Having read and reread "The Hunt for Red October" more times than I care to remember got me thinking about what would have happened to the Red October and her defecting officers?
The book ends with the Typhoon class SSBN Red October arriving in the US and being hidden in a covered dry dock with her officers being moved to safe houses. I know that Tom Clancy makes very brief references to the Red October and Capt Ramius in his later books but I'm more interested in the long term bigger picture.
If a cutting edge Soviet SSBN on its first deployment and it's senior officers really had defected to the US in 1984 with the Soviets believing the boat destroyed (Along with a pair of SSN's lost to probably unknown causes) and a large naval confrontation having taken place in the Atlantic what would the effects of this have been to both sides?
With a real life Soviet SSBN available for them to examine and do with as they pleased along with Soviet officers on hand to explain how everything works what secrets could the US have learnt and how might they have exploited them?
The Soviets were aware of Capt Ramius's intention to defect and did everything they could to stop it even losing a pair of SSN's along the way. Would they have really completely believed that the Red October had been lost and how likely is it that they may have found out what really happened? If so how would they have reacted?
The majority of the ships company (Ratings and junior officers) were tricked into abandoning the boat due to a staged reactor accident and repatriated back to the Soviet Union. What would likely have happened to these men upon their return (especially the medical officer who was the only senior officer to have "survived")?
In the long term assuming that the truth finally comes out after the end of the Cold War (as happened with Project Azorian) and the US Government admits that it did have a Soviet SSBN in its possession for a time what would the reaction of modern Russia be?
Given the sheer number of people who through being involved with various evaluation projects would be aware of the existence of a Soviet SSBN in a US shipyard the potential for an information leak is there.
And finally what would have become of the Red October herself and her defecting captain and his officers?
The book ends with the Typhoon class SSBN Red October arriving in the US and being hidden in a covered dry dock with her officers being moved to safe houses. I know that Tom Clancy makes very brief references to the Red October and Capt Ramius in his later books but I'm more interested in the long term bigger picture.
If a cutting edge Soviet SSBN on its first deployment and it's senior officers really had defected to the US in 1984 with the Soviets believing the boat destroyed (Along with a pair of SSN's lost to probably unknown causes) and a large naval confrontation having taken place in the Atlantic what would the effects of this have been to both sides?
With a real life Soviet SSBN available for them to examine and do with as they pleased along with Soviet officers on hand to explain how everything works what secrets could the US have learnt and how might they have exploited them?
The Soviets were aware of Capt Ramius's intention to defect and did everything they could to stop it even losing a pair of SSN's along the way. Would they have really completely believed that the Red October had been lost and how likely is it that they may have found out what really happened? If so how would they have reacted?
The majority of the ships company (Ratings and junior officers) were tricked into abandoning the boat due to a staged reactor accident and repatriated back to the Soviet Union. What would likely have happened to these men upon their return (especially the medical officer who was the only senior officer to have "survived")?
In the long term assuming that the truth finally comes out after the end of the Cold War (as happened with Project Azorian) and the US Government admits that it did have a Soviet SSBN in its possession for a time what would the reaction of modern Russia be?
Given the sheer number of people who through being involved with various evaluation projects would be aware of the existence of a Soviet SSBN in a US shipyard the potential for an information leak is there.
And finally what would have become of the Red October herself and her defecting captain and his officers?
😁