Chapter Eighteen

Brief Summary-  The Red October successfully docks at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard where Ramius and Williams make a full recovery.  The CIA believes that it is possible that some men may still be alive on the V. K. Konovalov, but if they are rescued the Soviet government will learn the truth about the Red October and the V. K. Konovalov, so they are left behind.  Ryan is then dismissed, and returns to his family in London.

Journal-  I was a bit upset that the men on the V. K. Konovalov weren't saved, but I don't see how they could have saved them and still kept the Red October's successful defection a secret if they had.  We could not have held them captive, or just turn them over to the Soviets.

Excellent novel; I would defiantly recommend it.

Chapter Seventeen

Brief Summary-  On the Red October's journey to the United States it accidentally passes to close to a Russian submarine hanging around, unnoticed to report on any new developments.  The sonar man aboard the V. K. Konovalov picks up a noise.  When he reports the noise to the captain, Ramius's former pupil Tupolev, he orders that the ship run on a fraction of its power to let the United States ships drift up to them.  When the subs get closer Tupolev orders the engineers to increase power, this is picked up by the USS Pogy who was traveling ahead to check that every thing was all clear.  Pogy sends a danger signal back to the USS Dallas and the Red October.  However, the V. K. Konovalov is now close enough to the Red October to pick up her Russian characteristics and determines that the Red October is not on the bottom of the ocean.  Tupolev is advised by the political officer to surface and send word to Moscow, but Tupolev doesn't want to let Ramius get away, so he launches two missiles at the Red October.  The officers have time to react, and they turn the ship so that it is facing the missiles and thus presents a smaller target.  The first missile misses low, but the second hits just forward of the control room, and explodes.  After the impact the Red October was hidden in a mask of bubbles, but it was not dead.  The V. K. Konovalov expected her to move north under the Pogy's diversionary pinging, but Ramius was staying put to allow the Konovalov to rift past so the Red October could follow in her blind spot.  Once Tupolev figured out what Ramius was up to he swung around and launched a torpedo at the Red October.  Jones reported the distance of the 'fish' to the Red October, but Ramius insisted on hearing only the distance to the Konovalov.  He ordered a full speed ahead, directly at the Soviet submarine.  On missile submarines the torpedoes can not arm themselves until they are five hundred to a thousand yards away from the boat that launched them to prevent them from blowing up their own sub.  Ramius was counting on this; the Red October closed the distance to the V. K. Konovalov and the torpedo struck the submarine harmlessly and fell to the ocean floor.  The Red October then collided with the V. K. Konovalov, the Red October scrapped against the Soviet submarine, rupturing the Konovalov's pressure hull and sending her crumpling to the ocean floor.

Journal- I didn't know how they were going to get out of that; they couldn't fire on a Russian submarine without starting a war, but all of the American vessels involved still have all of their torpedoes and the Konovalov was unable to send a signal of its destruction. 

Chapter Sixteen

Brief Summary-  The crew of the Red October were brought to the United States were they are meet by a mob of media reports.  The overwhelming encounter, which took a few hours to get away from, was entirely unexpected.  After this they were to be taken to a hospital for medical checks including one for radiation exposure.  On their way they were taken through Washington D.C., the crew was shocked to see so many cars, after which the American officers informed them that most people in the United States have one or two cars, and public transportation is used only when people don't want to drive.  Most of the Russians were not quick to believe this, and thought of the possibility the United States organized the whole thing to put on a good show or try to get them to stay in the United State, four do.

          On the Red October, the officers and the Americans are discussing what made them go into their occupations.  The Russians are surprised to learn that Mancuso is not the son of a spy or an important politician.

Journal-  I'm thinking that the Soviets will eventually learn what really happened to the Red October, with spies and if the United States starts using new submarines with caterpillar drive systems.  I wonder whats going to happen then.  It seem like the thing that could put the US and the Soviets on the brink of war.

