Action Taken - Cuban Missile Crisis

http://ivarfjeld.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/israel-can-sink-hostile-ships-at-ports-of-origin/

Kennedy had explained that the nuclear missile bases were in Cuba to provide a nuclear-strike capability against the western hemisphere. He essentially had five options

1	He could do nothing and ignore the missiles. This would have been political suicide and if the Russians had seen this as weakness on his part, they could have taken advantage of it.
2	He could order a full scale military invasion of Cuba. This could lead to heavy US casualties and that would be politically damaging. It would almost certainly involve Russian casualties which could escalate the problem. The American chiefs-of-staff were not convinced that it would be successful either especially as the offending missile bases were in remote areas and most were well inland.
3	He could order an air strike against the missile bases only. The problem again would be Russian casualties and the Air Force was not sure it could deliver pin-point bombing raids on what were relatively small targets.
4	He could call on the Russians to remove the missiles explaining the damage their presence was doing to Russian/American relations. However, the Russians were highly unlikely to listen to a ‘polite’ request especially as they even refused to recognise the existence of the missiles at the United Nations emergency meeting on the matter.
5	He could put a naval blockade around the island - quarantine it - and not allow any more Russian ships to enter Cuba. This would still leave missiles on Cuba but the negotiations would continue in the background while publically Kennedy would be seen to be doing something specific.

 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/cuban_missile_crisis.html

The president ordered a naval quarantine of Cuba, the initial line was set up on October 24th 1962 ( Shown above). A quarantine would allow for the inspection of incoming Soviet ships to ensure that there were no missile parts being transported. The benefit of the quarantine was that if something were to occur, the responsibility would be placed on the Soviet Union. By the time the quarantine was lifted in November there was an aircraft carrier, two cruisers, 22 destroyers, and two missile frigates. 

The President was advised against using a naval quarantine/blockade, and was in fact urged to launch and air attack. Kennedy's decision was not what was expected, in the long run it was the smartest choice! If an air attack was ordered the Soviet Union would have seen this as an act of war, no one wants to go through another war! Especially if nuclear bombs would have been involved on both sides.