The true events that inspired Tom Clancy's Hunt for Red October!
"Mutiny"

A Cold War Thriller

This was David's first venture into the non-fiction world, with all the action, drama and intrigue it reads like one of his bestselling novels. With his Air Force background and understanding of terrorism, David Hagberg captured the history, frustrations and naval culture of the Soviet Union, and the events of it's officers leading up to the cold war mutiny.
Aboard the antisubmarine warship the FFG Storozhevoy in the fall of 1975, Mutiny is a firsthand account that anyone interested in the Soviet system or life aboard one of its ships should read. Written with senior lieutenant Boris Gindin whose offering is insightful, heartwarming, and heroic, triggers questions of how his life in the USA compares to his years in the Soviet Union.

The story itself, is the life of Boris Gindin who at the age of seventeen in 1967, enters the St. Petersburg Military Engineering Academy to build a career in the soviet navy, and rises through the ranks to become a senior officer when most of the crew of the Storozhevoy mutiny. Life in Russia is bleak, harsh and difficult, but Hagberg and Gindin bring it to life as they build the the events of this important story. There is a rewarding account of the most famous mutiny in naval history aboard the HMS Bounty in 1789, where David summarizes the events concisely in just a few pages.
Confined belowdeck, the captain, officers and Gindin survive the attack of the soviet navy and air force who are ordered to hunt down and kill the warship. In the end the KGB execute the officer who was behind the mutiny, arrest everyone, even the officers who opposed the mutiny, and are forced to swear secrecy on pain of death if they told their story.
Thirty-two years later Boris Gindin and David Hagberg tell the truth, the record has been set straight.

Norman Applegate
author of Into the Spell

I found this story amazing, compelling and very insightful into the inner workings and life in the Russian Navy. Well written, captivating and enjoyable read.

I had high hopes for 'Mutiny' but ended up extremely disappointed. This may be explained as it's the author's first foray into non-fiction. He seems to rely on a single authoritative source -- LT Gindin, but he fantasizes the dialogue in the patrol and attack aircraft cockpits, in the Kremlin, and on the bridge of the Storozhevoy. Indeed, there were times when I though I was reading the movie script for 'Hunt for Red October;' e.g., James Earl Jones, 'Mother of God!,' Defense Minister Grechko, 'Dear God!' Did the author interview any of these pilots or the surviving crew members? If so, it would have been useful to document that in the acknowledgments.

With regard to credible sources; Wikipedia? My kids are in high school and they are not allowed to use Wikipedia. I hammer the undergraduates I teach by telling them they will get a failing grade if they cite Wikipedia or and other dubious on-line source in a term paper. How did this author get published?

In early 1976 I was at sea in a submarine whe I heard the story of the Storozhevoy. It's an important story that deserves much better treatment. For Mr. Hagberg, please stick with fiction, you're good at that.

"Mutiny" by David Hagberg and Boris Gindin is the story of the real-life mutiny aboard the Soviet naval vessel Storoshevoy in 1975, an incident that sparked the creation of Tom Clancy's "The Hunt for Red October".

Gildin himself was an officer aboard the Storoshevoy, held prisoner by the mutineers, so a substantial portion of the book can be told from an eyewitness perspective, but nonetheless the story seemed to me to somehow lack the immediacy I would expect. For one thing, the lack of photographs and maps and ship's plans proves something of an obstacle in better envisioning what went on. And discussion of the aftermath of the failed mutiny is curiously lacking in detais. I was left feeling that I had read only half a story.

A very vivid and entertaining account of a little known historical event. The book exmaines the struggles of communist Russia and gives insight into the military of the USSR. I enjoy how the book flashes between the actual event and many events of Russian history and Naval history. Any fan of history and international cultures should pick up this book!

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

Mutiny is a first hand story of how life was in Communist Russia during the time of the Cold War. Men who were taught from the beginning of their lives to think a certain way and then realized that it was all a lie. The fact that we lived during the Cold War is historical. This book puts a human interest side to that. Mutiny is a suspenseful book made all the more interesting because it is an account of a true event. It is a book worth reading.

This an interesting story of the real Soviet naval mutiny that supposedly inspired Tom Clancy's "The Hunt for the Red October". In fact this mutiny was staged by a starry eyed zampolit, political officer, who falsely and naively believed the Soviet people would rise up and reform the broken Soviet system because he commandeered Soviet warship and broadcast his personal manifesto. Unfortunately, his radioman broadcast it in code so only other naval and military assets could understand the broadcast.

The background on Soviet naval life was very interesting but the actions of this guy amounted to a farce. That any of the crew survived to tell the story is incredible.

The book is an easy read. It is a good thing that the story is true because as fiction this tale would fail as contrived. It is not fiction, it is interesting, it just is not the Red October

As advertised, this book is a suspense-filled thriller. David Hagberg's fiction skills are clearly evident. But as for non-fiction, he must be clairvoyant in his ability to discern the thoughts of those people who neither he nor his co-author either inteviewed or knew. The inner thoughts of CPSU and Soviet Naval leaders in Moscow provide a good story, but I am not sure that they are accurate.
Small details are in error, but most are insignificant and would probably only be known to a Soviet Naval expert. However, His co-author should be just that expert. For example, the book details that the destroyer was parked next to an Alpha class submarine in Riga, the day of the mutiny in 1975. The first Alpha was cut in half in 1974; the second in the class did not appear until 1979. In the definitive account of the mutiny, "The Last Sentry: The True Story that Inspired the Hunt for Red October", the adjacent sub was from the Foxtrot class.
The book does provide an interesting insight in to one man's view of the mutiny and the crew of the mutinous ship, but since he was incarcerated during most of the mutiny, even his account is often less than eyewitness. Buy the book, judge for yourself.

In November 1975, Soviet anti-nuclear submarine frigate FFG Storozhevoy is docked in Riga, Latvia for normal maintenance and repair after six months at sea. Third in command Captain Valery Sablin is appalled by the wide corruption of leading Brezhnev officials and much of the bureaucracy overrun by party hacks including Soviet navy brass. He sees fat cats taking shortcuts with the lives of sailors to pocket money and obtains the best items for themselves and their family. Outraged as only a true believer can be, the Marxist/Leninist fundamentalist decides to take control of the vessel and sail to Leningrad where he would broadcast to the people to overthrown the corrupted. All went well with his plan until the Kremlin learned what he was doing and interceded.

This is the real events of the Soviet naval mutiny that led to the novel and movie The Hunt for Red October as related to novelist David Hagberg by then twenty-four years old Senior Lieutenant Gindin, who was part of the crew. The back ground of naval life in the totalitarian superpower is fascinating and well written while setting the stage for the exciting look at the events that happened in late 1975. Although nonfiction and told mostly by the viewpoint of Mr. Gindin though much supported by documentation, Mutiny is a tense thriller that grips readers from start to finish even with knowing the outcome.

Harriet Klausner