Character mistake: Characters refer to the Dallas and the Red October as "ships," but anyone stationed aboard a submarine would know to call it a "boat."
Factual error: When Ryan is brought on board the Dallas, Captain Mancuso climbs down from the conning tower, through the hatch next to the control room of the sub. He then walks/runs down two flights of stairs and enters a short corridor where Ryan is now dropped on the floor by the safety diver and another crewman. I am unsure of the exact location of the lower hatch of the escape trunk on a 688 sub, but I suspect it would be on mid deck. When the camera turns to face Mancuso again you see the curvature of the hull next to him, suggesting this takes place on an upper floor on the sub. So why did he run down two stairs to seconds later end up on the top floor of a sub with only three floors inside the pressure hull?
Suggested correction: All escape trunks on all submarines are on the top of the pressure hull. The lower hatch would be a few feet below the top of the pressure hull. The only deck (floor) to be able to reach the escape trunk is the upper level (top floor), so the shot must show the curvature of the hull. If it didn't, then it would be a factual error.
On 688 class submarines such as the USS Dallas, the forward escape trunk lower hatch is immediately aft of Crew's Mess in Forward Compartment Middle Level.
Continuity mistake: When Ryan is helo'ed to the Dallas it does not have a DSRV attached, but they use one later in the movie to board Red October.
Suggested correction: In the film more than 24 hours pass between the time Ryan gets on Dallas and when they show the DSRV attached to her. If you remember earlier in the movie it was stated that they could have the DSRV anywhere in the world in 24 hours. Therefore, one may assume that this time was used to get the DSRV to the Dallas.
Dallas was in the middle of tracking Red October and would have to have broken off the tracking (as it did anyway to pick up Ryan) in order for a sub tender to meet Dallas, place the DSRV on her, and then Dallas would have to hightail it back to find Red October. Plus getting the DSRV out to Dallas seems like a critical part of the story. While some scenes end up on the cutting room floor in every movie one has to wonder why there wasn't even a mention about having to surface for the DSRV.
Dallas didn't need to track the Red October anymore because the extraction point was already arranged, so it was very plausible the Dallas could get access to the DSRV.
Other mistake: When the sub is ordered to turn right, Ramius is seated facing forward and tightens his seat belt. When the sub makes a tight right turn, his coffee cup slides the wrong way. (01:00:01)
Continuity mistake: When the aircraft crashes on the carrier, the Admiral, Captain and Ryan are in the island (the superstructure on the starboard side). In the next shot, they are looking at the crash from the port side. You can see the island, where they were moments before, in the background.
Visible crew/equipment: On the Dallas, the two men are listening to sonar and get a fax that the Soviet sub is a new type. The camera moves in on the man (Jones) on the left seat and its shadow is very visible on his seat.
Continuity mistake: When Sally is saying that Stanley is keeping her awake, her grip on the bear's ear is changing between constant shots. (00:04:40)
Continuity mistake: When chasing the KGB agent, Ryan climbs up a ladder empty handed, but when he rolls over on the walkway he has a gun in his hand.
Revealing mistake: Near the end, when Ryan and Ramius are talking, right before Ryan says "welcome to the New World", Ryan is facing Ramius and his thick hair should be blocking the hill in the distance behind him, but his hair is translucent and the hill is visible through his hair. (02:06:00)
Continuity mistake: Towards the beginning of the film, when Captain Marko Ramius kills Political Officer Putin, Ramius initially grabs Putin's face and forehead from behind, pulling the political officer off balance and into the edge of the table at which they were just sitting and discussing their orders. In the cut just before Putin slumps to the floor and falls backwards, Ramius' hand is now high on his victim's chest, near the collarbone.giving an extra push. Putin also moves some distance towards the door as he falls backwards onto the deck and dies. (00:18:30 - 00:19:00)
