Soviet Foxtrots: Cuban Missile Crisis

Loaded with nuke-tipped torpedos

Preface

 

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis is full of fascinating yet sobering stories. Many of these stories have been thoroughly examined. The one that caught my attention involves four Soviet Foxtrot submarines sent to Cuban waters, each equipped with a single nuclear-tipped torpedo that could destroy a US carrier group. One of the skippers almost launched one.

 

It is debatable whether the US leadership was aware that these submarines were on their way. The Navy and US intelligence agencies seemed to have known about this early on. However, no one knew these submarines were armed with nuclear-tipped torpedoes. Even more concerning, no one in the US knew that the submarine captains were authorized to use them at will, without any command or control from Moscow.

 

I recommend two books to you. Read these two, and you'll get the full picture of what happened, and you'll see that I have only scratched the surface.

 

•    One Minute to Midnight, Michael Dobbs 

•    October Fury, by Peter Huchthausen

 

I'll skip the lengthy background of the Cuban crisis and focus on these submarines.

 

The Cuban Missile Crisis and this story are over 60 years old. A lot of information has emerged since then, much of it from the Soviets (Russians). This is especially true when reading about events inside the Soviet Foxtrot submarines. American authorities were not aware of these. 

 

Operations Anadyr and KAMA

 

“Operation Anadyr” was the name of the overall Soviet operation to deliver and install a range of modern weapons in Cuba, almost all nuclear-capable, including ballistic surface-to-surface missiles. “Operation KAMA” was the Soviet naval component and is the one I will focus on.

 

Norman Polmar, writing “The Soviet Navy’s Caribbean Outpost,” published in the October 2012 edition of Naval History Magazine, described the breadth of this undertaking:

 

“Operation Anadyr—the Soviet codename for the movement of strategic missiles and protective air, ground, and naval forces almost 8,000 miles from the USSR to Cuba—was one of the most remarkable undertakings of the entire Cold War.”

 

“Operation KAMA” was intended to deploy short-range nuclear missiles to Cuba. The plan involved sending four Project 641 Foxtrot (NATO designation) diesel attack submarines from the Kola Peninsula. They were to be followed by seven Project 629 Golf-class ballistic missile submarines, each carrying three SS-N-4 SARK nuclear missiles. 

 

The Soviet strategy was to base these submarines in Cuba at Mariel, located on the north shore just west of Havana. Additional ships and nuclear submarines were also to be dispatched. This plan did not unfold as intended.

 

The Soviets determined the Golf submarines were not ready for such a deployment, so they were scrubbed. To my knowledge, only the four Project 641 Foxtrots made the voyage, although there were other Soviet submarines in the Atlantic.

 

The weapons delivery to Cuba was accomplished by Soviet cargo ships, as many as 25 or more moving toward Cuba.

 

Go to Introduction to the Soviet Foxtrot submarine