I remember reading Red Storm Rising for the first time on det in Basrah and it being the only time I managed to forget where I was when I picked the book up each evening. Reagan was apparently also a big fan of The Hunt for Red October (incidentally based on a real incident, but involving a Krivak class frigate in the 1970s) much to the annoyance of the Department of the Navy who considered it a little too accurate to be anything other than an inside job. But if ShotOneis correct, it does make you wonder just how much influence a decent bit of fiction can have on our lords & masters - or if indeed that is part of the intent behind some writing.
And although I've not read it yet, I've heard some very good things about Ghost Fleet by Singer & Cole as a concept of how future wars might play out.