Nuclear War - 8 Times We Nearly Launched Armageddon
Contemplating possible dystopian futures and watching big-screen apocalyptic scenarios is all well and fun… until those musings step too close to reality. The fact that our world has narrowly escaped being launched back into the stone age not once, but over 22 times is haunting. But the reality is that modern society is still standing merely due to luck, restraint under pressure, and on more than one occasion the incredible giant steel cajónes of unsung heroes.
8) October 5, 1960. Radar Mistakes the Moon for Missiles
In the early heyday of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the USSR and the US were flagging their military muscle in the sky. It was the infancy of space exploration, the U-2 spy plane missions, and early warning radars were still getting the kinks worked out of their systems (this would not be the last time faulty early warning detection systems would nearly launch the planet into war).
On October 5, 1960 a radar detected dozens of missiles flying towards the US with an estimated arrival time of 20 minutes.
Understandably, panic ensued at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) HQ in Colorado, and NORAD was placed on its highest alert level.
Thankfully before any retaliation was launched, this panic was put to rest when it was realized that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was visiting New York at the time (as the Soviet Union was unlikely to nuke their own Soviet Premier). A later investigation found that the radar was just picking up the moon.
7) October 25, 1962 – A Bear Almost Triggers Nuclear War
It can reasonably be considered that October 1962 was the single most dangerous month humanity has ever faced. In the span of four days there were four separate occasions when both the US and Soviet Union were a hair-triggers away from launching their stockpile of nuclear weapons and kicking off World War III.
The first near miss came October 25, 1962. Shortly past midnight a sentinel at the Duluth Sector Direction Center in Minnesota spotted an individual attempting to scale the perimeter fence surrounding the compound.
Concerned that the individual might be a Soviet infiltrator, the sentinel fired at them and activated the sabotage alarm. This action set off air raid sirens across all air bases in the vicinity.
The pilots received orders to board their nuclear-equipped F-106A interceptors and were in the process of taxiing down the runway when it was determined that the alarm was a false alarm. Their progress was halted by a vehicle that hurried to the airfield to relay the message to cease operations.
Subsequently, it was discovered that the intruder was, in fact, just a bear.
6) The Cuban Missile Crisis: October 27, 1962 U-2 Spy Plane Incident
On October 27, 1962, while the Cuban Missile Crisis teetered on the verge of escalations, a U.S. U-2 spy plane piloted by Charles Maultsby, embarked on a routine surveillance flight from Alaska toward the area around the North Pole. The mission plan called for Maultsby to rely on star navigation, however, his visibility was soon compromised by the bright shimmering of the aurora borealis, rendering him unable to follow his intended path. As a result, he veered drastically off course, unintentionally breaching the airspace of the Soviet Union.
Given the knife-edge tensions over Cuba at that time, this navigational error was fraught with potentially dire repercussions. Fearing the U-2 might be on a nuclear strike mission, the Soviet Union promptly deployed MiG jets to intercept and destroy the unexpected visitor. In a countermeasure, the U.S. Air Force sent support in the form of two F-102 fighters, equipped with nuclear missiles to escort Maultsby safely back to American soil. The potential for a devastating engagement loomed, but fortunately, Maultsby silently coasted his fuel-depleted U-2 back out of Soviet territory before being caught. This came just in time, as leaders President John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev would defuse the impending Cuban crisis peacefully only a day later, steering away from the brink of possible warfare.
5) October 27, 1962 – The B-59 Submarine Incident
On the same day, another misunderstanding aboard a Russian submarine triggered what was perhaps the closest call to nuclear war we have yet to experience.
The event leading to the near miss was when the U.S. naval destroyer USS Beale started releasing depth charges. These depth charges were released towards the Soviet Union’s nuclear-armed submarine B-59, which was concealed near the U.S. maritime blockade encircling Cuba.
The depth charges were intended as non-lethal signals to get the B-59 to emerge from the depths; however, the captain of the submarine wrongly believed they were actual combat explosives. Under the impression that he was experiencing the beginning of World War 3, the captain was enraged and commanded his crew to ready the submarine’s nuclear torpedo for a counterstrike.
This dire mix-up might have led to a horrific outcome had it not been for a crucial safety protocol which, in order to launch nuclear weapons, demanded unanimous agreement from all three of the submarine’s senior officers.
Why we do not have an international holiday celebrating second-in-command officer Vasili Arkhipov is a mystery. It is because of the actions and convictions of this man that the nuclear holocaust was halted on this day in history.
For while the Soviet captain was prepared to launch Armageddon, hero Vasili Arkhipov stood against the decision. Arkhipov successfully de-escalated the situation, persuading the other officers to resurface and seek further instructions from Moscow.
The submarine ended up going back to Soviet territory without causing an incident, and it wasn’t until more than four decades later that the details of Arkhipov’s critical intervention were revealed.