Chapter Fifteen

Brief Summary-  Ryan requests medics from the USS Dallas and the USS Pogy.  After Ramius and Williams gets medical attention, the Americans devote all of their attention to making sure the Russians are happy and that they have a change a heart.  They feed them the best food they have, and show them E. T. to impress them.  The Soviet are rather surprised by all that they learn; the fact that the Americans are allowed to believe in God comes as an unexpected shock.  Relations between the Soviets and the Americans are going surprisingly well so far.

          Moscow learns that the Red October has been destroyed, those in charge believe that this is due to the spy aboard who it appears managed to keep the submarine out of the hands of the United States.

Journal-  This was an interesting chapter; seeing the Russian reactions to life in America.  I am looking forward to seeing what they will think if the crew tells the officers more about what they can expect their new lives to be like.

Chapter Fourteen

Brief Summary-  For the next step of Ryan's plan he needs a grow of men who are fluent in Russian.  When he calls the President asking for permission to use several men, and brief them on the current situation he is allowed one.  Owen Williams, a long time submariner with a degree in Russian is briefed five minutes later.

          On the Red October, the situation is looking bleak; with the repairs going the way they are the submarine will only have battery power in a matter of hours, and that shouldn't last them more than a few more hours.  Ramius is still keeping up his act of strict Soviet allegiance and declares that the Red October shall never fall into Imperialist hands.  He tells the crew that they cannot call for help this close to the United States.  A few hours later Ramius announces that they must abandon ship; they are too far from Cuba to ask for help and there is not chance of help from Russia.  The crew will abandon ship with the United States submarine who is following them, and has offered assistance.  The officers shall stay on board and, when the crew is off the sub, the officers shall set of the scuttling charges, destroying the Red October.

          Ryan and Williams now enter the USS Mystic, a submersible designed to link up with submarines.  They descend to the depth of the Red October and join with her.  Once inside they begin evacuating the crew with the Mystic, and in the commotion, no one notices the cook disappear.

          Later on, once the crew has been has been evacuated, Ryan thinks he hears gun shots coming from the missile room.  Ryan and Ramius go to investigate the noise and learn that there is a soviet spy on board who learned of Ramius's plan after the crew was evacuated.  He now plans to detonate on of the war heads and destroy the Red October.  When they find him he shots Ramius in the leg.  Ryan throw on of the clips for his pistol, and when the agent looked in the direction of the noise, Ryan jumped out and shot the man.

          Moments later the USS Ethan Allan exploded after all those aboard were evacuated with the USS Mystic.

Journal-  This chapter was defiantly my favorite so far, I read it all in one sitting.  The climax was defiantly everything I was expecting. 

Chapter Thirteen

Brief Summary-  The USS Dallas has alerted the Red October of her presence during a Crazy Ivan.  Ramius believes that the submarine has accidentally stumbled upon the in the last two hours, and now Ryan and the USS Invincible have caught up with the Red October.  The Invincible begins sending a message to Ramius using a flash light and Morse code; this will assure that only the captain, using the periscope.   "RED OCTOBER CAN YOU READ THIS PLEASE PING US ONCE ON ACTIVE SONAR", Ramius orders Borodin to check range to the USS Dallas with a single ping.  The USS Invincible goes on to tell Ramius that the whole Russian fleet is after him and that they plan to sink him, they go on to say that he should proceed to 33N 75W to rendezvous with United States ships.

          The USS Ethan Allan is currently at 33N 75W, waiting for their part of the plan to begin. 

          The Red October has gone in to a state of alert; the reactor situation has, according to Ramius's announcement to the crew, become very serious.

Journal-  Ramius is defiantly planning to fake reactor problems to get the crew off the submarine at 33N 75W, where the USS Ethan Allan is waiting to begin its last assignment, which I believe is to explode in the place of the Red October after the crew has been evacuated.

