>>3364628 (lb)
Been gnawing on this. Sounds quite plausble.
Purchase could have happened during the anarchy in Russia in mid to late 90s.
If so, would be relatively 'old tech' so comms would be dark while submerged (for long periods of time).
White Hats could have intercepted sub sometime before 12/19/17 when "Hunt for" was dropped.
'Operations' could have went as planned, making Blackhats think it hadn't been captured.
However, precautions were taken to ensure that there was no loss of life
(Q 1728 - "POTUS re_routes") (Q 1729 - "F-16s intercept.")
Slowly dawns on Blackhats & Cabal that their failed assassination attempts are in danger of being exposed.
Response : Blame Russia for the 2 missil launches (Foggo's 'warning' yesterday sets stage).
Objective : CYA and attempt to start a war in the process.
May or may not correspond at all to reality, but does appear to fit the timeline.
RED OCTOBER timeline -- https://pastebin.com/yMUexM4J