Soviet submarine Red October

Red October (, "Krasniy Oktyabr" ) is a fictitious ''Typhoon'' class submarine in the Tom Clancy novel The Hunt for Red October and the film which followed. She was built with a revolutionary stealth propulsion system called a "caterpillar drive", which is described as a hydrojet system in the book. In the film however, it is shown as being a magnetohydrodynamic drive. The drama of the story partially centers around the dual capabilities of this submarine. As a submarine of the Typhoon class, it carries many ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads. With a stealthy propulsion unit, it can no longer be detected by NATO naval vessels. As described in both the book and the film, these capabilities combine to create a horrific weapon, whereby the submarine could easily surface near a city, like Washington DC, fire its missiles, and destroy key targets before any government or military leaders could order a counterattack. One interpretation, as offered in the film and book, is that... full article at wikipedia