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

It got the attention of the CIA. Gindin wasn’t exactly a superstar, but he was what the Company called a person of interest. Field officers interviewed him several times in Rome and then again in the United States, piecing together not only his military knowledge but also the story of the mutiny.

Rome was a tough three months. The Gindins found a small apartment in the suburb of Santa Marinella, but there was no heat, so at night they slept with all their clothes on.

Among the few things they’d taken out of Russia were some souvenirs, nesting dolls, caviar, and silk and linen sheets, which they’d planned on selling or bartering for food. They took to the streets in Rome’s largest bazaar to peddle their goods so that they could have money for food. What they were doing was illegal without a license, which they couldn’t afford, so they kept on the move from spot to spot, always trying to keep from being noticed by the police.

The biggest worry was their visas. It was at this time that the United States started clamping down on allowing Russian Jews into the country. Every day the Gindins heard stories about other families who’d come out of Russia and been denied entry to the United States. For them the prospects of a bright future was gone.

But in February the long wait was over; the Gindins got their visas and flew to New York, where Uncle Vladimir met them at the airport.

“This is how we started our lives in America,” Gindin remembers, smiling. “I spoke almost no English, and we had only three suitcases of belongings and five hundred dollars in cash.”

He got a job as a mechanic at an elevator company, earning eight bucks an hour. Yana went to school to learn English and another school where she learned bookkeeping, and she got a job.

Eventually they landed nice positions with big companies and bought a small house in Connecticut, a short train ride from Manhattan, and their only child, Vladimir, graduated with a master’s degree in finance.

Only now and again will Boris stop to cock his head and listen for sounds from across the fog-bound Daugava River, smell the chill, damp air that night before the mutiny. Only now and again will he think of the base at Baltiysk and the Storozhevoy and his crewmates, especially Captain Potulniy and Sablin and Firsov and the seamen in his gas turbine section. Only now and again will he relive the mutiny, but then he grins; it’s time to get on with his new life in America.

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep,
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!

A NAVY HYMN

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Backous, Douglas D., MD. Temporal Bone Gunshot Wounds. Bobby R. Alford Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, August 5, 1993.

Barron, John. KGB: The Secret Work of Soviet Agents. Reader’s Digest Press, 1974.

“Battleship Potemkin Uprising.” Wikipedia.org., October 1, 2005.

Bemis, Patricia Ann, RN, CEN. Stab, Gunshot and Penetrating Injury. Nursingceu.com, August 16, 2006.

Chipman, Dr. Donald. “Admiral Gorshkov and the Soviet Navy,” Air University Review, July-August 1982.

“Cranial Gunshot Wounds.” Cornell.edu, August 16, 2006.

Dutton, Denis. “A New Russian Revolution.” The Press, denisdutton.com, May 12, 1990.

“Gunshot Wounds.” Med.utah.edu, “Firearms Tutorial,” 1987.

“HMS Bounty and Pitcairn Island.” lareau.org, “Bounty on the Internet,” April 25, 2006.

“Illuyshin Il-38.” Wikipedia.org, September 19, 2006.

“Inside Brezhnev’s Office.” Time, June 25, 1973.

“KGB, History.” Wikipedia.org, July 18, 2006.

Margolis, Eric. “Remembering Ukraine’s Unknown Holocaust.” Ericmargolis.com, “Archives,” 1998.

Marxist.com. “A Leninist Hero of Our Times: In Memory of Valery Sablin: The True Story of Red October.” January 26, 2006.

Miller, David, and John Jordan, Modern Submarine Warfare. Military Press, 1987.

Miller, David, and Chris Miller. Modern Naval Combat. Crescent Books, 1986.

Moore, Capt. John, RN. ed. Jane’s Warsaw Pact Warships Handbook. Jane’s Publishing Company, 1986.

“Mutinies.” Wikipedia.org, February 4, 2006.

“NKVD, History.” Wikipedia.org, June 15, 2006.

“Patterns of Tissue Injury.” Med.utah.edu, “Firearms Tutorial,” 1987.

Remnick, David. “Seasons in Hell: How the Gulag Grew.” The New Yorker, April 14, 2003.

Russia, Ukraine & Belarus. Lonely Planet Publications, 1996.