How Close We Were

[TheCommandTent]

During 10 days in November 1983, the United States and the Soviet Union nearly started a nuclear war. Newly declassified documents from the CIA, NSA, KGB, and senior officials in both countries reveal just how close we came to mutually assured destruction — over a military exercise.

That exercise, Able Archer 83, simulated the transition by NATO from a conventional war to a nuclear war, culminating in the simulated release of warheads against the Soviet Union. NATO changed its readiness condition during Able Archer to DEFCON 1, the highest level. The Soviets interpreted the simulation as a ruse to conceal a first strike and readied their nukes. At this period in history, and especially during the exercise, a single false alarm or miscalculation could have brought Armageddon.

According to a diplomatic memo obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by National Security Archives researcher Nate Jones, Soviet General Secretary Yuri Adroprov warned U.S. ambassador Averell Harriman six months before the crisis that both countries "may be moving toward a red line" in which a miscalculation could spark a nuclear war. Harriman later wrote that he believed Andropov was concerned "over the state of U.S.-Soviet relations and his desire to see them at least 'normalized,' if not improved."

The early 1980s was a "crisis period, a pre-wartime period," said Gen. Varfolomei Korobushin, the former deputy chief of staff of the Soviet nuclear Strategic Rocket Forces, according to an interview conducted by the Pentagon in the early 1990s and obtained by Jones. The Kremlin's Central Committee slept in shifts. There were fears the deployment of Pershing II ballistic missiles to Europe (also in November 1983) could tip the balance. If a conventional war erupted, Soviet planners worried their troops would come close to capturing the nuclear-tipped missiles, prompting the United States to fire them.

The Soviet Union, according to an unclassified article written for the CIA's classified Studies in Intelligence journal and provided to Jones, notes that Soviet fears of a preemptive American nuclear attack "while exaggerated, were scarcely insane." This stemmed from the Soviet experience during World War II, when the Third Reich launched Operation Barbarossa, the largest invasion in human history. Soviet officials worried history might be repeated by NATO.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/05/able-archer-scare/

[GDS_Starfury]

theres a great documentary on the military channel about this.

[mirth]

I saw this the other day. Very interesting.

[Gusington]

 :o

What's the documentary called?

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Going to DECON 1 over a training exercise? What genius made that happen?

[mirth]

Going to DECON 1 over a training exercise? What genius made that happen?

Joshua.

[Gusington]

Ally Sheedy was very helpful in alleviating the situation.

[W8taminute]

Ally Sheedy was very helpful in alleviating the situation.

I wouldn't mind getting a helping hand from her to alleviate my situation.   :D

[besilarius]

The Sovs could be very sensitive when something unexpected happened.
In Thanksgiving of 1972, the wives and families of sailors on USS Manley, were given the chance to go to the island of Rhodes, where the ship was having a port call of a few days.
Manley was homeported in Athens at the time, so the first thought was the ship would have a family cruise to Rhodes.  Unfortunately, the semi-annual InChop of Soviet submarines occurred just before the port visit was schedule.  All available destroyers in the Sixth Fleet were massed around the straits of Gibraltar.  When the Soviet subs came in, a DD or two, would shadow them.
Manley was assigned a sub that acted differently.  This ship anchored on the shore and we could hear the sounds of banging in the hull.  Something wasn't working right.
Eventually, it got underway on the surface, heading west to Cuba.  The needed repairs could not be accomplished out of a shipyard.  Well, we were told to hang around in case this move was a ploy.
The captain then asked the staff, what will we do about the family cruise?  This had been the last thing on their minds.
They calculated it was now impossible to make the scheduled arrival.  So Manley was directed to go to Rhodes, and the carrier Independence (IIRC) was suddenly sent charging into Athens.
It arrived in Phaleron Bay at about 2AM, picked up a large group of dependents, and left before sunrise.
There was a soviet tattletale shadowing the carrier, so the Sovs knew where she was, but didn't know what was going on.  To make Rhodes on time, the carrier cranked it up to 27 knots.  Still okay, there was a Riga DD following, but where was the carrier heading - Israel, Egypt, Syria?  And who were that group of civilians taken aboard in the dark under suspicious circumstances?
Early in the day, the Riga, an old WWII tin can, abruptly belched black smoke and fell way behind, and out of sight.  The bridge watch on the Indy chuckled.  Their biggest concern up to then had been that some of the wives complained about a dearth of napkins and baby formula. 
Then the EW shack sent up word that the Riga had gone on the air and was telling the world.  They counted eight circuits he was sending out Flash messages on.
Later we found out that a regiment of Bear Ds were preparing to launch from the Crimea, planes were going out from Egypt, and Syria rushed out their Osa/Komar missile boats from port.
The wives were happy to be on a carrier because no one got seasick.
I've wondered on occasion how the Soviet Navy justified the Operational funds for all this activity to track a group of wives and children (who just happened to be on a carrier).

[bob48]

lol - another great sea-story, bes.