Chapter Twelve

Brief Summary-  The USS Dallas has been tracking the Red October for twenty-four hours with no counter detection.  The Dallas is following the mysterious Russian in its blind spot, the immediate back of the submarine which cannot use sonar to detect anything in this area.  About every two hours the Red October undergoes a Russian maneuver known as the Crazy Ivan,  when a submarine undergoes a complete turn to check for any submarines in its blind spot.   To counter it the USS Dallas must cut all power and drift without steering at the Russian sub, and risk collision, which has happened before.

After a successful counter maneuver, the USS Dallas sends a message to the COMSUBLANT Operations informing them of the Dallas's success thus far.  COMSUBLANT Operations them radios to the US Invincible of the Red Octobers position, and Ryan and the sub begging moving toward her location.

Journal-  I'm really getting exited about when Ryan catches up to the Red October.  I don't know how they're going to communicate without the crew finding out, or how they're going to get the crew off the submarine without them finding out that the officers are defecting.  I think the sinking of the E. S. Politovskiy would give Ryan the idea to tell the officers on board the Red October to fake a reactor problem.  After that the United States could 'save' the crew.  However, I'm not sure what they're going to do about the submarine after that, except blow up the USS Ethan Allan, pretending it is the Red October.

Chapter Eleven

Brief Summary-  At the Norfolk Naval Medical Center, the Russian submariner seems to be on his way to recovery; he is stable and his radiation exposure was not enough to cause physiological effects.  During his recovery, the mans doctor, Dr. Tait, discovers one of the Russians who is overseeing the mans recovery, Petchkin, about to light a cigarette in the patent's room.  The submariner is currently on one hundred percent oxygen, so lighting a cigarette could cause a major fire which could kill the patent.  Dr. Tait, who has been told to save this patient at all cost forcefully removes Petchkin from the room, and instructs a guard to sure he never goes in there again, and that the patent is to never be unattended.  Dr. Tait accuses the Russian of purposely attempting to kill the submariner.

           On the Red October, Melekhin has discovered the leak and, with the help of Borodin, attempts to fix.  During the repair Melekhin determines that they were sabotaged by someone with extensive mechanical and reactor knowledge.

Journal-  I am wondering if the Russians indeed believe that the E. S. Politovskiy is the Red October, and are trying to kill one of the defectors, or if the incident merely contrasts the extreme differences in the safety procedures of the United States and Russia.

Chapter Ten

Brief Summary-  Both United States and Soviet ships and aircraft have orders to not engage the other unless fired upon first.  Both take to openly provoking one another with fighter planes flying past the carriers and surface ships of the other.  The Americans drop flares around a Soviet ship a night to inform them that if they had wanted to, they could have sank the Soviet ship.  The Soviets send a fighter plane on a mission through a group of American ships to prove that they can effectively navigate through the lines of the other without being detected.  The Americans do detect this plane and send aircraft of their own out to escort it back to its ship.  This encounter leaves the Russians feeling resentful of the Americans.  A Russian Kingfish fighter and several American Tomcats run into each other and begin to fly around one another with missiles locked on.  This ends with no loss of life.

          One survivor has been found from the E. S. Politovskiy, he is in critical condition and has pneumonia, which could seriously effect his chances of survival.  He is rushed to the Norfolk Naval Medical Center, and put under the care of the best doctors at the hospital.  The President is determined that this man live, if he does it could improve relations between the united States and the Soviet Union.

           At the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, the USS Ethan Allen is being prepared for its final mission, and is brought out understaffed.

Journal-  I thought that the United States was going to pretend that the E. S. Politovskiy was the Red October in order to gain her without the Soviets being suspicious.  However, it is starting to seem like the USS Ethan Allan is going to self destruct after evacuating the crew.  For an old submarine to be going out on its last mission, understaffed, after Tyler told Greer that his plan required an old submarine that the United States could do without, they're probably planning to destroy her when the Red October is in the hands of the United States.

Chapter Nine

Brief Summary-  Skip Tyler arrives at the Pentagon and proposes an idea to Greer about how to get the get the Red October.  The reader isn't yet privileged to the plan, but Tyler did mention the use of "an old boomer of our own that we can afford to do without" (165).

