During the Cold War, the world was twice on the brink of an atomic conflagration. In October 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a Soviet Navy officer, Vasili Arkhipov, aboard the submarine B-59, isolated and shaken by depth charges dropped by United States destroyers, refused to press the nuclear button. To detonate the torpedo, the unanimous decision of the commander, himself, and the political officer was required. Unlike the other two, Arkhipov said no.