U.S. U-2 Reconnaissance picture of nuclear missile in Cuba

U.S. Missile ranges in Europe

The American: PGM-19 Jupiter

PGM-19 Jupiter missile

The U.S. employed the PGM-19 Jupiter platform in Italy and Turkey for an easy reach to Moscow in the event of a war. The PGM-19 yielded a 1.45 megaton (1,450,000 tons of TNT) thermonuclear explosive and a range of 1,500 miles. The missiles were 60 feet in length, 8 ft. 9 in. in diameter, and weighed in at 108,804 lbs when fully fueled. These missiles were deployed in squadrons throughout Italy and Turkey, 2 in Italy and one in Turkey. Italy's Jupiter missiles totaled 30 at 10 sites and Turkey's totaled 15 missiles at 5 sites. Each site required 20 vehicles; two generator trucks, a power distribution truck, short and long range theodolites, a hydraulic and pneumatic truck and a liquid oxygen truck. Another trailer carried 6,000 gallons of fuel and three liquid trailers carried 4,000 gallons each.

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The Soviet: SS-4 Sandal

Soviet SS-4 in Moscow

The Soviet Union stationed the SS-4 Sandal missiles in Cuba. The Sandal missiles contained a thermonuclear charge of 2.3 megatons (2,300,000 tons of TNT). These missiles were 72.5 feet long, 5.4 feet in diameter, and weighed 83,400 pounds. The Sandal missile had a simple design, consisting of a single stage, meaning it didn't need to separate at any time until the reentry of the actual warhead, and could be launched from a soft missile site or a hard missile site (soft launch pad or silo) making it key for use on a small island like Cuba.

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Works Cited
"Missile Technologies from W3 and Internet." By Trivto on DeviantArt. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2015.
"PGM-19 Jupiter." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 18 May 2015.
"SS-4 Sandal." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 18 May 2015.