This article, Marko Ramius, is a stub and may require expansion. Please help out by editing the page.
|
Captain First Rank Marko Alexandrovich Ramius was a Lithuanian-born Russian Soviet Union sub commander of the Red October, a Soviet Typhoon-class submarine who appeared in The Hunt for Red October novel.
In the The Hunt for Red October film, he was portrayed by Scottish actor Sean Connery.
Biography
Ramius was born in Lithuania. He was raised by his paternal grandfather, who was a fisherman. His parents had been declared "enemies of the state," causing him disenchantment of the Soviet system, in addition to the fact of all the place of separatist sentiment within the USSR, Lithuania ranked as one of the tops due to its unwelcome absorption into the USSR in 1940 due to Stalin's land grab.
Other aspects of his personal life were that as a teenager Ramius participated in track & field, which was an activity that while not banned, was often denigrated and discouraged in Soviet society. The USSR did showcase the accomplishments of a handful of sprinters in sports festivals, namely the Olympic; and Eastern Bloc was proud of having invented the pole vault; however such boasting was often geared to non-Soviet Bloc nations. When it came to young aspiring athletes. Soviet propaganda was very much against individualism and instead encouraged boys to play sports that would require them to be members of a team.
He had married Natalia Ramius and was deeply affected by her death by ovarian cancer, a condition that was exacerbated by the doctor's incompetence the state of the Soviet health care system. Moreover, because the doctor responsible was the son of a Politburo member, the doctor could not be punished.
The Hunt for Red October
Knowing the ways of the sea from an early age, he embarked upon a career in the Soviet navy which spanned over 40 years. One of the top submarine officers, he commanded the lead boat in every submarine class for over a decade. Natalia's untimely death, combined with Ramius' long-standing dissatisfaction with the callousness of the Soviet establishment towards its sailors and also Ramius' fear of the destabilizing effect the Red October would have on the balance of power between the US and USSR, ultimately exhausts Ramius' tolerance for the failings of the Soviet system. He was able to recruit a number of officers to his side who also wanted to defect, and had them assigned to the Red October.
Leaving the USSR Ramius was able to make contact with a US submarine, the USS Dallas. Despite the efforts of GRU agent Igor Loginov and fellow submarine Captain Viktor Tupolov, Ramius and the other defecting officers were able to successfully deliver the Red October to the US in a way where the Soviets believed Ramius and his officers had died.
After delivering the sub, Ramius was hopeful that the political fallout from the entire affair would cause some long overdue change in the Soviet Union.
The Cardinal of the Kremlin
Under the name Mark Ramsey he moved to Florida and worked with the navy on classified Soviet technology.
Gallery
| |||||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||