At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet patrol submarine
B-59 almost launched a nuclear-armed
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.
[14] USS Beale began dropping practice
depth charges to signal
B-59 to surface; however the captain of the Soviet submarine and its
zampolit took these to be real depth charges.
[15] With low
batteries affecting the submarine's life support systems and unable to make contact with
Moscow, the commander of
B-59 feared that war had already begun and ordered the use of a 10-kiloton nuclear torpedo against the American fleet. The
zampolit agreed, but the chief of staff of the flotilla (second in command of the flotilla)
Vasily Arkhipov refused permission to launch. He convinced the captain to calm down, surface, and make contact with Moscow for new orders.