Nuclear weapon
A weapon that derives its explosive force from energy released by nuclear fission or fusion, yielding power incomparable to that of conventional explosives of the same mass.
During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet sub B-59 was hit by U.S. depth charges; its captain prepared a nuclear torpedo launch. All three senior officers had to agree, but Vasili Arkhipov alone refused. His no is credited with preventing Nuclear war.
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In 1983, during the Cold War, a Soviet Union early warning system detected 5 US missile launches. Officer Stanislav Petrov judged it a false alarm — reasoning the US would launch everything if starting a nuclear war. He was right: the satellite had mistaken sunlight for launch flashes.
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