4) October 28, 1962 – Radar Operators Get Confused Over a Satellite
The following day, just before 9 AM, air defense crew in Moorestown, New Jersey sounded alarms at NORAD Headquarters with reports of imminent Soviet missile strikes expected to hit near Tampa, Florida at 9:02 AM.
NORAD units were quickly mobilized for action, but as the anticipated time of impact came and went without incident, further countermeasures were put on hold.
Investigations later revealed the cause of the false alarm; the Moorestown radar team was mistakenly viewing a simulation tape of a missile attack that coincided with the unexpected traversal of a satellite across their radar field.
Since the satellite’s arrival was not communicated—owing to the facility responsible being preoccupied with a separate issue relating to Cuban affairs—and additional radar systems were offline, the mistake went uncorrected until it was nearly too late.
3) November 9, 1979 – A Computer Glitch Nearly Escalates to War
In the 1970s both the United States and the Soviet Union turned to advanced computer systems as early warning devices against potential nuclear strikes. But as with the radar systems before them, these state-of-the-art early warning detectors were not without their drawbacks. Namely the increased likelihood of false alerts and system malfunctions.
A notorious incident exemplifying these perils took place at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in Colorado.
On a chilling morning, November 9, 1979, NORAD personnel were abruptly notified about an apparent Soviet missile attack on their homeland. The alarm raised fears of an impending nuclear apocalypse, prompting the U.S. to launch interceptor jets, dispatch a presidential emergency aircraft, and ready its missile forces to strike back.
The crisis was defused once NORAD referred to satellite data and confirmed the alert was a blunder. A closer investigation revealed that the alarm had been mistakenly triggered by a NORAD technician’s execution of a simulated Soviet assault drill.
The false alarm didn’t go unnoticed internationally; it even led Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev to contact President Carter, highlighting the grave risk such mistakes entailed. Despite this harrowing experience, computer-related glitches persisted, resulting in three additional false alarms at NORAD the next year.
2) September 26, 1983 – Yet Another False Alarm
On the night of September 26, 1983, Lt. “Brass Balls” Colonel Stanislav Petrov (ok Brass Balls is not his sobriquet, but it should be) was in charge at the Soviet bunker Serpukhov-15, which was responsible for overseeing their satellite detection systems.
Chaos ensued just after midnight when a false alarm was triggered, indicating that the US had launched five ICBMs towards Russia. This error occurred due to a satellite mistaking sunlight reflections off the clouds above Montana for a missile launch, which suggested to the Soviets that they were under nuclear attack.
The standard procedure at Serpukhov-15 was to immediately inform the Soviet military leadership of any detected launches; however, Petrov suspected the alarm was a system error.
He was aware of the satellites’ tendency for mistakes and deduced that a genuine American nuclear assault would involve a barrage of missiles, not a mere handful. Facing a crucial time-sensitive decision, Petrov decided to disregard the blaring alarms and reported the alert as a malfunction, a judgment call that potentially prevented nuclear catastrophe.
This event was kept secret until the Cold War’s conclusion, afterward, Petrov was recognized with several humanitarian honors for his decisive actions and was even acknowledged by the United Nations.
1) November 1983 – Training Exercise Nearly Leads to War
At the time, few were aware of the gravity of the situation, but historical disclosures from government records have unveiled that in November 1983, a mock NATO operation almost escalated to actual conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Known as Able Archer 83, this drill aimed to mimic a scenario where an initial Soviet onslaught in Europe might provoke a nuclear response from the U.S. These kinds of exercises were somewhat routine amidst Cold War tensions, yet Able Archer stood out due to its extensive scale and heightened sense of reality.
For this exercise the U.S. transported 19,000 troops across the Atlantic, escalated to its highest alert level of DEFCON 1, and even repositioned commands to secret sites—actions generally reserved for wartime.
The Soviet Union, observing these actions, found them eerily aligned with their expectations of American pre-strike maneuvers.
Although aware that a military exercise was in motion, the Soviets couldn’t dismiss the possibility of it being a smokescreen for an actual assault. Consequently, in the shadows, they escalated to a state of high alert and primed their nuclear weaponry.
Units stationed in East Germany and Poland were reportedly moments away from initiating their attack aircraft. They stayed on the brink of launching a counteroffensive until November 11, when the exercise concluded without incident.
In hindsight, NATO and the U.S. became cognizant of the alarming fact that their intricate war simulation had inadvertently brought the world to the cusp of a genuine global catastrophe.
Conclusion
Advancements in monitoring technology, treaties like the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and disarmament efforts bring hope for a safer future. However, there is still much work to be done. The key to preventing nuclear war is to learn from the past, continuously improve systems, and cultivate a spirit of cooperation.
However, should that fail you can be one step ahead of the apocalypse by checking out our nuclear war survival guide!
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