The Cuban missile crisis came close to all out nuclear war

Wednesday, 15 November 2017

A ballistic missile base in Cuba, the evidence with which President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

By 1956 the race to acquire nuclear weapons and the suspicion that one side would have the technological advantage, racked up tension between the superpowers.

A vivid story of the situation is provided in the Discovery History TV documentary, Vulcans, Victors and Cuba. On October 4, 1957 the announcement the Soviets had sent the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into space only served to accelerate the arms race.

When President Kennedy found out Russian nuclear missile bases being constructed in Cuba his military advisers recommended an air strike on Cuba followed by invasion.

If that wasn't enough, on May 1, 1960 the Soviets again achieved a coup by shooting down a U2 spy plane over their territory, shocking the Americans who believed that their spy planes flew well out of reach of the Russian Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs). Tension further increased when the West refused to withdraw its armed forces from West Berlin and the East Germans responded by surrounding that part of the city with a wall.

Just to drive home the message, in Autumn 1961, the Soviets broke a moratorium on nuclear tests and detonated the Tsar Bomb which is still the largest human-made explosion in history.

Then came the fateful day, Monday October 15, 1962, almost exactly 55 years ago. Examining spy photographs, US specialists were alarmed to see Russian nuclear missile bases being constructed in Cuba. These bases would put nearly every city in the United States within range.

President Kennedy's military advisers recommended an air strike on Cuba followed by invasion. The vast US Army was mobilised and preparations made for the largest drop of paratroopers since D-Day.

More than 100 US bombers were instructed to remain airborne all of the time, fully armed and ready to attack. A massive Naval fleet headed towards the Caribbean.

It was only when Kennedy was told that an invasion of the island would involve the loss of at least 18,500 US troops that he reconsidered. He instructed that a naval blockade of Cuba be put in place thus beginning a diplomatic impasse.

Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic the situation in the UK was, if anything, more dire. It was realised that in any conflict with the US, the Soviets would probably conduct a pre-emptive strike on the nuclear capable UK. It would take only 15 minutes for Russian nuclear missiles to reach targets in the UK.

The British deterrent was nuclear armed V-bomber jet aircraft which would have to be scrambled and in the air within 15 minutes en route to Russia, this meant British pilots had to sleep in vans parked next to their aircraft. The giant Vulcan and Victor bombers were ingeniously engineered to be able to start their huge engines and support systems with the push of one button by the pilot so that they were ready for take off within two minutes.

Prime minster Harold Macmillan ruled out pre-emptive nuclear strikes, so the V-bombers would head to Russia knowing that the cities of London, Manchester and Glasgow were already being vapourised and that the bomber pilots'; families and air base would be no more.

Two nuclear bombs each, were destined for Moscow and Leningrad. One hour into the flight the weapons systems would be prepared and the aircraft windows shuttered to protect the crew from the blinding blast radiation. A strict order of attack would be observed to avoid one bomber flying through the blast wave of the explosion delivered by the aircraft ahead.

Any aircraft which managed to dodge Soviet air defences would return to the UK and have to address the problem of where to land in a devastated Britain. Each day during the Cuban Crisis, for two long weeks, the air crews had to face the increasing probability of this nuclear Armageddon. Finally on October 29, 1962, Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev said he would dismantle the bases. Kennedy quickly assured him the US would not invade Cuba.

The Discovery History TV documentary points out that, it was only afterwards the Americans learnt the Soviet generals in Cuba had been authorised to command a nuclear strike on the US if the Americans had invaded. It was a terrifying thought - if Kennedy had decided the troop losses to invade Cuba were acceptable, it would mostly likely have meant all out nuclear war.

Roger Hanson will be giving a talk 'What is wrong with Betelgeuse – should we be worried?' at the Observatory, Marsden Hill on November 18 at 7.30pm, all welcome.