The Hunt for Red October

During the Cold War, Marko Ramius, a Soviet Navy submarine commander, plans to defect to the United States with the Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine Red October. It is equipped with a cutting-edge silent propulsion system, known as a "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 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 October under 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 US 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 determines that the submarine's new construction variations house a 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 US 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 US Navy evacuates Red October' 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 US ballistic missile submarine, USS Ethan Allen, is blown up underwater as a deception. A depth gauge taken from the main instrument panel of Red October is made to appear as if it had been salvaged from Ethan Allen's wreckage. Meanwhile, Ryan, Mancuso, some of the 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 officer, has remained aboard after the other crewmen evacuated. He attempts to destroy Red October by exploding 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, the 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 US submarines escorting Red October are prohibited from firing on Konovalov by rules of engagement, and Red 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 US 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.

The Hunt for Red October introduced Tom Clancy's writing style, which included technical details about weaponry, submarines, espionage, and the military. The accurate nature of Clancy's writing was well known among the American military such that Clancy remarked in a 1986 interview: "When I met Navy Secretary John Lehman last year, the first thing he asked me about the book was, 'Who the hell cleared it?'"[2]

The novel shares elements with James Clavell's works, particularly Shōgun (1975) and Noble House (1981), where political power is used instead of physical confrontation with an enemy. Clancy portrays the Soviets, especially Captain Ramius, sympathetically, and most characters are understandable in their actions and fears, while at the same time comparing and contrasting their philosophies and values against their American counterparts, who in turn are shown as more competent in their profession, this being explained by the US Navy being better equipped and trained than the Soviet sailors who are mostly conscripts.

In the novel, the US and its service personnel are unmistakably the "good guys". The central theme of the US being flawed, but ultimately a force for good and hope in the world is something the author would explore more in his later novels. However, unlike The Hunt For Red October, these later novels often include negative American characters, motivated by power or greed.

In addition, The Hunt for Red October is considered a coming-of-age story regarding the main character Jack Ryan. However, instead of running away from responsibilities, a theme common in contemporary American literature, Clancy subverts the convention by having Ryan rushing toward the burdens of the adult world. Moreover, the book introduced Jack Ryan as a new archetype of the American hero – an everyman who uses his prior knowledge instead of physical power in solving a particular crisis.[3]

From a young age, Clancy was an avid reader of naval history and sea exploration. However, he was later rejected from serving in the military because of his poor eyesight. Since graduating from high school and eventually earning an English major, he always wanted to write a novel. He eventually worked as an insurance agent for a small business owned by his then-wife's family.[4]

In his spare time, Clancy started working on The Hunt for Red October on November 11, 1982, and finished it four months later on February 23, 1983.[5] Contrary to popular belief that Clancy had access to top-secret intelligence in researching for the novel, he consulted technical manuals, discussions with former submariners and books like Norman Polmar's Guide to the Soviet Navy and Combat Fleets of the World in order to maintain accuracy in describing Soviet submarines.[6]

He then submitted the first draft of the novel to the Naval Institute Press, where he previously wrote an article on the MX missile for their magazine Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute.[7] Three weeks later, the publication company returned his manuscript, along with a request to cut about a hundred pages' worth of numerous technical details. After fixing his work, Clancy then sold The Hunt for Red October to the Naval Institute Press for a modest sum of $5,000.[8]

Having recently decided to publish fiction, the publication company made Clancy's work their first published novel. Editor Deborah Grosvenor later recalled convincing the publishers: "I think we have a potential best-seller here, and if we don't grab this thing, somebody else would." She believed Clancy had an "innate storytelling ability, and his characters had this very witty dialogue".[9]

• The 2005 book The Last Sentry: Valery Sablin and the True Hunt for Red October by Gregory D Young and Nate Braden suggests that the novel was based on the Soviet frigate Storozhevoy mutiny in 1975.[10]
• The 2020 Muse Entertainment documentary The Real Hunt for Red October claims that the story of Red October is based on the loss of Soviet submarine K-129, which was lost in 1968, and recovered by 1974's Project Azorian.[11]

The Hunt for Red October popularized the book genre of techno-thriller into the mainstream. "Tom Clancy defined an era, not just of thrillers but of pop culture in general," said Jon Land, an author and marketing chair for the International Thriller Writers. "No one encapsulated the mindset and mentality of the Reagan era more, as the Cold War was heating up for the last time and we were entering a new age of modern warfare. Clancy's books tapped into our fears and helped define our psyches, even as he reinvigorated the thriller genre by bringing millions of new readers into the fold."[26]

On April 20, 2018, The Hunt for Red October was included in the list of 100 most-loved books in the U.S., compiled by PBS as part of their new series and multi-platform initiative The Great American Read.[27][28]

The book appeared in a fake commercial ad serving as a teaser trailer for the third season of the Netflix web television series Stranger Things, which was released on July 16, 2018.[29]

• Jonas Pleškys
• Valery Sablin
• Crazy Ivan
• Soviet frigate Storozhevoy
• United States Naval Institute v. Charter Communications, Inc.
• Simas Kudirka

• Gallagher, Mark. Action figures: Men, action films, and contemporary adventure narratives (Springer, 2006).
• Griffin, Benjamin. "The good guys win: Ronald Reagan, Tom Clancy, and the transformation of national security" (MA thesis, U of Texas, 2015). online
• Hixson, Walter L. "Red Storm Rising: Tom Clancy Novels and the Cult of National Security." Diplomatic History 17.4 (1993): 599–614.
• Outlaw, Leroy B. "Red Storm Rising-A Primer for a Future Conventional War in Central Europe"" (Army War College, 1988). online
• Payne, Matthew Thomas. Playing war: Military video games after 9/11 (NYU Press, 2016).
• Terdoslavich, William. The Jack Ryan Agenda: Policy and Politics in the Novels of Tom Clancy: An Unauthorized Analysis (Macmillan, 2005). excerpt

• Thesis Mutiny Thesis by CDR Gregory Young US Naval Postgraduate School March 1982. Courtesy of the Dudley Knox Library.
• Thesis. Mutiny Thesis by CDR Gregory Young US Naval Postgraduate School March 1982. Tom Clancy gives thanks to CDR Young in the book.
• The Last Sentry. The true story that inspired The Hunt for Red October
• First Edition Points, photos of the first edition of The Hunt for Red October