Chronological view
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Step 5 of 14 · Saturday 20 October 1962
Kennedy picks the blockade
Kennedy returns to Washington, citing a cold, and chooses a naval blockade, called a "quarantine" because a blockade is an act of war. The air strike stays as a fallback.
- The quarantine will stop offensive weapons only, not food or fuel.
- Ships of the Second Fleet get ready to sail.
- United States
- Soviet Union
- Submarine
- R-12 range, ~1,900 km
- R-14 range, ~4,000 km
On the map
United States
- USS Essex · Norfolk, Virginia
- USS Newport News · Norfolk, Virginia
- USS Enterprise · Off Key West
Soviet Union
- Aleksandrovsk · Carrying nuclear warheads
- Kimovsk · Carrying R-14 missiles
- Yuri Gagarin
- Poltava
- B-59 · Foxtrot submarine with a nuclear torpedo
- B-130 · Foxtrot submarine
Ship positions are approximate and show the situation of the day, not exact tracks.