The Hunt for Red October meltdown. Ramius and his officers stay behind, claiming they are about to scuttle the submarine to prevent it getting into the hands of the Americans. A decommissioned U.S. ballistic missile submarine, , is blown up underwater as a deception. A depth gauge taken from the main instrument panel of "Red October" (with the appropriate serial number) is made to appear as if it had been salvaged from the wreckage. Meanwhile, Ryan, Captain Mancuso, some of his crew, and Owen Williams (a Russian-speaking British officer from "Invincible") board "Red October" and meet Ramius face-to-face. The deception efforts succeed in convincing Soviet
The Hunt for Red October novel as "the most satisfactory novel of a sea chase since C.S. Forester perfected the form". Due to an extensive marketing campaign by the Naval Institute Press for their first published work of fiction, which was initially aimed on the military, the book sold 45,000 copies by March 1985. Clancy said in a 1991 interview: “I thought we’d sell maybe five thousand or ten thousand hardcovers and that would be the end of it. I never really thought about making money.” After Reagan's endorsement, "The Hunt for Red October" topped the national bestseller lists, particularly "The New York Times". It