The novel reflects a complex period in domestic history connected with the formation of the Murmansk railway and the flotilla of the Arctic Ocean, from which the heroic Northern Fleet later emerged. The Russian cruiser «Аскольд» began its combat service in the Dardanelles operation, and entered the revolution as a ship of the Northern Flotilla. Most of the novel is devoted to the struggle against foreign intervention in Murmansk, in Arkhangelsk, and in Karelia.
For the novel «Из тупика», Валентин Пикуль was awarded the literary prize of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR for 1987.