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>.</span></em></strong></div></div>