'Mr. President,The Navy Will Not Let You Down'

摘要

From manning quarantine lines to flying reconnaissance missions to preparing for an invasion, the U.S. Navy playid instrumental roles during the Cuban Missile Crisis 50 years ago. On a tense day in October 1962, the USS Allan M. Sumner (DD-692) was about 500 miles off the northern shore of Cuba, trailing a Soviet freighter. President John F. Kennedy, after learning that the Soviet Union was sending ballistic missiles to the island nation, had proclaimed a quarantine against ships carrying offensive arms there. The Cuban Missile Crisis had moved from the White House and the Kremlin to the sea, and suddenly the crisis was focused on the Sumner. "I was in the wheelhouse," Quartermaster Third Class Bob Bourassa remembered. "