Sept. 21, 1962
Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko accuses the U.S. government of drumming up "war hysteria" and states that anyone "knows that Cuba is not building up her forces [to] pose a threat to the U.S." He goes on to warn that any U.S attack on Cuba or a Cuba-bound ship would trigger war.
Meanwhile the Soviet cargo ship Orenburg leaves for Cuba from Nikolaev with seven R-12 missiles.
A CIA source overhears a Cuban official boasting that Soviets in Cuba are working on a "nuclear weapons base."
Sept. 22, 1962
The Soviet cargo ship Kimovsk arrives in the Cuban port of Casilda with eight R-12 missiles. A sister ship, the Krasnograd -- shown above -- is photographed by American reconnaissance planes, while carrying six R-12 missiles. U.S. analysts note that it has "an extra large hatch."
Sept. 23, 1962
A CIA source in Cuba reports that 45-50 ft. tubes have been seen being unloaded in La Isabela.
United States Naval Heritage Center
