Wrath of Khan theme was a classic novel, think Moby Dick and warships battling it out in the oceans, but rather in outer space
Closer than you might think. Have you ever read Beat to Quarters by C. S. Forester? Horatio Hornblower is hunting down a Spanish megalomaniac who has taken a ship, and the final battle takes place in a fog bank.
Khan’s last words in Trek II are almost identical to Ahab’s last words in Moby Dick.