          On the Red October, Melekhin has discovered that the Geiger counters have been sabotaged, and the exposure shown on the badges is correct.  Melekhin and his engineers have been receiving the largest doses.  Borodin and Melekhin now plan to find the leak and fix it before the problem of radiation exposure becomes dangerous.  The officers are still determined to keep the reactor leak from the crew.

          The United States has began deploying their own ships and aircraft, along with a submarine rescue ship, to observe the Soviets and activate their own plans for gaining the Red October and saving any crewmen aboard the E. S. Politovskiy.

          In the Soviet Union, Padorin, who approved of Ramius's officer appointments, is now facing interrogation from the Chairman, General Secretary, Defense Minister, and other important Soviet officials.

          The president informs the Soviet ambassador that they have found the missing submarine; he tells Arbatov that a hundred miles north of Norfolk a united States submarine had observed an underwater explosion that was not from a United States sub, or a submarine belonging to any United States allied nation.  Furthermore, the President informs the ambassador that the United State will execute a rescue mission to attempt to save any survivors of the explosion.

Journal-   I feel a bit bad for Padorin, with the KGB track record I feel as though this guy isn't going to make it to the end of the novel.  It does seem unfair to blame him for the lost of the Red October; anyone would have approved of Ramius's officers, they were all highly qualified and there was no suspicions against any of them.

Chapter Eight

Brief Summary-  Arbatov, a Soviet ambassador, has arrived at the White House to meet with the President, who questions Arbatov about the "troubling increase in Soviet naval activity in the North Atlantic".  Upon being asked this, the ambassador denies any knowledge of this and is told by the President to tell Moscow that the United States will be deploying ships and aircraft to observe those the Soviets have sent out.  Later, Arbatov informs the President that Moscow has ordered a full scale search and rescue mission for a lost submarine, and he apologises for his government not having time to inform him of this.  The President informs falsely the ambassador that they had suspicions of a rescue mission and offers the Soviets any help they may need.

          Skip Tyler has finished his computer program that details the speed, noise level, and other important features regarding her detectability, characteristics, and stealth.  According to his report, the Red October will be harder to detect than anything the Soviets have at this time.
           The USS Pogy, who was stationed near the USS Dallas has been ordered to join up with its counterpart and track and shadow.
           The E. S. Politovskiy has detected problems with its reactor plant, which prove to be serious.  The Russian submarine is forced to surface, but the fuel rods were over heating so in an attempt to cool off the reactor that compartment of the ship was flooded with sea water.  This inadvertently began to sink the submarine.  Half of the crew was killed during the flooding, and the other half, those who had gotten into radiation compartments that weren't compromised when the submarine hit the ocean floor, would die of asphyxiation.
           As the USS Pogy moved to her new destination she was close enough to the E. S. Politovskiy to here her accident and request assistance to its location.

Journal-  I thought this chapter was very easy to read because most of what was in it wasn't in the movie. The sinking of the E. S. Politovskiy was rather interesting and I'm wondering if the United Stated are going to try to prevent that it was the Red October if the defecting sub is successful in reaching the United States.

Chapter Seven

Brief Summary-  On the USS Dallas, Sonarman Jones believes he can track the unusual sounding Russian submarine.  Mancuso, the captain of USS Dallas, sends a message to COMSUBLANT Operations asking for permission to leave their current location and track her.  COMSUBLANT grant the USS Dallas permission to track the submarine and report back as necessary. 

          On the V. K. Konovalov, Tupolev is racing toward the Atlantic with order to find and destroy the Red October.

          On the Red October, Chief Engineer Melekhin discovers that the radiation badges are showings signs of exposer, upon checking two more batches of the badges he determines that there must be a leak in the reactor.  Ramius calls a meeting of the officers and is determined to keep it from the crew for as long as possible to prevent a panic.  Later, Melekhin discover that no serious levels of radiation a being picked by the Geiger counters, and it is concluded that someone has sabotaged their badges, but to be safe it is decided that they should check for leaks.

