Bombing of the USS Randolph (Midnight)

The bombing of the USS Randolph was a nuclear attack by the Soviet submarine B-59 against the American aircraft carrier Randolph in the afternoon of October 27, 1962 in response to being targeted by American depth charges. The destruction of the Randolph is typically heralded as the ultimate catalyst for the Third World War and is the event most associated with the infamous Black Saturday, which marked the first official day of the war.

Following an intense standoff in the Caribbean, the Soviet Union and the United States stood at the brink of war. Both nations, fearing nuclear war and its consequences, were engaged in diplomatic talks to prevent war. However, due to the recent Bay of Pigs invasion, Fidel Castro believed a United States invasion of mainland Cuba was inevitable. He wrote to Nikita Khrushchev (Midnight)Nikita Khrushchev]] of the Soviet Union requesting nuclear retaliation should the United States attempt a second invasion. The situation evolved into nuclear war even before the United States launched its invasion.

B-59, which had been out of radio contact for two days, was armed with a nuclear-tipped warhead. The submarine had permission to launch this warhead should it be struck by United States forces. The USS Beale, which had been part of the US quarantine line north of the Caribbean, forced the B-59 to surface. The sub, targeted by US forces and already suffering from a number of mechanical failures, began the process of surfacing while captain Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky and the other commanding officers on the submarine panicked and elected to launch the 15-kt nuclear torpedo at the American quarantine line. The aircraft carrier USS Randolph) was targeted by the torpedo. Both the USS Randolph and the B-59 sank with all lives aboard.

The launch of this nuclear weapon triggered a subsequent nuclear exchange over the Caribbean between Soviet and United States vessels during the following days and an immediate invasion of Cuba. It set the precedent for further use of nuclear weapons in warfare, both during and after World War III. President John F. Kennedy decried the attack a 'double-cross' due to prior Soviet willingness to end the Cuban Missile Crisis diplomatically. Krushchev backed the Soviet launch, calling it a 'necessary action in the face of failed diplomacy' while Castro still believed the attack to be the first 'combined Marxist nuclear retaliation in the face of imperial aggression.' The event led to further co-operation between both Communist and Capitalist nations while further alienated the first and second worlds while accelerating the radicalization of the third world. It is today seen as one of the most important events in human history.