The Hunt for Red October
Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1985. Twelfth Printing [stated]. Hardcover. [8], 387, [5] pages. Edges spotted. The dust jacket has a couple of small tears. Minor moisture stains inside DJ and at lower part of the hardcover. Slightly cocked. Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels have been bestsellers. His name was also used on screenplays written by ghostwriters, nonfiction books on military subjects occasionally with co-authors, and video games. Clancy launched his literary career in 1984 when he sold his first military thriller novel The Hunt for Red October for $5,000 published by the small academic Naval Institute Press of Annapolis, Maryland. His works The Hunt for Red October (1984), Patriot Games (1987), Clear and Present Danger (1989), and The Sum of All Fears (1991) have been turned into commercially successful films. Tom Clancy's works also inspired games such as the Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, The Division, and Splinter Cell series. Since Clancy's death in 2013, the Jack Ryan series has been continued by his family estate through a series of authors. The Hunt for Red October launched Clancy's career as a novelist, especially after then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan remarked that he had enjoyed reading the book. A film adaptation was released on March 2, 1990, and several computer and video games based on the book have been developed. The book was instrumental in bringing the book genre of techno-thriller into the mainstream. The Hunt for Red October is the debut novel by American author Tom Clancy. It depicts Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutting-edge ballistic missile submarine Red October, and marks the first appearance of Clancy's most popular fictional character, Jack Ryan, an analyst working for the Central Intelligence Agency, as he must prove his theory that Ramius is intending to defect to the United States. During the Cold War, Soviet Navy submarine commander Marko Ramius plans to defect to the United States with the Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine Red October. It is equipped with a "caterpillar drive", a cutting-edge silent propulsion system that makes audio detection by passive sonar difficult and enables the submarine to sneak its way into American territorial waters and launch nuclear missiles with little to no warning. Ramius was ordered to conduct military exercises with Soviet Alfa-class attack submarine V. K. Konovalov, commanded by his former student Viktor Tupolev, 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 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. 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 identify it. 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. CIA analyst Jack Ryan determines that the submarine's new construction variations house a stealth drive. 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. Ryan becomes responsible for shepherding Ramius and his submarine away from the pursuing Soviet fleet. 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. 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 Red October's main instrument panel is made to appear as if it had been salvaged from Ethan Allen's wreckage. 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 Loginov, who refuses to listen and is eventually killed in a firefight in the submarine's missile compartment. 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 and are given new identities, beginning their settlement into American life. Ryan is commended and debriefed by his superiors and returns to his posting in London. Condition: Good / Good.
Keywords: Marko Ramius, Jack Ryan, Nuclear Submarine, Red October, Alfa-Class, Attack Submarine, Viktor Tupolev, Caterpillar Drive, USS Dallas, Los Angeles-Class, Bart Mancuso, Konovalov, Owen Williams, Deception, Igor Loginov, GRU, Kamarov
ISBN: 0870212850
[Book #89031]
Price: $50.00