The closest the world has come to nuclear war was the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. The Soviets had installed nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles off the coast of the United States. U.S. armed forces were at their highest state of readiness. Soviet field commanders in Cuba were authorized to use tactical nuclear weapons if invaded by the U.S. The fate of millions literally hinged upon the ability of two men, President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Krushchev, to reach a compromise.

On Monday, preparations had to be made for Kennedy's 7:00 p.m. (EST) TV & Radio address to the nation; a flurry of activity ensued. The State Department informed American allies around the world of Kennedy's decision. U.S. Senate leaders were called to Washington for a special briefing. They came out of the briefing surprised and doubting the effectiveness of a quarantine -- many wanted an air strike. Almost 300 Navy ships set sail, not yet having received the specific orders for a quarantine. In Guantanamo Bay, three Marine battalions were brought in to reinforce the base and military dependents were evacuated. Military alert was raised to DEFCON 3 and instructions were given to be ready to launch missiles within minutes of the President's speech. Twenty planes armed with nuclear bombs were also in the air ready to strike the U.S.S.R. At 7:00 p.m., precisely as Kennedy was beginning his speech, jet fighters took off from bases in Florida and headed south towards Cuba. If Fidel Castro decided to respond militarily, they would be ready.

Patrick Householder, Electrician, USS Chopper (SS-342): ... A non-qualified EMFN at the time, I also remember the build up to the crisis. The squadron of brand new F4s that came to Boca Chica NAS the week before and kept doing fly-arounds Key West. Then Hawk missile batteries showed up on the beaches, along with razor wire; Army troops requisitioned all the hotel space in Key West, and convoys started arriving. That was serious business.

Early in the morning of November 22, 1962, before President Kennedy's announcement to the world, I was standing topside mid-watch (midnight to 4AM at the brow (gangplank) when I noticed lights coming an at various buildings along the waterfront at the Key West Submarine Base. Then cars and trucks were seen wizzing about, and especially going to each submarine tied alongside a pier. Presently a car came alongside Chopper, and a hassled looking officer asked for the duty officer, who was then instructed to recall all our officers and crew, to stand by to take on patrol supplies, and be ready to depart by 8:00 AM! All submarines were given the same instructions. Not long afterwards, a large truck roared up to Chopper, and all hands on board commenced loading boxes of food, foul weather gear, spare parts and fuel.

At approximately 8 AM, all the submarines had their engines roaring and the smoke hung heavy over the waterfront as the first of SUBRON 12's submarines got underway. One submarine had been in minor overhaul alongside the pier, with her propellers removed, and in the haste to make ready, they were re-installed backwards! As Chopper backed away from the pier we watched them try to get to get underway; the "back 1/3' became "back 2/3", "back FULL", as the USS Atule drove ahead and slowly plowed into the seawall. They rejoined the squadron at sea later that day.

By 10 AM, the entire squadron was on the high seas (except as mentioned above) and the sight of each submarine doing a 'trim dive', one after another was quite a sight to see. Chopper turned northward and the crew was then informed sometime later by the Captain about the impending Cuban Missile Crisis blockade. Chopper steamed at speed and ran submerged to Mayport FL navy base, where we took on fuel and a UDT team, then returning south to take station off of Cuba. Chopper's mission, as I understood it, was to deliver the UDT team to a place near Havana harbor, where they would 'lock out' of the foreward escape trunk and swim into and sabotage ships and facilities in the harbor, should we receive orders to do so.

I do recall an incident, I think maybe on the blockade where we were dogging some Nuclear boat, maybe Russian, maybe ours, but when he got tired of the game, he put the pedal to the metal and all we could do is listen to him fade away in the distance. I think we were operating with some Destroyer that had the (then) new side scan sonar.

After a week or so, Russia withdrew her missiles, and Chopper returned to Key West. Later that year, President Kennedy made a visit to Key West Naval Station and stopped and boarded USS Chopper. He spoke to the Captain and Officers, thanking them for doing their duty, and departed.

John "Steamboat" Fulton; Torpedoman, USS Atule (SS-403) The Cuban missile crises was a bad time for us all, though i guess it gave us a taste of what a real war patrol may have been like in one of the old boats. I read your account in the Nova web page, and you (Pat) and I seem to have parallel experiences, up to a point.

