Perhaps my research was a bit hasty, I've done some more digging so here's a proper attempt:

The Hunt for Red October was inspired by two real incidents. In 1961, Soviet Navy submarine captain Jonas Pleðkys, a Lithuanian, sailed his vessel from Klaipëda to Gotland in Sweden, not the planned destination of Tallinn. The Soviet authorities sentenced him in his absence to death by firing squad, but the CIA hid him, first in Guatemala and later in the United States.

On November 8, 1975, the Soviet Navy frigate Storozhevoy mutinied. At the time, the Western powers believed it was an attempt to defect from Latvia to the Swedish island of Gotland. The mutiny was led by the ship's Political Officer, Captain Valery Sablin. The mutiny was unsuccessful, and Sablin was captured, court-martialed, and executed.

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