FIRST SOVIET SHIP STOPPED AT BLOCKADE LINE
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On October 26, 1962, the first Soviet ship bound for Cuba was stopped and searched by the United States Navy. The Marucla, a Lebanese freighter, was chartered by the USSR.
Although having declared only a cargo of paper, sulfur and spare truck parts, the freighter was stopped and searched by the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., a destroyer named for JFK's brother who was killed in World War II. The ship was manned primarily by a Greek crew.
Michael Dobbs writes that the Marucla was selected as the first ship to stop because it was very likely NOT to be carrying Soviet missiles. As President Kennedy said the previous day...
"We've got to prove sooner or later that the blockade works"
SOURCES
"'Let Us Begin Anew', An Oral History of the Kennedy Presidency, " by Gerald S. and Deborah H. Strober, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 1993.
"One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War," Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2008.
USAF Photo (1962)
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On October 26, 1962, the first Soviet ship bound for Cuba was stopped and searched by the United States Navy. The Marucla, a Lebanese freighter, was chartered by the USSR.
Although having declared only a cargo of paper, sulfur and spare truck parts, the freighter was stopped and searched by the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., a destroyer named for JFK's brother who was killed in World War II. The ship was manned primarily by a Greek crew.
Michael Dobbs writes that the Marucla was selected as the first ship to stop because it was very likely NOT to be carrying Soviet missiles. As President Kennedy said the previous day...
"We've got to prove sooner or later that the blockade works"
SOURCES
"'Let Us Begin Anew', An Oral History of the Kennedy Presidency, " by Gerald S. and Deborah H. Strober, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 1993.
"One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War," Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2008.
USAF Photo (1962)