I ALSO was on the 4-8 topside watch when the word came down to "Make all preparations to get underway". I was in charge of the Seaman gang and we had watertight integrity broken all over the boat( we were in for a 2 week upkeep). We had crewmen scattered all over, (it was a Monday morning, wasn't it?)

We worked frantically to get ready for sea, and to get everyone back aboard. Perhaps the most poignant moment for me was to see the wives and children down on the pier, crying unashamedly to see their husband leaving like this. You remember we knew NOTHING about what was going on, only that this was NOT A DRILL! I knew that this was for real when the skipper told me directly ( not through the Gun boss) to paint over the hull numbers on the sail. We also welded the Marker buoy to the superstructure ( I guess they were a safety luxury for peacetime only, depth charging could knock them loose and give away our position) We did not know where we were going nor how long we would be gone.

For me at 19 years old it was just a big adventure (we are all immortal at that age), but for young wives with children it must have been devastating. I remember we depleted the ships slush fund helping some crewmen move their families off Key West, and they stayed in debt for many months thereafter paying for this fiasco. I never forgave the Navy for this. If Key West was not safe for the Navy, what about dependents? I guess they did not want to start a mad hysteria with the public, (a calculated risk?) As I recall the Army moved in, commandeered many hotel and motels, and even placed machine guns on some of the beaches.

You are not going to believe this, but you mentioned a boat that had it's screw on backwards... THAT WAS THE ATULE, MY BOAT. It happened just as you described, with the starboard back 2/3, port ahead 1/3, and WOW I'M looking at the end of the pier!! (My sea detail station was operating the anchor, so I was right up on the bow.) The Skipper was not very happy when we had to get the Divers back to put the screw back right. I always wondered what happened to the diver who made the original mistake. By the time we left port, I think even the tugs had left.

Atule received a radio message on the way out to the sea buoy that I had just made TM2

(in fact 4 TMs on the Atule were rated that time). I thought it odd that with all the other happenings, that they would take time to pass this info to us.

Anyway, we finally passed the sea buoy and caught up with the rest of the squadron and fell into formation. It struck me that this is a hell of a way to go to war, with an entire squadron of submarine maneuverings in formation, on the surface. But what did I know, I was still an NQP. "Trouble South, Heading North " became the battle cry!

I remember some boats leaving formation and going to Mayport and Charleston, but we went on up to Norfolk. It was only then that we started to get an idea of what was going on when we started picking up civilian radio stations on the RBO. We loaded stores and torpedoes for a 90 day North Atlantic run. I remember spuds in the showers and on the deck in after battery. Our streak of bad luck was still with us, however. For reasons I still do not know, a MK 37 torpedo became activated in the FTR!!! I mean the motor started and became very hot. We were tied up outboard of the USS Orien, so we had to pull it out of the FTR and over the tender before they would let us separate the bulkheads and get the warhead away.

There are a lot of theories as to whether the batteries would melt down the torpedo bulkhead and cause the warhead to explode, but all I know is they told us we had something like 45 minutes to accomplish it, ( or maybe 45 min. is what it actually took). All I remember about the investigation is the Gun boss bitching that it cost $65,000. I hear from remarks about the Scorpion disaster that the Mk 37 was famous for hot runs aboard.

Well this is one verified instance of it happening in 1962, why didn't they take action then??? Well, we did make our Northern Run, which was not very much fun! I remember storms so bad that we had only the OD and one lookout topside, strapped into the superstructure, wearing all the foul weather gear we could muster, and rotating on 15 minute schedule. This was one of only 2 times in my Navy career I received a brandy ration from the Pharmacist Mate, and boy did it hit the spot! I don't remember how long we stayed on station, nor if we went right back to Key West, but I do know the old place sure looked good when we did get back "home".

All in all I guess we all learned a lot from the experience, as you know Submariners are famous for enduring adversities and getting the job done. It could have been a lot worse, that's for sure.

Dan Hensley,Machinists Mate, Aux Gang, USS Chopper (SS-342) At the begining of the Cuban Crisis I was in the barracks when they woke us up and said pack for thirty days, which I didn't do. As I was walking down to the boat I looked up on deck and saw Clutch Cargle, (The spook rider from our Northern Run) and I thought to myself, whoops, and went back and got my stuff. If Clutch was along, it was going to be for awhile.

