This is one of the Soviet nuclear warhead storage bunkers under construction at San Cristobal site No. 1, southwest of Havana. The Soviets again brought quarter sections prestressed concrete arches to the island of Cuba. Each of these quarter sections were pasted together at the top to form a half section. They measured a meter wide and the Soviets quickly moved adding section by section until they had completed an arch roof structure measuring between 60 and 75 feet in length.

Notice, if you will, the Soviet crews working on the roof of the structure, the date of this particular photograph, while concretemixing crews as well as piles of aggregate, sand and gravel and so on, are noted in the area. But, again, the emphasis was on field expediency in the use of prefabricated materials.

Even the fence posts that the Soviets used were brought from the Soviet Union and with concrete forms, as shown in the lower left portion of the graphic.

At this particular time, in addition to making permanent facilities in and around the MRBM areas, and in addition to providing nuclear warheads storage facilities, the Soviets began on about October 27 to make things more comfortable for themselves in Cuba.

With the launch positions in the upper portions of this photograph now nearly completed, and made permanent, and with the nuclear warheads storage bunker in the upper left portion of the photograph nearing completion, the construction equipment was diverted to construct and build Soviet barracks buildings for the crews.

Note the eight buildings in line here, the one of which does not yet have its roof in place. At this particular time, on October 27, the Soviets were still working in these areas as though they were not going to go home in the very near future.

The photography that we acquired with our low-level missions permitted us to assess very accurately and fully the nature of the Soviet MRBM system deployed in Cuba. An engineering sketch of a typical battalion launch site is shown in this particular Vu-Graph. Notice, if you will, that each of these sites includes four launch positions, one here, another here, another launch position here, and a fourth one at that location. A central propellant area for oxidizer and fuel, usually found near the center of the site areas. In addition, a fence-enclosed warhead storage building, earth covered for hardening purposes, including eight nose-cone vans situated nearby in the center of one of these launch position areas we usually found an erector, a firing position, command and control equipment, as well as two missiles; they are either outside on their transporters or in missile servicing or ready tents.

Gentlemen, the intelligence community reported that on October 28, 1962, the Soviets did achieve a full operational capability for all MRBM facilities in Cuba. This is on the morning of the 28th that this report is being made.

In addition, they report that based on an analysis of the rate of construction they observed at the IRBM sites the Soviets are aiming toward full operational capability for all IRBM facilities by December 15, 1962.

The irony of this particular graphic is this: The intelligence analysts reported, based on their study of the photography, that the Soviets on this date had reached full operational readiness for their MRBM sites.

As you know now, and as I know, Mr. Khrushchev on October 28, 1962, agreed to dismantle these bases that on that date were just completed.

The job that now confronted the reconnaissance planners in the military department was to determine a means to monitor the dismantling of the IR and MRBM sites in Cuba, and to verify the removal of the missile components from the island. This was done in three ways: First, low altitude aircraft swept in over the nine offensive missile bases to observe and monitor dismantling; second, high altitude aircraft swept the islands to monitor where this equipment was being moved and to insure that it was being moved to the port areas and being loaded on Soviet ships. This second phase was also assisted by low altitude reconnaissance.

And third, as these ships departed the island of Cuba, they were monitored by U.S. surface craft and aircraft, and the missiles were inspected on the decks.

Gentlemen, this is a low altitude photograph acquired on October 29 over one of the MRBM site areas, No. 3, at San Cristobal. We did notice a change the day after Mr. Khrushchev made his announcement. If you will notice, the erectors have been removed from their firing positions. They have been drawn back. Missile transporters that were in formerly ready locations have been pulled out of these locations, and there has been reduction in the readiness of these particiuar sites. We can't account for these changes at this particular time, but during the next few days we do observe dynamic changes.

The Soviets dismantle the MR and IRBM bases. On November 1 we cover Sagua La Grande, where two launch positions are observed and where just 74 hours earlier we had rated this base as fully operational. Note that it is completely clear of all cabling and operational equipment. This base or launching position has also been cleared. Note, if you will, that all that remains in this site area on November 1 is a single military convoy collecting the remaining equipment and debris from the area, about to move away from this site location.

Ladies and gentlemen, in addition to moving equipment away from the MRBM launch sites, the Soviets methodically destroyed the fixed facilities in the vicinity of the firing position. This is San Cristobal site No. 2. A few days earlier this was a concrete launch pad. This area also was a concrete launch pad. Soviet bulldozers have churned back and forth, disrupting the earth and leaving only chunks of concrete remaining. Soviet bulldozers at this location have churned back and forth and broken up these sites so that all that remain are chunks of concrete.

