On this day, January 17, in 1960
On March 7, 1960, the American aircraft carrier Kearsarge saved Soviet soldiers who had drifted in the ocean for 49 days without food or water. This incident became world famous and eclipsed most of the political news of the time.
In January 1960, the self-propelled barge T-36 filled the role of a floating transshipment point near the island of Iturup on the South Kurile ridge. This vessel operated at a maximum speed of 9 knots per hour, and would sail up to nearly 1,000 feet away from the coast in order to deliver ammunition and food to large ships that could not approach the island’s rocky shore.
On the night of January 17, 1960, a hurricane arose, which broke T-36‘s anchorage and carried the barge out to sea. The crew had been neither warned about the approaching storm nor provided with the requisite 10-day rations. There were four soldiers aboard: junior sergeant Askhat Ziganshin, and rank and file Philip Poplavsky, Anatoly Kryuchkovsky and Ivan Fedotov.
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/49-days-in-the-ocean.html
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were at 317 parts per million.
As of 2026 they are 428ppm at and rising rapidly. Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.
Btw, the point(s) of this project is …. the how, the who the hell am I and the what do I currently believe?
The context was oh, sailors are always going adrift. It’s a big ocean. This though, during the Cold War will have offered the US some embarrassment material. Or at least a distraction from the lie Eisenhower got caught in over Gary Powers.
Why care?
I’m a geek with probably a whole bunch of undiagnosed TLAs. This is my way of coping.
(How) does it connect to climate change?
Nope
What happened next
The Soviet system collapsed under the weight of its own contradictions, with the visible portion being 1989-1992.
How does it help us understand the world?
Afaik, it doesn’t
How does it help us act in the world?
Afaik, it doesn’t
The source that it comes from, if necessary,
Xxx
The other things that you could read about this or watch
Gericault and The Raft of the Medusa.
(There’s a fun take on this in Julian Barnes History of the World in 10 and a half chapters.)
What do you think?
If you have opinions or info about this, or other things that happened on this day that are worth knowing, let me know!
Also on this day
Etc