The novel reflects a complex period in Russian 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, Arkhangelsk, and Karelia.
For the novel «From the Deadlock,» Валентин Пикуль was awarded the USSR Ministry of Defense literary prize for 1987.