"At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet patrol submarine B-59 almost launched a nuclear-tipped torpedo while under harassment by American naval forces. One of several vessels surrounded by American destroyers near Cuba, B-59 dove to avoid detection and was unable to communicate with Moscow for a number of days.[11] USS Beale began dropping practice depth charges to signal B-59 to surface, however the Soviet submarine took these to be real depth charges.[12] With low batteries affecting the submarine's life support systems and without orders from Moscow, the commander of B-59 believed that war may have already begun and ordered the use of a 10-kiloton nuclear torpedo against the American fleet. The submarine political officer agreed, but commander of the sub-flotilla Vasili Arkhipov persuaded the captain to surface and await orders."<p>we came very close to a nuclear war that day