U.S. Navy ‘quarantine’ against Soviet ships headed to Cuba goes into effect during Cuban Missile Crisis 60 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Oct 24 1962)

1960s, Cold War, U.S. Presidents


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(Wednesday, October 24, 1962, 10:00 a.m. EDT/7:00 p.m. in Moscow Standard Time; during the Cuban missile crisis, part of the Cold War) — The U.S. Navy “quarantine” against Soviet ships headed to Cuba as ordered by President John F. Kennedy went into effect this morning.

Some of the Cuban-bound Soviet freighters altered their courses to avoid the confrontation, while others proceeded.

The crisis continued unabated as the Soviet TASS news agency tonight broadcast a telegram from Khrushchev to Kennedy, in which Khrushchev warned that the United States’ “outright piracy” would lead to war.

The U.S. had announced on Oct. 22, 1962, it would not permit offensive Soviet nuclear weapons to be delivered to Cuba and demanded that the weapons already in Cuba be dismantled and returned to the Soviet Union.

By using the term “quarantine” rather than “blockade” (an act of war by legal definition), the United States was able to avoid the implications of a state of war.