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.
