The US destroyers were not only dropping practice depth charges, but they were also dropping grenades off the side. They were having a merry old time since they knew the diesel sub had to come up some time for air.
What they didn 't know was the B59 had one nuke torpedo on board.
The Russians knew they were not under actual attack, but being forced to surface, (or in their view surrender Russia's honor). However the psychological state on the sub had deteriorated badly, due to stress, lack of food and water (one cup a day per man), and of course lack of air. The CO levels on the sub were very bad too, and the temperature was over 100 degrees. That Arkhipov was able to keep his wits in that environment was impressive.
Arkipov was also on board K19, so that his experience with the dangers of radiation (the only one on B59 who did), were very real in his mind. It is said that the radiation exposure he received on K19 directly lead to his death.
Another gentleman to note in this regard is Stanislav Petrov.
