Hydraulic astronaut Vladimir Ashik — about what deep-water systems could be used to undermine the "Northern Streams" Today, only a lazy person does not discuss the explosions that severely damaged the Nord Stream–1 and Nord Stream–2 gas pipelines.
However, no one says that preparations for this diversion most likely began soon after the completion of the construction of two branches of the Nord Stream – 1 in 2012.
The first thing the saboteurs need to find out before the operation is how well the object they are attacking is guarded, how quickly the preparation for sabotage can be detected.
The safety of the gas pipeline had to be ensured by those countries near whose territorial waters it passed. For this purpose, special vessels with remote-controlled devices with video cameras and sonar stations periodically passed over the pipelines and inspected them.
In 2015, during such a routine inspection, the Swedish military found an abandoned remote-controlled underwater vehicle "Sea Fox" on the ground off the coast of the island of Eland near one of the pipelines, designed to mine the waters. It was disposable and carried 1.4 kg of explosives. A minesweeper usually carries ten such vehicles. Having discovered a sea mine, the "Sea Fox" is brought to it, and it self-explodes.
It is unlikely that such a device was planned to be used to destroy the Nord Stream, since it cannot damage the underwater pipeline. But in order to assess how quickly an explosive device will be detected, it is quite suitable. Judging by the appearance, the "Sea Fox" did not lie on the bottom for long. It can be assumed that future saboteurs have come to the conclusion that as little time as possible should pass from the installation of explosive devices to the moment of detonation.
At the request of the NordStream AG management company, Swedish sailors removed the dangerous find from the pipeline and destroyed it. It was not possible to determine whose device it was, since they are in service with the fleets of many countries. It is unlikely that this device was lost by accident. In the event of a break in the control cable, the crews of the minesweepers can quickly detect their device and return it on board.
The pipelines were blown up on the night of September 26, 2022. The governments of Germany, Denmark and Sweden refused to allow representatives of Russia to investigate sabotage. The question arises: what could Russian experts have seen that they should not have seen? The answer came after one of the producers of the BBC TV channel in his social networks published footage of Swedish investigators during the inspection of pipelines. The screen shows how much the pipelines are torn and flattened.
Danish officials reported that the explosions corresponded to the power of half a ton in TNT equivalent each, but probably they were modest. Russian experts could accurately determine that the amount of explosives needed for such destruction would be at least a ton for each explosion.
This would naturally be followed by the question: who and how could have delivered several tons of explosives to the shores of Sweden unnoticed? No Ukrainian enthusiasts on an inflatable boat or combat swimmers on underwater tugboats could do this. The explosion sites are located at a depth of 85 m . To work in such conditions, special diving equipment is required, using gas mixtures with a reduced oxygen content and a heated suit. Divers cannot work for a long time at such a depth. They should change frequently and rest.
Who can provide such work? The answer is suggested to us by the American journalist Seymour Hersh, who in February 2023 announced the involvement of the United States and Norway in the undermining of the "Northern Streams". In his speeches, he bluntly says that the CIA planned the operation. The plan was based on the operation "Bindweed" conducted in the 1970s by the US naval intelligence.
In those years, American intelligence was looking at the bottom of the Sea of Okhotsk for fragments of Soviet missiles that fell into the sea after tests. To do this, they organized listening to Soviet submarine communication cables. By order of the US naval intelligence, the American company Bell manufactured a device that could listen to and record telephone conversations via cables laid on the ground. It weighed about 6 tons and was called "Cocoon".
To deliver the "Cocoon" to the Soviet communication cable, an American nuclear submarine SSN-587 "Halibut" was allocated. It was equipped with remote-controlled underwater vehicles capable of finding communication cables on the ground. In the interboard space, a compartment was made for transporting the "Cocoon". The aft compartment was converted into a diving one. A decompression chamber in the form of a deep-sea DSRV was installed above it. Divers could get out of it and perform work at depths up to 200 m.
Having found the right cable, the "Halibut" stood next to it on the supports. The divers exited the decompression device, removed the "Cocoon" from the container and installed it on the communication cable, after which they returned on board to undergo decompression, and the submarine left to perform other tasks.
SSN-587 "Halibut" has long been decommissioned and disassembled. Subsequently, several more submarines were upgraded for similar tasks. And in 2005, the SSN-23 Jimmy Carter submarine joined the US Navy. This is the first submarine of the US Navy, specially built to perform sabotage tasks. It seems to be specially designed for mining and undermining any underwater objects. No other country in the world has such boats and does not build them.
SSN-23 "Jimmy Carter" is equipped with specialized sonar and television complexes for searching for objects on the ground. A special compartment is embedded in the middle part of the submarine, in which various sabotage equipment is located, including remote-controlled underwater vehicles, which are released overboard through a special gateway. In the compartment there is a decompression chamber in which underwater saboteurs are during the pressure rise to the outboard, after which they go overboard through the airlock device. If necessary, they can return on board for rest.
Hose equipment and heated diving suits allow you to work overboard in comfortable conditions. In the interboard space there are special hangars for storing underwater tugboats and other equipment. In the keel area, the submarine has special supports for laying on the ground. Thrusters are installed in the bow and stern, allowing you to maneuver near the ground and accurately get up to a given place.
Only such a submarine can imperceptibly deliver explosive devices to any point of the World Ocean and install it on an underwater object that is insufficiently guarded.
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| Jimmy Carter submarine of the Seawolf project. |
| Source: iz.ru |
The author is a historian of hydronavtics, author of books on the history of deep—sea vehiclesThe editorial board's position may not coincide with the author's opinion