The Soviets that Saved the World Quiz

Answer: K-19: The Widowmaker

In "K-19: The Widowmaker" Arkhipov is portrayed as Captain Mikhail Polenin, played by Liam Neeson. While the movie took several liberties with the facts (such as the submarine being nicknamed "Hiroshima" by the crew), the near-disaster and near-mutiny are portrayed well.

After the accident, Arkhipov was assigned to the B-59 submarine, where he would have an even more substantial impact on history.

Answer: Cuban Missile Crisis

On October 16, President Kennedy was notified that Soviet ballistic missiles had been transferred to Cuba. The naval blockade of the country began on October 22, and it didn't take long for ships to start challenging it. Three days later, the first Soviet tanker was inspected by two American ships and allowed to pass through.

However, on October 27, the submarine B-59 would not experience such a calm encounter.

Answer: Fire a nuclear-tipped torpedo at the fleet

Captain Savitsky was under the impression that war had already begun between the two nations as eleven destroyers and one aircraft carrier began depth charging the area in order to force them to surface, despite Soviet officers being told that this was the American default strategy.

He planned on launching a nuclear-tipped torpedo to free his ship, but luckily Arkhipov persuaded him against the action, which could easily have led to rapid escalation to an all-out war.

Answer: He persuaded both Savitsky and Maslennikov to surface the ship and get orders from Moscow

In his book "Hegemony or Survival" Noam Chomsky noted what Thomas Blanton, the director of the National Security Archive, said in 2002. Blanton said that "that in October 1962 the world war 'one word away' from nuclear war. 'A guy named Arkhipov saved the world.' "

Answer: Vice Admiral

In 1981, Arkhipov was promoted to Vice Admiral, after serving as the head of the Kirov Naval Academy for six years. His career served as a large inspiration for both "K-19: The Widowmaker" and "Crimson Tide" - although the latter takes place aboard an American submarine ready to launch missiles at the Soviet Union. From his beginnings in World War II to his eventual retirement around 40 years later, Arkhipov served as a model officer, and will forever be a remembered a hero.

Answer: US Representative

While traveling to Seoul, South Korea, in order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the mutual defense treaty between the US and South Korea, KAL 007 was shot down by Soviet fighters when it entered Soviet airspace. The USSR released two different versions of events: that the flight was being used to spy on their country and that the US was using it to test Soviet defenses. McDonald, a US Representative from Georgia, was aboard and became the only sitting member of Congress killed by the Soviet Union.

Answer: He concluded it was a false alarm, since five missiles were not an all-out attack

Everything in Petrov's training told him that in that exact scenario, he had to notify his superiors so they could decide whether or not to launch a counter-strike. He knew that if the United States were to launch a nuclear strike, it would be with more than five missiles, and the computer system had questionable reliability. So, with nothing left but intuition, he did nothing.

Answer: Satellites in place were not in geosynchronous orbits and actually detected light bouncing off of clouds

Rather than placing their satellites in geosynchronous orbits, the Soviet early warning satellites were in highly-elliptical Molniya orbits. Sunlight bounced off high-altitude clouds, and they mistook it for missile launches. After the incident, the error was corrected and, as far as we know, never happened again.

Answer: He was neither rewarded nor punished

Petrov reported that Colonel General Yury Votintsev noted his actions were the correct ones, and promised him a reward. However, after receiving nothing of the kind, Petrov later realized that he could hardly be rewarded without someone else being punished, most notably whoever set up the satellites. Petrov was reassigned to another post, and took "early retirement" - he maintains he was not kicked out of the army.

Answer: World Citizen Award

Col. Gen. Yury Votintsev was the man who finally let the world know of Petrov's heroics via his memoirs in the 1990s. The Association of World Citizens did not take his actions lightly, and in 2004 awarded him the World Citizen Award. In 2006, Petrov visited the United Nations in New York, and again received the award before having an interview with Walter Cronkite.