Question: In the scene near the end of the movie, when Tupelov's sub fires on the Red October for the first time, how did the torpedo manage to miss the mini-sub sitting right on top of the October?
Grumpy Scot
12th Jan 2008
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
27th May 2004
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Question: In the scene in which Jack is asking himself how Ramius is going to get his men off the Red October, how does he figure out what Ramius is going to do?
Answer: Thinking out loud, Jack says, "how do you make men want to get off a nuclear submarine..." the word "nuclear" made him realize that the easiest way to make the crew WANT to leave the sub is to fake a reactor/radiation accident.
14th Apr 2004
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Question: During the ending sequence (with the Alpha) the Red October is running on the screws instead of the caterpillar. Now, we know the "reactor leak" was fake...and we know that the caterpillar was working normally (right after Ramius says "let us turn South" you see the Red October dive over a canyon wall with the screws not moving hence the caterpillar running). Wouldn't it have been wiser to run on the caterpillar during the ending?
Answer: The caterpillar drive was inoperable. The reactor leak was staged by the defecting officers, but the sabotage to the caterpillar (by the undercover KGB agent posing as the cook) was real.
Chosen answer: No, (mentioned in the book, not the film), the caterpillar can only drive Red October at a little over 1/2 her top speed. Speed is far more important than silence at this point.
Answer: The caterpillar was repaired but later after the crew exited screws were on and caterpillar was operation. The Russian fleet was still on there tail you still should be on silent drive. Movie shows them running on normal propulsion. Possible movie boo boo. Makes no sense.
The Caterpillar is not silent, it just does not sound like a sub. This is how the Dallas was able to track Red October even when it was running on the caterpillar. The Dallas just need to know what it sounded like. Presumably The Alpha knows what to listen for so speed would be important.
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Answer: Torpedoes home in on a target via sonar. The mini sub was too close to the October to show up as a separate target. Further, the Alfa's captain misjudged the distance from his boat to Red October and the torpedoes armed themselves and started looking for the boomer after they had already passed her.
Grumpy Scot