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In a televised address at 7 pm, Kennedy reveals the missiles, announces the quarantine and warns that any missile launched from Cuba will be met with a full retaliatory response against the Soviet Union.

• US forces go to DEFCON 3.
• The Navy plans the quarantine line 800 nautical miles from Cuba.
• Families are evacuated from Guantánamo Bay.

Kennedy tells the world (22 October 1962)

The final decision is taken: the quarantine goes ahead and the air strike is put off. Warships leave Norfolk and Florida for the approaches to Cuba.

• The air force says it cannot promise to destroy every missile in one strike.
• Kennedy asks newspapers to hold the story until his address.

The quarantine force sails (21 October 1962)

The Organization of American States backs the quarantine and Kennedy signs the proclamation. The Aleksandrovsk, carrying nuclear warheads, slips into the port of La Isabela. Khrushchev orders some of the missile ships to turn back.

• The line is pulled in from 800 to 500 nautical miles to give Moscow more time.
• Low-level reconnaissance flights over Cuba begin.

The quarantine is signed (23 October 1962)

A 13-day confrontation in October 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. The US answered with a naval quarantine of the island; the crisis ended when Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in return for a US pledge not to invade Cuba and, secretly, the removal of US missiles from Turkey.

Sections

Kennedy tells the world (22 October 1962)

Process details

Map

Impact summary