unlike the other subs in the flotilla, three officers on board "b-59" had to agree unanimously to authorize a nuclear launch: captain savitsky, the political officer ivan semonovich maslennikov, and the flotilla commodore (and executive officer of b-59) arkhipov. typically, russian submarines armed with the "special weapon" only required the captain to get authorization from the political officer to launch a nuclear torpedo, but due to arkhipov's position as commodore, "b-59"s captain also was required to gain arkhipov's approval. an argument broke out, with only arkhipov against the launch.