Always accompanying the US and Russian presidents is the fabled nuclear football.
Carrying nuclear launch codes and a satellite communications suite, this small briefcase
puts these two men in constant contact with their alert nuclear forces, and one command
from either could unleash a nuclear armageddon.
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Infographics Show- today we're asking, can
one man destroy the world?
Nuclear deterrence is the peacekeeping mission of ensuring a potential rival doesn't try
to eliminate you with a nuclear first strike by ensuring that you could do the same.
It's a mind-boggling and criminally insane concept to consider, and yet it's likely the
only thing that kept the peace between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Without the threat of any conflict turning nuclear, it's likely that these two superpowers
would have turned any of their various scruples into all-out war, repeating the conflicts
that has plagued most of European history.
Yet deterrence doesn't work unless the threat of retaliation is ever-present and serious,
and for that each nation with nuclear weapons needs a streamlined and easy to implement
nuclear command and control system.
For the US and Russia that system places the President in complete command of their nation's
nuclear forces.
In the event of war, or perhaps after a particularly bad Twitter-fight, either of these two men
could immediately order a nuclear attack on any enemy, anywhere on earth.
Unlike declaring a normal war, there needs to be no congressional approval, and once
a nuclear attack order is delivered by the President, there needs to be no consensus
from anyone beneath them- the order is simply executed.
Certainly a flawed system, as the mental stability of some Presidents may come into question,
but it is designed this way for a reason: in the event of nuclear war, the first warheads
will reach their targets in about 15 minutes.
This means that a response needs to be immediate- there can be no time for deliberation.
One hopes that each nation thus elects competent and moral men to their highest office, though
judging by the current state of affairs in both nations that's probably more hope than
reality at the moment.
The world possesses 15,000 nuclear warheads, with over 90% belonging to the US and Russia.
The US fields 6,550 nukes, with Russia having 6,850 nukes.
Yet most of these warheads are awaiting decommissioning, a positive note for the continued survival
of our species, with 2,500 retired by Russia and 2,550 retired by the US.
In their active inventory, Russia has 1,444 weapons ready to deploy, and the US has 1,350.
Russia keeps 4,350 weapons stockpiled and ready for future assignment to delivery platforms,
and the US has 4,000.
The majority of these weapons are silo-based ICBMs which are kept in large military bases
known as missile fields.
The nukes and their launch crews are kept underground in secure facilities that are
themselves secured on the outside by security personnel.
Upon being alerted by their respective governments to launch their missiles, launch officers
must verify the code delivered to them with a counter-code kept in a lockbox in their
facility.
Then each team must synchronize the launch of their missiles with each other team in
the missile field, with the missiles requiring at minimum two out of five teams to give a
launch order.
Both nations also keep nuclear strategic bombers equipped with air-delivered nuclear weapons
as the second leg of what is known as the nuclear triad.
The US Air Force's Global Strike Command is responsible for American nuclear deterrence,
and is equipped with B-1, B-2, and B-52 strategic bombers in order to carry out its mission.
These large bombers can be equipped with either 'dumb' gravity bombs, or more likely, air-launched
cruise missiles loaded with nuclear warheads.
Lastly, both the US and Russia rely on submarine-based nuclear weapons for the final leg of the nuclear
triad.
The US deploys the UGM-133 Trident II ballistic missile aboard its Ohio class submarines.
Each sub carries 24 missiles, with each missile equipped with 8-14 independently targeting
warheads.
That allows a single Trident missile to engage up to 14 different targets, and their variable
yields allows them to be used as tactical battlefield nuclear weapons, or as 'city-busters'
completely annihilating major metropolitan centers.
Russia is equipped with the R-29RMU2 Layner ballistic missile, which like its American
counterpart is equipped with multiple- up to 12- independently targeting warheads.
Each of these warheads can also have its yield independently adjusted, but unlike its American
counterpart there is a greater focus on anti-missile defense system penetration aids, with some
missiles sacrificing warheads for penetration aids.
With so much power at their disposal, its clear that yes, one man could effectively
destroy the entire world.
While checks and balances exist to limit a President's power, no such system exists to
stop the worst of possible impulses and keep a loose cannon president from launching a
nuclear armageddon.
But throughout the storied history of nuclear weapons, the responsibility of saving or destroying
the world has indeed fallen to individuals who were not presidents.
On the 27thof October, 1962, during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the US had blockaded
Cuba and threatened war if more incoming shipments of Soviet nuclear missiles tried to penetrate
the blockade.
During routine patrols, a group of eleven US destroyers and the aircraft carrier USS
Randolph discovered the Soviet Foxtrot-class submarine B-59 lurking in the depths off the
coast of Cuba.
The Americans immediately started dropping signaling depth charges- low yield charges
meant to force a sub up to the surface so it can be identified.
The B-59 had not been in contact with Moscow for several days, and running at depth as
they were they could not monitor US civilian broadcasts to stay informed of the unfolding
crisis above their heads.
The crew aboard the Soviet submarine had no idea if war had broken out yet or not, but
after being discovered and depth-charged by the Americans, the Captain of the submarine,
Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky, made up his mind that war had indeed broken out and prepared
to launch a nuclear torpedo against the American battle group.
Yet unlike other subs in the Soviet flotilla, the B-59 required that three senior officers
on board agree unanimously to authorize a nuclear launch if orders were not received,
and authenticated, straight from Moscow.
This required that the political officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov, and second-in-command
Vasili Arkhipov all agree with the captain to launch.
An argument immediately broke out, with only Arkhipov holding fast and refusing to launch.
Despite being second-in-command of this particular sub, Arkhipov was actually fleet commander
of the entire submarine flotilla and equal in rank to Captain Savitsky.
This fact, combined with his heroic actions during a disaster aboard another nuclear submarine
the previous year all helped him win the argument.
B-59 thus surfaced and contacted Moscow for orders, realizing that global nuclear war
had in fact not broken out, and that instead they had nearly initiated one themselves.
Reports after the incident discovered that the sub was running low on battery power and
that the air-conditioning had failed, which ratcheted the temperature and caused high
levels of carbon dioxide inside the sub, which are not conducive to rational thinking.
Let's all be grateful then that Arkhipov was obviously a man of pretty stern stuff, able
to keep his cool while all others around him lost it.
In 2002, Thomas Blanton, the director of the US National Security Archive, said that Arkhipov
had “saved the world”.
It's frighteningly clear that one single man can end the world, yet its equally clear that
just one man can stand between civilization and the apocalypse.
Vice Admiral Vasili Arkhipov clearly embodied the best of the Soviet Navy, and in fact the
best of all of us, and gives us hope that in a world where one man's worst demons could
pave the way to nuclear armageddon, another man's best angels could rescue it.
And since you made it all the way to the end of this video, we suggest you check out our
other video What Are The Chances of World War 3?
Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe.
See you next time.