The Hunt for Red October vessel. 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 offshore waters and launch nuclear missiles with little or no warning. As the ship leaves the shipyard at Polyarny, Ramius kills Ivan Putin, his political officer, to ensure that he will not interfere with the defection. Initially, Ramius was instructed to conduct military exercises with Soviet attack submarine "V. K. Konovalov", commanded by his former student Viktor Tupolev, for the purpose of testing the effectiveness of
The Hunt for Red October (film) assigns a weighted average out of 100 to critics' reviews, "The Hunt for Red October" received a score of 58 based on 17 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert called the film "a skillful, efficient film that involves us in the clever and deceptive game being played", while Gene Siskel commented on the film's technical achievement and Baldwin's convincing portrayal of Jack Ryan. Nick Schager, for "Slant" magazine's review, noted, ""The Hunt for Red October" is a thrilling edge-of-your-seat trifle that has admirably withstood the