The sites were destroyed in this manner at the MRBM facilities. Note, if you will, that a missile ready tent is just being collapsed at the time of photography. One side is sagging and in a few hours we will observe this one removed.

In addition to removing equipment from the site areas, and in addition to destroying the fixed facilities in the vicinity of the launching positions, the Soviets carefully cleared all the remaining operational equipment and debris from their site locations.

This is Sagua La Grande site No. 2. Just a few days earlier it was fully operational. Cabling had connected with an erector at this location. Command and control equipment was found in this area. Missile ready tents with missiles in them were found at this location.

Command and control equipment and other servicing gear were also noted. By this date, all of this has been removed.

There were camouflage in these areas. There were palm branches that the Soviets had cut from trees and stuck into the road area in order to break up the reflection we were acquiring with our photography. All these were dozed away and swept clean.

On this date, November 3, all that remained was a Soviet single dump truck moving slowly through this area, picking up the remaining debris with a police crew in apparent anticipation of moving from the site area.

The job of dismantling the IRBM sites was one somewhat different than that required for the dismantling of the MRBM sites. Here the Soviets did not have a road system and did not have any operational equipment yet deployed at these locations and nonetheless they did have certain fixed facilities, launching pads, connecting cable lines, controlling bunkers, and so on. This is one of the IRBM sites. It is Remedios, 160 miles east of Havana. This again is a former launch position observed on November 9 with low altitude

photography.

A Soviet bulldozer has churned back and forth and destroyed this launching pad. The conduits that extended for the cabling from the launch pad area here to the control bunker here have been ripped from the ground and they have broken up and destroyed and even the trench have been carefully graded and filled by Soviet bulldozers. The sites at Guanajay No. 1 and Guanajay No. 2 were also broken

up in similar manner.

Gentlemen, in addition to calling for the dismantling of Soviet missile sites in Cuba, and in addition to calling for removal of Soviet offensive missiles and components from the island, the President announced on October 22 that he would invoke or establish a quarantine of the island to prevent the arrival of additional offensive equip

ment.

At that particular time, 18 Soviet dry cargo ships were en route to the island of Cuba. Of these 18, 5 included the large-hatch type.

After the President's announcement and after the establishment of the quarantine, 16 of these ships reversed course and returned to the Soviet Union. I might say they were carefully followed coming over and carefully followed going back by the U.S. naval surface craft and aircraft. They were followed back into the Baltic Sea and followed back into the Mediterranean. It was quite interesting to note that 5 of the 16 ships that reversed course included the largehatch type.

The job again confronting the reconnaissance planners during this particular phase was to insure that the missile equipment, the missile components being removed from the launch site areas was being taken to ports and removed from the island of Cuba and not simply being redeployed at some other location or hidden at some other location.

High-altitude aircraft swept the island, and all of the naval facilities and seaports were carefully checked. Approach roadways were followed, and the Soviet equipment as it left the nine respective site areas, was monitored as it moved into the port areas of Cuba.

Equipment in central Cuba, from the offensive bases deployed in central Cuba, was evacuated from the island, from La Isabela in the north, and Casilda port in the south. Offensive missile equipment

that was deployed in the San Cristobal area here located southwest of Havana and Guanajay just west of Havana, was evacuated through the port of Mariel. The Soviets employed the ships that they had in the harbors of Cuba at the particular time to remove these offensive weapons from the island.

Here is an example. This is the port of Mariel, as it appeared on November 2, 1962. Three Soviet ships are here. A few weeks ago they brought equipment to the island. They are resting high in the water. They are being assigned the task at about this time to remove the offensive missile equipment from the island. On this date the first advance convoys of the equipment from the San Cristobal IRBM sites begin to arrive.

In addition, other equipment has already been brought into the area, is nearing the ships, and is about to be loaded onto the ships themselves. The metal rings and launch stands that were ripped from the concrete pads are shown at these locations prior to their being loaded onto the ships.

Ladies and gentlemen, the United States did not just insure that the missile alone left the island of Cuba. We insured that the missile system left the island of Cuba. All components of that system were carefully counted as they left the site area, as they reached the port motor pools, and as they were loaded on Soviet ships.

