Submarines in History

On October 26, 1963,the first submerged launching of the Navy’s A-3 Polaris Missile was successfully made by the gold crew of the USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN-619), from a point some 30 miles off Cape Canaveral, Florida. A practice warhead was hurled over 2,000 miles down the Atlantic Missile Range to land on target. The A-3 Missile, with a range of 2,500 nautical miles, added 1,000 miles to the reach of the Polaris missile system.

As we think about the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis from 50 years ago, we would be remiss if we didn't remember the Soviet submarines involved in that action. Recent the PBS program Secrets of the Dead aired a program on one of these submarines.

Set over four hours on October 27, 1962, during the tensest moments of the Cuban Missile Crisis, this program tells the powerful story of Vasili Arkhipov and Soviet submarine B-59. With most of the action set in a claustrophobic submarine running out of air, “The Man Who Saved the World” combines tense drama with eyewitness accounts and expert testimony about some of the most critical events in the Cold War. You can click on the Full Screen icon in the lower right corner to expand the video. If the embedded video isn't working, go to this link to watch the program.

Watch The Man Who Saved the World: Full Episode on PBS. See more from Secrets of the Dead.