          Ryan has been flown out to the USS Invincible to help locate the Red October, and help her should she really be planning to defect.

Journal-  I think Ramius handled the radiation incident very impressively, keeping that from the crew was a very good idea; if they found out that they were being exposed to radiation would have caused a scare, and while they are trapped in a submarine, that could lead to hysteria.

Chapter Six

Brief Summary-  The CIA discusses the possibilities of what the Red October is planning.  Several ideas are put forward, including misinformation.  Finally, Ryan presents an idea and the CIA, and is asked to present it at the meeting of the National Security Council that afternoon at the White House.  At the meeting Ryan presents the pictures of the Red October to the council and the president, and informs them that the Russians have given orders to find and sink her if necessary.  Ryan states that all of the officers are leaving no family behind and that this fact points to the possibility the Red October attempting to defect.  After the briefing the president asks Ryan to fly out to the fleet commander and brief him the situation disguised as a naval officer.

Journal-  I happened to find this chapter very interesting; my theory of the Red October defecting proved to be true.  Also, Ryan, who seems to have thought himself himself to be a relatively unimportant CIA worker has landed himself in a very important job.  I could really imagine his nervousness before presenting his information to some of the most important men in the country, and his surprise when he learned that the president wanted him to go and brief the fleet commander on the situation.

Chapter Five

Brief Summary-  Admiral Yuri Ilych Padori receives Ramius's letter after the Red October has been at sea for five days, a panic ensues. 

      On board the USS Dallas, the sonarman Ronald Jones picks up an unusual noise, which he runs through the BC-10 computer to analyze the sound.  The BC-10 determined that the noise was caused by magma displacement.  However, Jones believes the noise to be too regular to a natural anomaly.

      Moscow responds to the Red October by sending out an alarming number of vessels.  The National Security Agency's report on this development leaves the CIA baffled; the Russians had just conducted a large scale exercise a month before and the amount of data taken in during an operation of that size takes much longer than a month to analyze.

      Meanwhile the CIA can't even be sure that the Red October even sailed yet.

Journal-  I think its obvious that the Red October is planning to defect, why else would the Moscow officials send out so many of their vessels?  I don't think their planning on attacking the United States because Ramius said he wants Russia to suffer, and he couldn't be planning to attack the State because he's moving toward the Americas.

Chapter Four

Brief Summary-  The United States has become aware of the Red October; a spy has informed the CIA that it has sailed, and pictures of it have been sent to the CIA.  It is forty four feet longer than the submarines of her class, and has more torpedo tubes.  Along with this is has four mysterious doors on it , two on each side.  CIA agent Jack Ryan, with the permission of James Greer, plans to show these pictures to Skip Taylor, an expert on submarines, who Ryan believes may be able to shed some light on the mysterious doors.  When Skip examines these photos he determines that it is a Typhoon class submarine, which are the largest and some of the quietest submarines, and that it had twenty-six missiles instead of twenty.  He also realizes that the doors resemble the tunnel drive system that the United States had once attempted to develop before it was dropped because they couldn't get it to work efficiently.  However, if this system was successfully it would make the submarine using it nearly undetectable.

Journal-  I can see why Ramius sent the letter to Moscow to inform the State of his plan.  If the doors are what Skip Taylor thinks they are, no one would be able to find the Red October, why not tell inform them, they won't be able to stop him anyway.  That makes Ramius seem overly confident about the situation; he thinks no one will be able to stop him because of his intellect and superior submarine.

