1983 False Alarm
In the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the USS Beale (a destroyer) noticed a submarine below the surface. With the classic American pleasantries, they began to drop depth charges, to invite the submarine to surface. The international waters didn't bother them. Moscow had ghosted the Submarine for a few days, and once the Submarine sank to avoid contact with the Americans, they lost all contact with the American broadcasts, leaving them unable to eavesdrop. To those on board, it seemed as if a war had broken out. The B-59 The submarine itself was diesel-electric. It had a submerged speed of 16 knots, about half of the 11 chasing US destroyers, and held 22 torpedoes. Had it not been for the one nuclear-tipped torpedo, it was mostly harmless. But unlike the other submarines in its flotilla (the B-4, B-36, and B-130), it held the flotilla's commodore. He was second-in-command on this particular submarine, but in the event of a nuclear launch, he had a vote, along