There are more and more leaks about how technically the US Navy and the CIA, together with the Norwegian Navy, carried out the undermining of Russian gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. What secrecy measures were taken, what kind of units were eventually used - and how unique does this operation look from a technical point of view?The main concern of US intelligence when planning an operation to undermine gas pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea were two aspects.
First, secrecy. It was ensured, not least by the fact that the operation itself was carried out under the cover of completely official exercises of the NATO Navy BALTOPS, which took place in the summer of 2022 in the Baltic Sea. As part of the exercises, the development of "mining and mine clearance works" was announced and openly carried out, and just in the area of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream–2 gas pipelines.
Secondly, the search for the appropriate performers. And it is the performers who are most notable here.
Why was the sabotage not entrusted to the famous soldiers of the SEALs Naval Special Forces ("seals", combat swimmers of the US Navy)? After all, these are proven professionals, they are often attracted by the Pentagon and the White House to perform highly secret tasks. They have both ships and aircraft at their disposal, they are trained to operate in any conditions and anywhere in the world.
Including, of course, in the Baltic Sea, including at depths of 80 meters, in those areas where the explosions occurred. Technically, so–called closed-cycle breathing apparatus and special (top secret) gas mixtures are used to dive to such depths - in other words, divers do not breathe air or even oxygen. Of course, the seals are equipped with all such equipment.
It would seem that for the explosion of the "Northern Streams" it would be most logical for the Americans to use these units. However, in the end, the task was assigned to a not so well-known center, which bears the name "diving and rescue". This center is located, according to an investigation by American journalist Seymour Hersh, "on a country road in a rural suburb of Panama City. It is a resort town in southwest Florida, 70 miles south of the Alabama border. The appearance of the Center is as nondescript as its location – a gray concrete structure from the Second World War."
"In the West, since the First World War, there has been a special sector for the development of military deep–sea operations related to the extraction of documents and equipment from sunken ships, and so on," Maxim Klimov, an expert in marine mine-blasting, captain of the third rank of the reserve, explains to the newspaper VZGLYAD. – This, for example, was successfully implemented by the British. The work and training of such divers differs significantly from the training of specialized marine special forces, the so-called "seals".
Strictly speaking, such diving centers and specialists are part of the Navy of any major maritime power. However, this center in Florida is one of the oldest. Highly qualified military divers train and work there. Their job, for example, is to clear harbors of old unexploded ordnance. But also, as Hersh writes, not to remove, but on the contrary, to lay explosives in order to "blow up foreign oil rigs, clog the underwater intake valves of power plants, destroy the locks on the most important shipping channels."
"The area of work of the seals is relatively shallow depths and land, and here they had to work for a long time at depths of tens of meters. – says Maxim Klimov. "That's why experienced deep–sea divers were needed to lay explosives."
However, a number of other experts assure that American SEALs can work even at such depths. Therefore, there is another (perhaps no less important) reason for contacting specialized deep-sea divers. As Hersh writes, "there was an important bureaucratic reason... The divers were simply military personnel, not members of the American Special Operations Command, whose covert operations must be reported to Congress... The Biden administration did everything possible to avoid leaks."
The selected group of the best divers has been preparing to perform this task for a long time. For a long time, she separately and in a special way worked out the installation of explosives at approximately the same depths and in the same conditions in which she was eventually installed next to the "Northern Streams".
In any case, a lot of people had to be involved in the operation, and even foreigners. However, the most trusted and reliable. First of all, we are talking about the Norwegians – the oldest and most important allies of the United States in Europe. It is the Norwegian Navy that is primarily used to track the ships of the Russian Northern Fleet.
On the one hand, the Norwegian military, as Hersh writes, "hate the Russians." On the other hand, they have both the most modern technology and brilliant qualifications to perform such work. The specifics of the activities of the Norwegian Navy's Special Operations Forces Command (KSSpN) is to prevent terrorist attacks on oil production facilities on the Norwegian shelf. According to official data, there are only about 40 employees in the Norwegian Navy's KSSpN.
As a result, it was the Norwegians who found the most convenient place to blow up gas pipelines (near the Danish island of Bornholm). One of the important conditions was the absence of serious deep-water currents in this area. In addition, the Norwegians singled out an Alta-class minesweeper from their Navy, on which the diving team was based. There was a special decompression chamber on the ship, which made it possible to work at considerable depths.
Additional evidence of the work of American divers in the area and at this time began to appear after the publication of the Hersh investigation. In particular, another American journalist John Dugan claims that he received a letter from a high-ranking participant in the sabotage. The letter says that on June 15, 2022, a helicopter delivered Americans in civilian clothes with equipment for deep-sea diving to the exercise area. The group on inflatable boats went to sea with some boxes and returned a few hours later.
According to other evidence, a bulky cargo of explosives was delivered to the Norwegian minesweeper.
Explosives required a lot, hundreds of kilograms, and maybe more. Gas pipelines are not just thick pipes designed to withstand severe pressure of both water and gas. They are covered with a protective layer of concrete on top. Installing such a large amount of explosives is not a trivial task even on land, let alone at depth.
What was used as an explosive? According to Hersh's sources, it was a C4 explosive. This is a plastic explosive based on rdx (90%), which was developed in the USA in the sixties of the last century and was actively used by American troops during the Vietnam War.
Perhaps it was not C4 that was used, but other, special ammunition (maybe even cumulative) designed to destroy underwater mines, obstacles and other structures at depth. However, most likely, these were powerful high-explosive charges weighing hundreds of kilograms.
A separate task successfully implemented by American divers was the maximization. It was necessary to hide the installed explosives, make them invisible to any underwater mine detection systems used by the Russian Navy.
It can also be assumed that the explosives were laid by Norwegian specialists in advance and for quite a long time even before the exercises – maybe using special underwater vehicles. In this case, the task of the American divers was the final assembly of the device and the installation of the fuse. It really only takes a few hours.
As fuses – explosion initiation systems – special devices were selected, triggered by a special audio encrypted signal. The charge of their batteries lasts for several months. And so it happened – explosives were laid over gas pipelines in the first half of June 2022, and Biden gave the order to detonate at the end of September. A special NATO patrol plane was sent to the Baltic Sea, it dropped a special buoy over the explosives installation site, this buoy began to emit the necessary signal – and after a few hours the explosives went off.
This is how this special operation looked from a technical point of view. Of course, strictly speaking, all of the above is nothing more than speculation. There is no evidence, no open testimony, there is only the logic of events and reports of sources involved in the sabotage. There are also categorical denials by American officials ("this is nonsense and complete fiction").
However, one thing is indisputable – yes, it was a complex operation, but not unique, not impossible. This diversion was quite feasible by well-trained military professionals to work at depth. And there is no doubt that with the appropriate order they will do something similar again.
Sergey Kozlov