Chapter Three

Brief Summary-  Ramius calls a meeting with his officers to discuss their current situation.  It becomes apparent that the other officers are in on Ramius's plan, and believe that now "there is no going back".  During the meeting we are privileged to a flashback in which we learn of Ramius's youth and what drove to him to what his is doing now.  Ramius's grandmother had taught him religion, and he seems to harbor a hatred toward Russia for not being allowed religious freedom.  This hatred grew stronger when his wife Natalia died, and he felt that "The State had robbed him of more than his wife, it had robbed him of a means to assuage his grief with prayer, it had robbed him of the hope-if only an illusion-of ever seeing her again" (33).  He also blamed Russia for his wife's death; the drunk surgeon who caused serious damage to her while operating, and the and untested medicine that had never been inspected, given to her after the surgery.  Neither the doctor or the manufactures of the drug were held responsible, and Ramius wanted to make the state pay for it injustices.

Journal-  I sympathize with Ramius, his past was riddled with suffering cause by the Communist government of Russian.  The death of wife was a series of tragic events that were caused by lax safety precautions and errors of judgment on the parts of many groups, that would have had serious consequences if they had happened in the United States.  His idea to punish Russia is just.

Chapter Two

Brief Summary-  Ramius announces to the crew that their mission is to navigate down the Atlantic and evade the Imperialists.  He tells them that because of spies, the west will know of them, but they will be unable to pick up the Red October on sonar.  The crew will then stop at Cuba for one week, then make the return trip home.  After Ramius delivered these false orders he engaged the 'catipiller' drive system, and the submarine went quiet.  Meanwhile, the USS Bremerton was waiting for the Red October provided that she sailed as scheduled.  They picked up the sub, but lost it moments later.  Believing that it slowed to a drift they reduced speed to creep up on it.  Back in the USSR, Ramius's letter got to the mail station.  The mail sorter, not having to meet his quota of sorted letter until the end of the month, went about his work slowly.  When he finally got to Ramius's letter he missed the sorting bin for Moscow, and it wouldn't be sent for another day.  On the V. K. Konovalov, the sub that was scheduled to be tracking the Red October in its mission, OCTOBER FROST, was awaiting her arrival.  Ramius's former pupil was the captain of this vessel, and he, Captain Second Rank Alexievich Tupolev, was determined to embarrass his old master, as no one else was able to.  However, the Red October was late to arrive, believing this was just to make Tupolev nervous or to enter the exercise area from an unexpected angle, Tupolev was all the more determined to win.

Journal-  I'm quiet curious to see what Tupolev does when he realizes that Ramius isn't going to show up for the drill.  I wonder how long it will take to figure it out, it seems as though that the Red October is supposed to be undetectable could make them think that it was that was there when it really isn't.  Furthermore, the fact that Ramius's letter has been delayed, the Red October has an extra day to get away.  A sub that is supposed to be difficult to track and giving it an extra day's head start could practically guarantee that it is not found.

Chapter One

Brief Summary-  Captain First Rank Marko Ramius of the Soviet Navy takes the Red October out of the submarine base at Polyarnyy for a two week exercise to test its abilities.  The Red October is a new type of submarine that the Soviets are hoping will show the Imperialist west the power of the Soviet Union.  However, Ramius seems to have other plans; he stated that one way or another he would not be returning, and that he had "left a letter in the last mailbag taken off before sailing... there was no going back after that".  Ramius doesn't make his plans clear yet.  Later, when it was time for Ramius and Captain Second Rank Ivan Yurievich Putin to open their mission  orders, Ramius killed Putin.  After staging the scene to make it appear that the death was an accident, Ramius took Putin's orders, and took out a fake set.  These instructions called for strict radio silence, so they could not report Putin's death, and after relaying these new orders to the crew the Red October set off west northwest, away from where the exercise was supposed to be conducted. 

Journal-  I am defiantly enjoying this much more than I would have thought.  It seems to me to very believable, like Tom Clancy know a bit about submarines and the Soviet Union.  Also, it seems to be getting right to the action, while still including some good character development.  So far it seems very similar to the, aside from the fact that no one questioned that the Capitan took Putins key, (which is not supposed to happen, two keys exist so that no one man has ultimate control over what goes on in the submarine without check).