Zhdanov, Aleksandr Ivanovich

Shadow of Peril. Doubleday, 1963. 321 pages
Novel, told from the POV of a defected
Soviet
submarine commander, of his exploits in the Eastern Med and Caribbean
waters in 1958-1963. Among other things he is apparently ordered to
sink John Glenn's capsule and refuses to do so. The repeated Soviet
claims of technical superiority are fascinating and occasionally
hilarious when viewed through history's lens. Compare to The Hunt for Red October.