In hindsight, the admirals missed the boat. The US had been involved in dozens of armed interventions where nuclear weapons would have been worse than useless (the banana plantations would get ruined, for example), as opposed to a war with competing great powers. . . .All the conflicts between the US and the USSR were on the periphery, while the US and USSR may have been, at many times, at daggers drawn, there were only a very few incidents were direct conflict was likely, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis (I remember those circles indicating where the missiles based on Cuba would reach. I was in range). The Navy, with its ability to apply fine gradations of force, from hanging around threateningly, through blockade, to actual shooting, was probably critical in that crisis's peaceful resolution: an air force doesn't have those increments, as there's really nothing between threatening, but brief, visits, and large explosions.