Then we went to Jacksonville to the Mayport Navy base and loaded up on supplies which we stole most of. Hey, it was the first time we had unlimited access to anything. All the stealing I used to have to do and it was always for the boat so we could keep operating. We always had that damn budget to deal with.

I remember the deal with the rafts as I had to figure out how to secure all that shit. Do you remember the "guests" we had in regards to those rafts?? They were confined to the forward torpedo room.

Michael Whelan, IC Electrician, USS Chopper (SS-342) I had an apartment on Simonton St. in Key West. Someone came to the house to get me, may have been Dan Hensley, but I'm not sure. It was about 4 or 4:30 in morning if I remember. They pulled all the subs out, sending one division to Norfolk and the other division to Charleston.

I remember that the USS Atule had their screws mounted on the wrong shafts. The divers put them on in such a hurry they put them on the wrong shafts and nobody in the excitement noticed that when they tested the screws the wash went the wrong way. It was one of the fastest screw changeouts from what I heard. They blasted both screws off the shafts at the same time and then swapped them. I think they were about an hour behind.

They pulled us out of formation and sent us into Jacksonville to take on supplies for an extended cruise. I was an RPPO but the supply officer...knowing what a thief I was wouldn't let me go to the warehouse to pick up supplies. (Mr. Grieves) I think. When he got back, he did come and tell me that he should have taken me. The stories I heard was that there was one 3rd or 2nd class Storekeeper on duty and he wanted to wake the duty section but that everybody convinced him that there were enough people to help him and he didn't need to wake the whole duty section. If a dozen paring knives were ordered, a gross of them were loaded on the stake bed truck that Chopper had. It went that way with every item. If there were orders for 2 or 3 soldering irons they would load the case.

Everybody knew that something big was afloat when they saw all the spooks that had ridden us North were waiting for us on the pier. (Spooks = Communication Technicians that intercept foreign signals.) We loaded everything and everybody up and headed back towards Cuba. They called us into Key West as we were going by. "Old Guard" (Chief Graff) wouldn't answer the call because they weren't using the new call sign we had been given for the operation and finally when they did he answered and we went back to Key West.

I was told to change into Civvies and check out a car from Squadron and go to one of the local hotels and pick up some passengers. This of course was a UDT team. We then did a lot of practicing off of Sand Key with the team. If I remember right before it was over we were one of the first subs to successfully let off a team underwater and retrieve them underwater. Homing in on some sonar devices they wore and we had a line strung from the sail to the forward escape hatch that they snagged onto.

I remember that as Aux. Electrician Forward and sometimes messenger of the watch I went to the wardroom when they had a top secret meeting going on and they had pictures from a spy plane draped and covering the wardroom table. Of course the missiles turned back and the blockade was over...but I feel sure that if things had not worked out...these guys were going to go in and do away with some missiles.

Also, when we came back, to get from the boat to the barracks you had to pass through about 4 ID check points. These were manned by guys fresh out of boot camp and handed a real weapon for the first time and told to protect the station. They scared me worse than the imagined enemy. But with all this security....the Conch tour train still had open access to the base....go figger.

My thoughts when we were recalled at the beginning of this crisis....I was scared .. not so much for myself....but for the girl I was leaving behind, who would later become my wife.

An amusing story that was told to me later....was that a woman was stopped by a state trooper as she was speeding up the keys and he asked her what her big hurry was. She replied that all hell was breaking loose in Key West and she was trying to get her kids to safety...off the keys. The officer looked into the car, including the back seat and he said, "What kids, lady?" .. she had gone off and left them.

Gary G. Riddles, Electronics Technician, USS Chopper (SS-342): USS Grenadier had both of its screws off. They put them back on in a great hurry. When the Captain said all back 1/3 the USS Atule ran into the pier. They had to get the divers back to switch the screws.

I remember we were on our way up the coast and were detached from Submarine Squadron 12 and sent back to Key West. We took on UDT people. It was

great, their gear was topside and the CONCH tourist train came cruising by... Real secret!!!. Then we went out and practiced....practiced......practiced.........