Here is one of the parking areas near the port of Mariel, one of the pier areas. Here we observe and carefully count with our low-altitude photography, the Soviet oxidizer trailers from the MRBM sites, the Soviet fueling trailers from the MRBM sites, other fueling and oxidizer trailers being shown at this location, the specially configured IRBM fueling trailer noted at Guanajay No. 1. They are also counted and tabulated as they move into the area prior to shipment away from the island. Missiles, including four MRBM's under canvas cover on a transporter, are noted in the upper left corner of the photograph.

The other key components are checked as they leave the island. In the San Cristobal area there were 16 launch sites and 16 erectors. The equipment from San Cristobal moved to Mariel.

Here we observe 17 missile erectors from the San Cristobal area, each with their launch stands, prior to being loaded on Soviet ships that are moving in one by one to take over the offensive equipment. Note, if you will, the special nose cone bands and other special support equipment are also observed in this particular area, and carefully counted as they leave the island.

In addition to following the port areas, and in addition to carefully recovering the offensive missile bases to insure equipment is removed, we covered the approach roadways between the sites and the ports. We catch the Soviets on the road, we catch them in overnight bivouacs, like the one shown here near Trinidad. This is a Soviet missile equipment and temporary storage area just north of the port of Casilda. Twelve missile transporters from the Sagua La Grande area are waiting their turn to move the 12 miles south to be loaded on Soviet ships. Note the other components, including oxidizer trailers, cranes, servicing vehicles, et cetera.

A few days later we check the port of Casilda, on November 6. The MRBM missiles on transporters have been moved southward from that temporary storage area and six have been placed on the

Soviet ship Kurchatov. Here are the six missiles under canvas cover and loaded on this particular ship. The ship is nearing the completion of its loading cycle. The forward hatch covers are closed. The rear hatches are being closed. Here Soviet crewmen and technicians await in line or go up the gangway in loading the ship itself.

Note the ship is under steam and about to move away. We will observe this ship leave this harbor area in a few hours. This shadow is cast by an RF-101 reconnaissance aircraft as it moves in over its target area at 600 feet.

The next day, the Kurchatov leaves and another ship moves in, the Komsomol. Here again we had this type of photograph to see what the Soviets were loading on their ships, and to insure that, indeed, the missile systems were leaving the island.

We can carefully monitor the erectors pulled down from Sagua La Grande, count them, and see them loaded on the ships. We can actually see into the holds of these Soviet ships and see the equipment, which includes fueling trailers already placed there by large

cranes.

Back at Mariel, the three Soviet ships that had been riding high in the water are now nearly fully loaded. The Soviet ship Grotz is standing off in the center of the harbor area. The Diunogorsk is shown in the upper right area maneuvering to another location to pick up another missile on its deck. It already has three MRBM's loaded. The Anasov shown here has six MRBM's loaded; they are already deckloaded. Two more MRBM's will be loaded on this ship prior to its departure from the Mariel area.

Here they are, awaiting their turn to be moved up into the ship area, and when the hatches are closed, these are finally lifted on the deck of the Avason. When the Avason departs Mariel, it will carry eight missile transporters, it will carry eight Soviet MRBM's. These eight are shown on the deck of the ship itself, wrapped under canvas cover. Note if you will, that cranes, other supporting equipment, oxidizers transfer vessel, erectors, and cherry pickers and other particular or unique equipment associated with the MRBM site are also deckloaded.

When these ships reach the area of the quarantine, they encountered U.S. surface craft and aircraft inspection. As you note the U.S. destroyer 878 pulls alongside the Soviet ship Volgoles, the Soviet crewmen tear back the tarpaulin cover, exposing the Soviet MRBM on transporter beneath.

A helicopter stands off the Soviet ship Brotsk and here the tarpaulin cover has been pulled back, exposing the Soviet MRBM ballistic booster, minus nose cone. It measures 60 feet in length and it is tightly wrapped in all-weather protective covering.

Note the cable trench that we carefully measured, which terminates at its precise point, the carbon veins, the missile fins, and all the detail of the erector transporter as it is shown deckloaded on the Soviet ship Brotsk. These ships, all eight of them, are followed by U.S. surface craft and aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean, into the Baltic Sea, the Danish Straits, into the Mediterranean Sea, and on to the Black Sea to their home waters. This is a photograph, one of many we have, acquired by U.S. naval reconnaissance aircraft of the Komsomol in the Mediterranean on November 19, 1962, with its deckload of eight medium-range ballistic missiles, going home from Cuba.