Mutiny: The True Events That Inspired The Hunt for Red October

Russians are a passionate people. It had been decades since crowds had marched in protest in Red Square, but it could happen again. A military command structure is only as good as the willingness of its officers to obey orders. And any government, even one so powerful as the Soviet Union’s, is only as strong as the confidence of its citizens in the status quo.

The young mutineer aboard the Storozhevoy meant to destroy this confidence, by seizing the ship and sending his message to the people.

Thank God it had been broadcast in code.

But Sablin could very well discover that error and retransmit the message, this time en clair. That was the major reason Brezhnev had ordered the Storozhevoy found and destroyed, before the message was sent again.

48. BELOWDECKS

It’s after six in the morning. Some of the officers are curled up on the deck, asleep, and Gindin wishes that he could be like them. He is bone weary, but he can’t shut down his thoughts about what happened last night in the midshipmen’s dining hall.

Sablin’s incredible speech, unbelievable then, is even more unbelievable now. Their only chance is to reach Swedish waters before Fleet Headquarters sends a force out here to either stop them or sink them.

Kuzmin, who’s been lying in a corner, gets up, comes over, and sits down on the deck next to Gindin. He looks just as worried as Gindin feels. “I can’t sleep,” Kuzmin says.

“Neither can I,” Gindin replies.

Kuzmin looks over at the hatch to the corridor. “It feels like we’re in the open sea.”

“I think so.”

Kuzmin nods toward the hatch. “Anything from those pricks with the guns?”

“Not for the last few hours.”

“Do you think maybe they’re gone?” Kuzmin asks. “I don’t mean from just out in the corridor, but maybe they decided to abandon ship. We could be down here all alone.”

“I don’t think so, Sergey. They’d have to slow down first, but the engines have run steady all night. Means somebody is driving the ship and some of my guys are running the engines.” It’s a bitter thought for Gindin, that the men he trained had so easily betrayed him.

“I wonder what Sablin offered them so that they would go along with the mutiny,” Kuzmin muses. It’s almost as if he is reading Gindin’s mind.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Gindin says. “My guys wouldn’t have gone along with the crazy scheme unless there was something in it for them.” Gindin shakes his head. “Not that it makes much difference to us now.”

“Maybe if we can find out what it was, we can make them a better offer,” Kuzmin suggests.

The two of them get up and go to the hatch, where Gindin places his ear against the steel door. The only sound he hears is the distant hum of the turbines. He looks up and shakes his head.

Kuzmin slams the heel of his hand against the door. Once, twice, three times, and Gindin puts his ear to the door again. Still nothing.

“You out there!” Kuzmin shouts. “Open this door! We want to tell you something!”

The other officers are waking up, because of the noise.

“What’s going on, Boris?” Proshutinsky asks.

“We’re trying to get their attention,” Gindin answers.

“Da, we can hear that. But why? They’re not going to let us out of here.”

“They might if we can find out what Sablin offered them to go along with the mutiny. Maybe we can make a better offer.”

“I don’t think so,” Proshutinsky says.

“Sir?”

“I can guess exactly what he offered the enlisted crew. The only thing they care about is getting out of the navy and going back home.”

“Sablin doesn’t have that authority” Gindin says.

“True, but those boys probably don’t know that,” Proshutinsky points out.

Kuzmin has been listening at the door. He looks up and shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. Nobody’s out there. They’ve gone.”

He and Gindin share a glance, and each knows for a fact what the other is thinking at that moment. If the guards are no longer guarding this hatch, what will happen if the ship is attacked and sinks? No one will be down here to open the door.

They would all drown in these two tiny compartments.

49. BALTIC FLEET HEADQUARTERS, KALININGRAD

Kosov arrives at his office in a rush, not bothering to wait for his driver to open the car door for him, or return the salute from the guard at the front entrance.

Everything Kosov has done to this point has been by telephone from his house and the mobile radio in his car. He has not bothered encrypting any of his orders; there is no time for that. Party General Secretary Brezhnev has ordered the Storozhevoy found and destroyed immediately.

The first part has been accomplished, and now will come the most difficult assignment of Kosov’s long and illustrious career. In effect, his head has been placed on the chopping block. If he succeeds with this business, if the fleet actually catches up with the mutineers before they reach Sweden and if his forces actually stop or destroy the Storozhevoy, he might get a medal and a promotion. But if he fails…