Movie

 

In November 1984, Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius is given command of Red October, a new Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine with a "caterpillar drive", rendering it undetectable to passive sonar. Ramius leaves port to conduct exercises along with Alfa-class attack submarine V. K. Konovalov, commanded by his former student Captain Tupolev. At sea, Ramius secretly kills political officerIvan Putin and relays false orders to his crew that they are to conduct missile drills off America's east coast. American Los Angeles-classattack submarine USS Dallas, which had been shadowing Red October, loses contact once the sub's caterpillar drive is engaged.

CIA analyst and former Marine Jack Ryan, after consulting with Vice Admiral James Greer, the Deputy Director of the CIA, briefs government officials on Red October and the threat it poses. After learning that the bulk of the Soviet Navy has been deployed to the Atlantic to find and sink the sub, they conclude that Ramius plans a renegade nuclear strike. During the briefing, Ryan hypothesizes that Ramius, a native-born Lithuanian widower with few remaining personal ties to the Soviet Union, instead plans to defect to the United States, and National Security Advisor Jeffrey Pelt gives Ryan three days to confirm his theory. He is sent to an aircraft carrier in the mid-Atlantic. Meanwhile, after some delay, Tupolev also receives orders to intercept and destroy Red October.

Due to an unknown saboteur's actions, Red October's caterpillar drive malfunctions during risky maneuvers through a narrow undersea canyon. Petty Officer Jones, a sonar technician aboard Dallas, discovers a way to detect Red October using his underwater acoustics software, and Dallas plots an intercept course. After a hazardous mid-ocean transfer, Ryan is able to board Dallas, where he attempts to persuade its captain, Commander Bart Mancuso, to contact Ramius and determine his real intentions.

The Soviet ambassador informs the U.S. government that Ramius is a renegade and asks for help in sinking Red October. That order is sent to the U.S. fleet, including Dallas, which has reacquired the Soviet sub. Ryan remains convinced that Ramius plans to defect with his officers and finally convinces Mancuso to contact Ramius and offer assistance. Ramius, stunned that the Americans correctly guessed his plan, accepts Mancuso's offer. He then stages a nuclear reactor "emergency", ordering the sub to surface and his crew to abandon ship. After a U.S. frigate is spotted heading right for them, Ramius submerges, leaving his crew in life rafts. Ryan, Mancuso, and Jones boardRed October via a rescue sub. Docking with Red October, they meet Ramius who requests asylum for himself and his officers.

Red October is suddenly ambushed by Konovalov. As the two Soviet subs maneuver, one of Red October's cooks, Loginov, is revealed to be an undercover GRU agent and the saboteur. He opens fire on the bridge, fatally wounding first officer Vasily Borodin, before retreating to the missile bay, intending to ignite a missile engine and destroy the ship. Loginov is pursued by Ryan and Ramius, and he wounds Ramius before being killed by Ryan. Meanwhile, Konovalov fires upon Red October with a torpedo, which Dallas is able to divert toward herself and evade by launching countermeasures and conducting an emergency blow to the surface. The torpedo reacquires Red October but Mancuso, placed in temporary command by Ramius, executes a maneuver that diverts the torpedo towards Konovalov, which it strikes and destroys. The crew of Red October, now rescued, witness the explosion from the deck of the U.S. frigate. Unaware of the second Soviet submarine, they believe that Ramius has sacrificed himself and scuttled Red October to avoid being boarded.

Ryan and Ramius, their subterfuge complete, navigate Red October to the Penobscot River in Maine. Ramius admits that he defected because he believed Red October was intended for a preemptive nuclear first strike against the United States and was unwilling to support such an action. Ryan boards a flight home to London and, thanks to his exertions, is finally able to sleep aboard a plane while seated next to a teddy bear intended for his daughter.

 

 

Book

 

During the Cold War, Marko Ramius, a Soviet Navy submarine commander, plans to defect to the United States with the Typhoon-classballistic missile submarine Red October. It is equipped with a cutting-edge silent propulsion system, known as the "caterpillar drive", that makes audio detection by passive sonar extremely difficult and enables the submarine to sneak its way into American territorial waters and launch nuclear missiles with little to no warning. As the sub leaves the shipyard at Polyarny, Ramius kills his political officer, Ivan Putin, to ensure that he will not interfere. Ramius was ordered to conduct military exercises with Soviet Alfa-class attack submarine V. K. Konovalov, commanded by his former student Viktor Tupolev, in order to test the effectiveness of the caterpillar drive. Instead, he plots a course for the North American coast, falsely informing the crew that they will be proceeding undetected all the way to Cuba. Before sailing, Ramius sends a letter to Admiral Yuri Padorin brazenly stating his intention to defect; the Soviet Northern Fleet then sails out to sink Red Octoberunder the pretext of a search and rescue mission.

