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On October 14 and 15, 1962, a U-2 flyover of the island, which had been recommended after Soviet Colonel Oleg Penkovsky had given the US intelligence services the exact coordinates, revealed the launching pads and pending installations of the medium-range missiles. From the beginning, the Soviets had made little attempt to camouflage these systems and their eventual outing was pretty much a formality once their locations were given.
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On October 20, on the advice of DoD Secretary Robert McNamara, President Kennedy imposed a 183-ship naval blockade of the island, among which were eight aircraft carriers and 40,000 Marines on transport ships. He also sent 579 combat planes to Florida along with five army divisions and put two elite air divisions on alert, the 82nd and 101st airborne.
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With the news that the U-2 planes had spotted the launch pads, Cuba's reaction was to go on full alert. The installations, which had already been proceeding at maximum speed, were accelerated even more. On October 16, no launch pad was ready. By the 18th, there were eight and by the 21st, there were twenty. The entire country was mobilized. 300,000 people were brought up for active duty. On October 23, Â Fidel Castro spoke to the nation, denouncing the US aggression and warning of the risk of imminent invasion.
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The entire affair moved to an even greater height of tension on October 24, 1962, at 2:00 pm on the high Atlantic seas off the coast of Cuba. At that moment, 23 Soviet vessels came into contact with the 183-ship blockade by the US. Had either side launched even one missile in attack on the other, war could have easily broken out.
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