This is what I have been thinking about for couple of weeks and had to wait a bit to post this topic here.

Actually I am wondering what the outcome could be. What would have happened if the Cuban Missile Crisis becames actual and two sides started a nuke war!?

Let's talk about this thru a strategic point of view!

Which side could win the war? How many casualties could be left?
What were the possible damage to the infrastructures of both sides?

Its going to be a mess.. certainly unimaginable. As for the stratergy and all..I think Russia had a superior advantage. You got Cuba on the east of the usa, and Russia on the west. Thats only the beginning lol

According to the US and USSR doctrines a nuclear war could best be prevented if neither side could not expect to survive as a state of full function; in other words a full nuclear exchange would take place.

If the USSR pushed the button first the US would quickly respond. All major cities, ports, military installations and oil fields etc would be removed from planet earth in a matter of minutes causing hundreds of millions of deaths, devastating damage to the enviroment and the ozone layer causing nuclear winter and nuclear summer hurting the entire planet.

Those whose so fortunate to survive would face so large problems with radiation and nuclear waste polluting water, crops, buildings and so on making life so hard that only a handfull would survive in the most remote areas of the continents.

Who would have won? Won what...?

Edit: Worst case scenario - ie total nuclear war.

On the other hand - damages will be less severe if a limited amount of nuclear weapons were used for a limted period of time - but the way I see this scenario would be the desire for removal of either USA or USSR from the planet.

HIROSHIMA 1945

Nothing left.

Suggested reading http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/7906/

If there had been a nuclear war during the Cuban crisis, then nobody would have won. As Kennedy said at the the time "The ashes of victory would turn bitter in oor mouths", Or some thing similar

Originally Posted by LeEnfield 2

If there had been a nuclear war during the Cuban crisis, then nobody would have won. As Kennedy said at the the time "The ashes of victory would turn bitter in oor mouths", Or some thing similar

Not really! US Could have easily won.

I have been doing a quick research in the past few days.

A check of the force structure of SAC in October '62 shows 800 B-47s, 600 B-52s, and about 80 combat-ready B-58s. All backed up by KC-97s and KC-135s. 156 Atlas D, E, and F, Titan I and II, and the first Minuteman Is were on alert. Throw in USAFE in Europe with their tac strikers (F-100s, F-101s, F-105s), Matador and Mace cruise missiles, and the USN's 6th Fleet in the Med, with carrier-borne strike aircraft. Add PACAF in Japan, Korea, and the Philippines, and 7th Fleet's carriers to hit the Soviet Far East, along with three conventional and one nuke boat carrying Regulus I SSMs, and in the Atlantic/North Sea, were 9 George Washington-class SSBNs with Polaris I with 144 total missiles loaded. The U.S. estimate of the strategic superiority over the USSR was 9:1. It was actually 17:1. Of 75 Soviet ICBMs, only 25 SS-6s and SS-7s were operational at any time, there were only 150 bombers capable of intercontentional strikes, (Bears and Bisons), and the Soviet Navy's SSBs and SSBNs were the Zulu IV, Golf I, and Hotel classes; noisy and easy to track.

Soviet theater forces had a lot more firepower they could bring to bear on NATO Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East (Japan, Korea, etc.).

It all depends on whether or not tac nukes get used in the Cuba Invasion, and if one or more of the SS-4s in Cuba survives the first day of air strikes and Khruschev goes off the deep end and orders a launch. JFK's speech promised that if any missile was launched from Cuba it was an attack on the U.S. and requiring a full strike in response. Check the new Air and Space Magazine, it has an article of recollections of SAC air and ground crew about those days in October-November 1962. Check thread on the Cuban Crisis for more info on the crisis period.

Originally Posted by phoenix80

I have been doing a quick research in the past few days.

A check of the force structure of SAC in October '62 shows 800 B-47s, 600 B-52s, and about 80 combat-ready B-58s. All backed up by KC-97s and KC-135s. 156 Atlas D, E, and F, Titan I and II, and the first Minuteman Is were on alert. Throw in USAFE in Europe with their tac strikers (F-100s, F-101s, F-105s), Matador and Mace cruise missiles, and the USN's 6th Fleet in the Med, with carrier-borne strike aircraft. Add PACAF in Japan, Korea, and the Philippines, and 7th Fleet's carriers to hit the Soviet Far East, along with three conventional and one nuke boat carrying Regulus I SSMs, and in the Atlantic/North Sea, were 9 George Washington-class SSBNs with Polaris I with 144 total missiles loaded. The U.S. estimate of the strategic superiority over the USSR was 9:1. It was actually 17:1. Of 75 Soviet ICBMs, only 25 SS-6s and SS-7s were operational at any time, there were only 150 bombers capable of intercontentional strikes, (Bears and Bisons), and the Soviet Navy's SSBs and SSBNs were the Zulu IV, Golf I, and Hotel classes; noisy and easy to track.

Can you provide a link for this information?

Originally Posted by sunb!

Can you provide a link for this information?

Not a link, my friend

But I'd draw your attention to the latest Air & Space magazine article.

OR

check Eyeball to Eyeball, by Dino Bruigoni. He was a photo interpeter at NPIC during the U-2 days and beyond (He retired in 1988 IIRC), and was heavily involved in the Cuba crisis. Mr. Bruigoni wrote the book in '88, and had an updated version published in 1993. Much of the SAC info comes from his book and the Air and Space article.

The world would have been poisoned. The only possible positive you could wrench from this exchange would be a total lack of overpopulation now.

You don't "win" a nuclear war. So what if one side outnumbered the other and lets say for some reason only one side gets obliterated and the other is completely unscathed. Do you really believe there would be no consequences for humans if 1/7th of the planet is a radioactive wasteland?