National Security Archive
George Washington University
Cuban Missile Crisis
Materials from the 40th Anniversary Conference
Havana, Cuba
10-12 October 2002
"On the most dangerous day of the crisis, Saturday, 27 October 1962, notes from the Joint Chiefs detail a crescendo of alarming news...
...the US Navy was dropping a series of "signaling depth charges" (equivalent to hand grenades) on a Soviet submarine... the Soviet signals intelligence officer, Vadim Orlov, on the receiving end inside submarine B-59, [said] the depth charges felt like "sledgehammers on a metal barrel."
Unbeknownst to the Navy, the submarine carried a nuclear-tipped torpedo with orders that allowed its use if the submarine was "hulled" (hole in the hull from depth charges or surface fire)."
We missed a nuclear exchange that day by a hair's breadth. Here's the Soviet sumariner's account of events on board as they argued whether to launch the nuke..
[pdf file] "We will sink them all but we will not disgrace our Navy!"
Excerpt:
"The temperature in the compartments... was unbearably stuffy. The CO2 in the air reached a critical practically deadly for people mark. One of the duty officers fainted and fell down. Then another one followed, then the third one... But we were still holding on, trying to escape. We were suffering like this for about four hours. The Americans hit us with... apparently a practical depth bomb. We though -- that's it -- the end. After this attack, the totally exhausted Savitsky, who in addition to everything, was not able to establish connection with the General Staff, became furious. He summoned the officer who was assigned to the nuclear torpedo, and ordered him to assemle it to battle readiness. "Maybe the war has already started up there, while we are doing summersaults here" - screamed emotional Valentin Grigorievich, trying to justify his order. "We're going to blast them now! We will die, but we will sink them all - we will not disgrace our Navy!" But we did not fire the nuclear torpedo - Savitsky was able to rein in his wrath."