At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the first squadron of 10 Minuteman I aircraft with 1-megaton W59 warheads was on full alert for the first time. The Americans also had several thousand nuclear warheads on 1,576 bombers, 183 Atlas and Titan ICBMs, and 144 Polaris warheads on 9 submarines, a force ratio of 17 to 1 compared to the Soviets, who had 270 warheads capable of reaching American territory.
