But they went ahead with the test anyway!

When you read about the near misses and accidents that almost were, it’s hair raising. The book command and control is about this. https://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Ill... https://thebulletin.org/premium/2023-05/introduction-near-mi...

This is a good place to add to the reading list: strongly recommend Command and Control as well, by Eric Schlosser: https://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Ill...

Command & Control[0] details the stupid mistakes very well. There were many, many glitches.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Ill...

On the contrary, the USA has accidently dropped nuclear missiles from planes, and have experience all kinds of other incompetence over the decades.

https://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Ill...

Obligatory recommendation of the riveting book Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety by Eric Schlosser

https://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Ill...

Another similar book is Command And Control by Eric Schlosser.

It goes into a lot of detail about how nuclear weapons and their control systems evolved. Covers a number of accidents and near apocalypses along the way. One of my favorite books of the last decade, informative and very readable at the same time.

https://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Ill...

If you take Command and Control[0] to be an authoritative source, then no I don't believe so. We've come close to accidentally launching on both sides but no combat deployment has occurred, if it did it would likely be the end of our current civilization.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Command-Control-Damascus-Accident-Ill...

Command and Control by Eric Schlosser[0] was a fascinating (and chilling) read about many of the incidents people have mentioned in the comments here. It focuses closely on the 374-7 Damascus Incident, but covers many many other “Broken Arrow”[1] incidents that have occurred.

It’s not a short read, but it’s eye-opening from the engineering perspective that nuclear arsenals are wildly complicated beasts with on-going maintenance, like any machine.

EDIT: It’s also available as a documentary on Netflix[2] Not as in-depth, but it covers the Damascus incident pretty well.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143125788

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_nuclear...

[2] https://www.netflix.com/title/80107656