<P> During the Cold War, Marko Alexandrovich Ramius, a Lithuanian submarine commander in the Soviet Navy, intends to defect to the United States with his officers on board the experimental nuclear submarine Red October, a Typhoon - class vessel equipped with a revolutionary stealth propulsion system that makes audio detection by passive sonar extremely difficult . The result is a strategic weapon platform that is capable of sneaking its way into American waters and launching nuclear missiles with little or no warning . </P> <P> The strategic value of Red October was not lost upon Ramius, but other factors have spurred his decision to defect . His wife, Natalia, died at the hands of a doctor who was incompetent and intoxicated; however, the doctor escaped punishment because he was the son of a Politburo member . Natalia's untimely death, combined with Ramius's long - standing dissatisfaction with the callousness of Soviet rule and his fear of Red October's destabilizing effect on world affairs, exhausts his tolerance for the failings of the Soviet system . </P> <P> As the ship leaves the shipyard at Polyarny, Ramius kills Ivan Putin, his political officer, to ensure that Putin will not interfere with the defection . Before sailing, Ramius had sent a letter to Admiral Yuri Padorin, Natalia's uncle, brazenly stating his intention to defect . The Soviet Northern Fleet therefore sails out to sink Red October under the pretext of a search and rescue mission . Meanwhile, Jack Ryan, a high - level CIA analyst and a former Marine, flies from London to Langley, Virginia, to deliver MI6's photographs of Red October to the Deputy Director of Intelligence . Ryan consults a friend at the U.S. Naval Academy, ex-submariner Skip Tyler, and finds out that Red October's new construction variations house its stealth drive . </P> <P> Red October passes near USS Dallas, a Los Angeles class submarine under the command of Cmdr . Bart Mancuso, which is patrolling the entrance of a route used by Soviet submarines in the Reykjanes Ridge off Iceland . Dallas hears the sound of the stealth drive but does not identify it as a submarine . Putting information about Ramius's letter together with the subsequent launch of the entire Northern Fleet, Ryan deduces Ramius's plans . The U.S. military reluctantly agrees, while planning for contingencies in case the Soviet fleet has intentions other than those inferred . As tensions rise between the U.S. and Soviet fleets, the crew of Dallas analyzes sonar tapes of Red October and finally realizes that it is the sound of a new propulsion system . Ryan must contact Ramius to prevent the loss of the submarine and her revolutionary technology . After it is revealed that Ramius has informed Moscow of his plan for him and his officers to defect, Ryan becomes responsible for shepherding Ramius and his vessel away from the pursuing Soviet fleet, and meets with an old Royal Navy acquaintance, Admiral White, commanding a task force from the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible . </P>

Explain what happens to ivan in the hunt