Corrected entry: This could be an error done on purpose to simplify the audience understanding. When the Russian Alpha fires on the Red October towards the movie's end, the torpedo's course is stated as 315. Ramius then tells Ryan to steer the sub to a course of 315 to head into the torpedo. That's wrong. If the torpedo were on a bearing of 315, the sub would need to be on a bearing of 135 to be heading directly into it.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Correction: The torpedo fired at Red October is reported at bearing 315. Then Red October seers a course of 315. That is accurate to set a collision course with the torpedo.
How? Both objects would then be on a heading of 315 thereby going in the same direction, not heading into each other. If the torpedo was traveling on a bearing of 315, the reciprocal heading would be 180° opposite, or 135.
kaevanoff
When they detect the torpedo the Russian says there is a torpedo in the water bearing 315, meaning the torpedo is 315° from them, not that its course is 315. Ramius then orders the sub to head in the direction of 315 which is the direction they detected the torpedo as coming from.
jimba
The torpedo's bearing is 315 from the sub's position, but has a COURSE of 135, towards the sub.