10/26/2026
National Destroyer Memorial Series
26 October 1962:
Day 11 of the Cuban Missile Crisis. USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr DD850 is the center of attention as the world watched.
Having spotted the Soviet chartered MARUCLA earlier in the day and having cleared her for passage, JPK DD850 was quite a distance away by nightfall. The evening of the 25th, USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr is given orders to return and intercept MARUCLA as soon as possible. USS John R. Pierce is told to stalk MARUCLA until JPK DD850 arrives.
As the ship and crew went to general quarters, JPK sped to the scene overnight traveling over 30 knots to rendezvous with PIERCE DD753 at first light. At 0600, JPK hailed MARUCLA that she was to be boarded and her cargo reviewed for contraband military supplies.
After review of the ship manifest and compartments, MARUCLA was allowed to proceed to Cuba.
While some say that President John F. Kennedy had no idea that the ship named after his brother was in the area, it is almost certain that orders came down from no less than the Pentagon to make a major political statement during the Missile Crisis with a ship named KENNEDY stopping a Soviet chartered vessel that was believed NOT to be carrying military contraband. This was a important political move in a very tense time in world relations.
Also, Photographic evidence shows accelerated construction of the missile sites and the uncrating of Soviet IL-28 bombers at Cuban airfields.
In a private letter, Fidel Castro urges Nikita Khrushchev to initiate a nuclear first strike against the United States in the event of an American invasion of Cuba.
John Scali, ABC News reporter, is approached by Aleksander Fomin of the Soviet embassy staff with a proposal for a solution to the crisis.
Later, a long, rambling letter from Khrushchev to Kennedy makes a similar offer: removal of the missiles in exchange for lifting the quarantine and a pledge that the U.S. will not invade Cuba.
