Red October (fictional submarine) subs were only about 175 meters long with about a 23-meter beam. "Red October" would also have been about 5,000 tons heavier than the normal Typhoon class sub. No Soviet submarines were officially named "Red October". Only the Japanese experimental civilian boat "Yamato 1" has managed to use this type of advanced propulsion system. In the film, "Red October" appears much like a standard Typhoon-class submarine though it has a number of significant differences. The aft section of the submarine contains two ducts for the caterpillar drive. The upper rudder carries a towed sonar array which typical Typhoon-class submarines do
The Hunt for Red October (film) to rewrite the whole film but was only required to do the Russian sequences. Rather than choosing between the realism of Russian dialog with subtitles, or the audience-friendly use of English (with or without Russian accents), the filmmakers compromised with a deliberate conceit. The film begins with the actors speaking Russian with English subtitles. But in an early scene, actor Peter Firth casually switches in mid-sentence to speaking in English on the word "Armageddon", which is the same spoken word in both languages. After that point, all the Soviets' dialogue is communicated in English. Connery continued using the Russian accent