Coincidentally, Red October passes near USS Dallas, a Los Angeles-class submarine under the command of Bart Mancuso, which is patrolling the entrance of a route used by Soviet submarines in the Reykjanes Ridge off Iceland. Dallas's sonar operator hears the sound of the stealth drive but does not immediately identify it as a submarine. As tensions rise between the U.S. and Soviet fleets due to the unannounced incursion of the Soviet Northern Fleet into Atlantic waters, the crew of Dallas analyzes tapes of Red October′s acoustic signature and realizes that it is the sound of a new propulsion system. Meanwhile, CIA analyst Jack Ryan finds out that the submarine's new construction variations house its stealth drive.

Later putting information about Ramius's letter together with the subsequent launch of the entire Northern Fleet, Ryan deduces Ramius's plans to defect. The U.S. military reluctantly agrees to assist, while planning for contingencies in case the Soviet fleet has intentions other than those inferred. After it is revealed that Ramius has informed Moscow of his plan for him and his officers to defect, Ryan becomes responsible for shepherding Ramius and his submarine away from the pursuing Soviet fleet and meets with Royal Navy acquaintance Admiral John White, commanding a task force from the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible.

After Ramius fakes a reactor accident, the U.S. Navy evacuates Red October's crew using a DSRV rescue submarine. Ramius and his officers stay behind, claiming that they plan to scuttle the submarine to prevent it getting into the hands of the Americans. In order to convince the Soviets that Red October has in fact been destroyed, a decommissioned U.S. ballistic missile submarine, USS Ethan Allen, is blown up underwater as a deception. A depth gauge taken from the main instrument panel ofRed October is made to appear as if it had been salvaged from Ethan Allen′s wreckage. Meanwhile, Ryan, Mancuso, some of Dallas crew, and Owen Williams board Red October and meet Ramius face-to-face.

The deception succeeds in convincing Soviet observers that Red October has been lost and the Soviet forces withdraw, but Tupolev stays behind. Unbeknownst to anyone, Igor Loginov, a cook on Red October who is actually an undercover GRU intelligence officer, has remained aboard after the other crewmen evacuated. He attempts to destroy Red Octoberby manually launching one of the submarine's missiles in its silo. Loginov is discovered and fatally shoots Captain Lieutenant Kamarov and seriously wounds Ramius and Williams. Ryan tries to reason with the GRU agent, who refuses to listen and is eventually killed in a firefight in the submarine's missile compartment.

Later, V.K. Konovalov happens upon what is initially believed to be an Ohio-class submarine, being escorted by two other submarines. Based on its acoustical signature, Tupolev realizes that it is in fact Red October, and proceeds to engage it. The two U.S. submarines escorting Red October are prohibited from firing on Konovalov by rules of engagement, andRed October has no torpedomen on board. After a tense battle, Ramius manages to sink Konovalov by ramming it, killing Tupolev and his crew.

The Americans escort Red October safely into dry dock in Norfolk, Virginia, where it is analyzed by U.S. military intelligence. Ramius and his crew are taken to a CIA safehouse where they are given new identities, beginning their settlement into American life. Ryan is commended and debriefed by his superiors; he later flies back to his posting in London.

 

 

Life

 

Captain First Rank Marko Ramius, the Soviet Navy's top submarine commander, takes command of the Красный Октябрь (Krasny Oktyabr, or in English, Red October), the newest Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine, with which he plans to defect with his officers. Having briefly met Captain Ramius at an embassy function several years before, Ryan (portrayed by Alec Baldwin in the film) is asked by Admiral Greer to brief the President's National Security Adviser Jeffrey Pelt and his staff, in his first trip to the White House, on Ramius' background and the deadly new capabilities of Red October's secret revolutionary silent jet propulsion drive system. Ryan recognizes that the renegade ethnic Lithuanian captain may want to defect rather than attack the West. Ryan works to establish contact with him and support contingency efforts of the tailing American submarine USS Dallas. Ryan seeks to get Ramius and members of his crew along with the submarine secretly into the U.S., eventually succeeding.