The Hunt for Red October is the debut novel by American author Tom Clancy, first published on October 1, 1984, by the Naval Institute Press. 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 had intended to defect to the United States. The Hunt for Red October launched Clancy's successful 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. Plot summary During the Cold War, Marko Ramius, a Soviet Navy submarine commander, plans to defect to the United States with the ballistic 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 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 , a 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