Tom Clancy, Red October and Me

Tom Clancy published The Hunt for Red October in 1984, the same year that I entered the United States Naval Academy as a plebe (first-year midshipman).

I was lucky enough to meet the author a few years later at a Naval Academy lecture after Red October had become an international best-seller. I remember thinking at the time that his was an unlikely success story. He had been an insurance salesman—he told us that proudly in the first few minutes of his talk—and had never served in the military. His novel, a Cold War techno-thriller, had been rejected by all the major publishing houses until it was picked up by the Naval Institute Press as their first fiction offering.

The mid-1980’s was the height of the Cold War with the former Soviet Union, and Mr. Clancy’s Red October tale of two submarines fed into the mystique of the high-stakes, undersea cat-and-mouse game between superpowers.

Red October came into my life at just the right time to nurture a dream of becoming a submariner. During summer breaks, midshipmen were required to serve in “the Fleet,” as part of our training, but submarine duty for first-years was strictly on a volunteer basis. I was lucky enough to spend eight weeks at sea on a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine out of New London, Connecticut. Today, a photo of that submarine, signed by the captain, hangs on my office wall.

On that extended summer operation, Red October made the rounds through the crew, but most of them put it aside. “Too much like being on watch” they said — it was that realistic.

I read it twice.

In 1988 I graduated from the Academy as an ensign and entered nuclear power training to be a submarine officer. A few years later, I was back in New London again, this time for Submarine School, the final stop for officers before they went to the Fleet. The movie of Hunt for Red October was released that spring and the base bought out an afternoon showing for the Sub School classes. I can still picture it: an entire movie theater packed shoulder to shoulder with khaki-clad twenty-somethings and their instructors, all cheering for the good guys (which also happened to be us).

By then, I already knew I was headed to a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine and could not have been happier, my dream was coming true. It felt right that I was seeing my old friend Red October on the eve of becoming a real submariner.

I’ve lost touch with the military techno-thriller scene over the years, but The Hunt for Red October still occupies a special place on my bookshelf.

Thank you, Mr. Clancy. Rest in peace.