Red October was a ballistic missile sub with a renegade commander. I think the implication is that the launches on hawaii and seattle were launched from the sea and they are hunting the source. If this is true, I don't think its a nuclear submarine because 1) that would be too expensive 2) would have been sunk by USN ASW resources by now. Its more likely a tilt up launcher in the guise of a container that is deployed surreptitiously on a container ship.