Red October (fictional submarine) not feature. Also the bridge tower of the submarine is taller and more simplified, with no large bulging lower section of a standard Typhoon bridge tower, but instead a much smaller bulge. The difference in appearance of the bridge tower may have been an error in the design of the model of "Red October" as earlier on in the film, schematics of a Typhoon-class submarine are shown which display a standard Typhoon bridge tower but also carry the sonar array attached to the rudder as on "Red October". "Red October" is also longer due to additional ballistic missile launch tubes.
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