Bill Brinkman, Electricians Mate, USS Sea Poacher (SS 406): I was stationed on the USS Sea Poacher SS 406 at Key West. We were in port the morning of OCT 22,1962 when the whole squadron got the word to go to sea. It was quite a sight to see all 12 submarines in addition to the Destroyers and other ships at Key West all at sea at the same time.

We were in our Key West homeport that Monday morning getting ready to do three weeks of repairs and up-keep. I was part of the duty group( 1/4 of the crew)standing watch. The idea is that only 1/4 of us could, in an emergency, take the ship to sea. Anyway, we were told at 3 AM that we should forget the up-keep because we were in an National Emergency, and that the rest of the crew were being re-called. As soon as your replacement got on board, you should go to the barracks, pack your cold-weather gear and get back to the sub.

When my relief got to the ship, I hot-footed it to the barracks, packed more gear and went to the movie house. Normally, as movie PO (Petty Officer)you had to manually inspect each movie reel for defects and sign that you did inspect them. Also each sub could only have two movies/night. Instead I told them to give me 25 movies, and signed for them without inspection. Later that day (as the other ships realized that they only had 2 movies for an indefinite time at sea) my Captain congratulated me for a smooth heads up move.

Movies and coffee were the actual bargaining items between subs for getting other items off line. We were in a great position for the next two months!

After going to sea, we had 13 subs steaming together north up the Florida coast. I remember an Esso tanker coming across the horizon change course and wonder what we were doing ( we rarely had more than 2 subs together). At about 7 PM , we rigged up a TV and heard President Kennedy tell the world about the blockade. Of course, the destroyers, cruisers and carriers went directly towards Cuba. We had a different mission.

The US Navy had about 1/2 of us peel off one at a time and go into different ports (dispersal). The rest of us continued to Charlestown, SC. After getting there, we removed any dummy torpedoes, replaced them with "warshots," loaded up with fuel, supplies, etc.

I had to get battery water from the USS Howard W. Gilmore (AS-16), a sub tender similar to the USS Bushnell (AS-15) based in Key West. All military protocol was on hold that day. I interrupted officers poring over a map of Cuba and announced I was from the Sea Poacher and needed 400 gallons of battery water. They said, "Get that man his battery water." We ended up running a garden hose from the sub tender to the sub over 1,000 feet away. It took hours to get the water thru that tiny hose!

While all this was going on, the executive officer said we could make one call home, but couldn't tell where we were or where we were going. My parents were concerned as the world situation looked bad. I believe the civilians were in worse shape then we were , as they had more information then we did. My parents stoically said to go get em and do my duty.

The executive officer also said that if you didn't have one, that you might want to make out a will! Since I only owned a beat-up 56 Chevy, I didn't think a will was necessary. After loading up with 24 warshot torpedoes, we were ready to sail. We actually started out of Charlestown harbor when the Pentagon lowered the DEFCON rating one notch. So Sea Poacher went back to the pier.

We talked to the Captain and asked him what our orders were, but because he could open them up only at Sea even he didn't know as we didn't get out to sea. (Actually, since our biggest gun was the Thompson Submachine gun, we were useless in the blockade.)

During this time, the Russians were sending more transports with missiles on them to Cuba, and being watched by Naval air units. So, we knew that our mission probably was to sink those ships if the Russians didn't turn around.

After a few days, we and another sub and the sub rescue ship Penguin went 60 miles up the Charles river to Georgetown, SC for dispersal reasons.

During this time, we were glad to see our UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson pointedly ask the Soviet Ambassador Andrei Gromyko at the UN to confess to having missiles in Cuba.

On our crew of 100, we only had one officer express glee at the thought of all out war with the Russians. The other 99 of us knew that it wouldn't be just a matter of painting Russian flags on our conning tower, but instead mean countless civilian deaths. On the other hand, I was secure in the fact that we had been training for this, and that we were a well-oiled machine. We would do our duty and protect the USA.

President Kennedy came to Key West after the crisis and we were ashamed to hear that the mayor greeted him with a bent key to the city to "symbolize how Key West's economy was hurt by the crisis."

During the crisis, the military took over Key West. The Marines had Harrier jets, barbed wire was placed on the beaches, the Boca Chica Naval Air Station was packed with US Navy & US Air force planes, etc.

We were awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for our participation in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.