This might apply as well (from the Bedford Incident):
Commodore Schrepke: This is insane!
Captain Finlander: Now don’t worry, Commodore. The Bedford’ll never fire first. But if he fires one, I’ll fire one.
Ensign Ralston: [launching the rocket] Fire One!
What a movie!
I saw on wikipedia that there was a similar incident during the Cuban missile crisis that almost started WW3: