FAQ

Several liberties were taken with the term for cinema's sake but it's short for "1 status quo" which means the submarine is ready to launch its missiles. In Navy jargon, 4SQ means the lowest level of alertness for missile launch, essentially, a submarine is back at its base. When the Navy ordered Ramsey to "set condition 1SQ" in the EAM, they were telling him to launch a preemptive strike against Radchenko's forces on the mainland.

Think of it as a "red alert" situation like you'd see in Star Trek: it means go immediately to battle stations.

Vladivostok is in eastern Russia on the Pacific Ocean. It's a strategic location for Russia's naval forces and the chief naval base for Russia in the Pacific.

In the story's fictional setting, Radchenko's forces have seized control of the area around Vladivostok by force and have taken control of both naval forces there and also any nuclear missile silos in the area. Ramsey and his crew are charged with patrolling a region of the Pacific off the Russian coast near Vladivostok and launch missiles at Rachenko's seized missile bases if necessary.

The scene itself was there to set the audience up for the conflict between the two.

While it's hard to come across on screen, a submarine is a very cramped space. So even Hunter whispering to Ramsey could very easily be overheard by other people nearby. While Hunter was legitimately concerned about the fire, Ramsey took this as a sign of insubordination. As Ramsey felt that Hunter's duty was to simply focus on the drill and relaying his orders during said drill.

Hunter later has a conversation with Weps, who suggests Ramsey may feel threatened by the up-and-coming Hunter. Ramsey being of the tough old breed. Where everything is simple and black & white.

The Unrated Extended Version runs more than 6 minutes longer than the theatrical version. It extends the story in many scenes.