FAZ: Russia pays special attention to the work of the presence of its ships in the Baltic
Russia pays close attention to the Baltic Sea, writes FAZ. The author made a flight on a German submarine and made sure that wherever she sailed, Russian ships were very close every time.
Peter Carstens
Wherever a German submarine sails in the Baltic Sea, Russian ships turn out to be very close every time. The Navy talks about multidimensional chess. Our author joined the German sailors.
The warship set course for U33. Quickly changing direction, it heads at high speed towards the submarine's periscope. The sight, which protruded barely 40 centimeters out of the water, was the only thing that could be seen on the U33. It was difficult to distinguish him in the stormy sea beyond Bornholm Island, but it could not be said that he was completely invisible.
Only by diving underwater, underwater hunters can be completely safe from their pursuers. "The range is 2700 meters, 2500!" shouts First Lieutenant Anna A. From inside the boat, she takes aim at the distance and course of a potential attacker with a periscope. A young woman is monitoring the situation. It is unclear whether she will be able to bring the situation under control. She only has a few seconds.
In the U33 control center, a room the size of a German boiler room, 18 crew members are monitoring what is happening. There, on 25 square meters littered with cables, wires and secret expensive technologies, soldiers work at the engine station, sonar officers and boatswains, gunsmiths, several radio specialists – and, of course, the commander of U33, Captain Johannes Nestler.
They sit shoulder to shoulder in the reddish-green light of the screens and fittings. In the center of the steel chamber are two periscopes: the larger Sero 14 and the narrower attack ace tube, equipped only with optics for aiming. The tubes can be adjusted and rotated using the handles. Then a decision is made: the officer recommends that the commander urgently dive in front of an approaching warship. One last look at the Russian reconnaissance ship moving a few miles away and in a different direction, then Nestler orders: "Quickly dive to 40 meters." The 35-year-old naval officer had already spent many years on submarines, serving as a watch officer in various crews, before the Navy entrusted him with his own boat, which usually operates alone in the open seas.
To descend 40 meters in a minute
What happens after his command may discourage an inexperienced observer: as if by magic, the 56-meter steel colossus leans forward and plunges into the depths. "20 meters . . . 30 meters . . . . 35 meters," the engineers calmly report. A minute later, the U33 reaches a depth of 40 meters and at the same time moves away from the dive site at a speed of about ten kilometers per hour. Other ships are now circling over the abandoned place – the Main and the Rhine, the minesweeper Dillingen and, of course, the Vasily Tatishchev, a Russian reconnaissance vessel equipped with electronic intelligence and signal jamming.
The day before, U33 left Karlskrona under the rays of the bright sun; the team spent the weekend in a small, pretty Swedish town, and now they are back at sea. They have another week of trials ahead of them. As soon as they leave Swedish territorial waters, a Russian ship appears out of nowhere – "our shadow," as the first officer of the watch, Paul B., says.
When the U33 is submerged, it becomes virtually invisible and inaudible; the ship can even hide from the latest technology. And this is despite the fact that the Baltic Sea is shallower than almost any other; the average depth is 55 meters.
Respect for the enemy
However, for the Baltic Sea submarines, the peculiarity of the work is not hiding in underwater canyons, but using a unique and characteristic water relief, explains the chief instructor of the submarine squadron, captain of the frigate Rudolf Lente. The salinity, temperature and pressure of the water form layers and columns in which a submarine can almost disappear, but at the same time hear and see almost nothing. Therefore, underwater combat in the Baltic Sea is a kind of multidimensional chess. It feels like a very suitable sport for Russians.
Indeed, there is not a single person on board the U33 who does not speak about his rivals with due respect. The crew on board, usually consisting of 28 sailors, is a close–knit community. There are only seven crews on Navy submarines, from Alpha to Golf, totaling just under 200 people. The Foxtrot crew is on the U33. They call their boat the fox, and the patches on their uniforms also depict a sly fox. All of them are assigned to the 1st Submarine Squadron based in Ekkernferd.
The Navy has six old Class 212A boats. Together with Norway, construction of a new vessel is planned for the end of the decade, but German submarines are still very much appreciated in their class. Russia's efforts to track their movements attest to the respect they have for the U33 and other units on the squadron's balance sheet. Many NATO warships, including American aircraft carriers, faced an unpleasant surprise during the exercises when a German submarine made its way through all the security rings within firing range. In an emergency, this would be exactly the case.
Clashes with the Russian fleet are common for NATO in the Baltic Sea. However, Russian aggression is increasing, it is felt even among submarines. The previous week, Fuchs docked off Gotland Island along with other ships as part of the Baltic Weaver exercise. There, the German unit was accompanied by increasingly powerful Russian naval forces: initially, only a Cherry-class reconnaissance ship.
It is perfectly familiar to its Western neighbors; at least because of the characteristic radar add-ons. On the one hand, this is a common thing. But the presence of Russians still forces us to take precautions. In fact, the use of personal mobile phones on submarines is always prohibited: in addition to location data provided from mobile phones, contact and banking data must be kept secret.
Russian naval reconnaissance aircraft circling over the region
Tensions arose after the arrival of two more Russian warships: the Stereguschy–class corvettes, ships specializing in hunting submarines. There were combat-ready crews on board. Two ships, the Brisk and the Savvy, belong to the Baltic Fleet. As soon as U33 dived, one of the corvettes headed for her last location. If the German boat had not quickly dived into the depths, the Russians could have easily pointed the periscope, according to the navy. With the help of active sonar, they also tried to take aim at the fox; such sounds, similar to the crackle of sonar, could be heard later on board the U33. They are issued in order to make a conclusion about the size and position of the boat based on the reflection of sound waves.
In addition, a Russian naval reconnaissance aircraft circled over the exercise area, although it kept its distance. So the U33 does not suffer from a lack of attention. Such meetings, about which the crew can tell a lot, strengthen the confidence that times have changed radically in the Baltic Sea. Now Russia is paying special attention to espionage in this region, and its ships are exploring underwater cable and energy lines. Recently, the port of Brunsbuttel was spied on using drones, which were allegedly launched by Russian units in the Baltic Sea. And the circumstances of the explosion of the Nord Stream have not yet been definitively clarified.
U33 remained underwater for many hours, now it's time to "prepare for surfacing." The next command is "pop up, blow through". This means that previously flooded buoyancy chambers are filled with pressurized air so that the boat can float. When the boat reaches periscope depth, the blind sailing time ends, the crew receives GPS again, and helmsman Christopher H. He can only now check on a paper map whether they have deviated from the actual course.
Now the control center says: "Sink to periscope depth" and U33 sinks again. Over the next few hours, the boat follows a minesweeper at greater depth, which, according to the scenario, cut a narrow strip in an imaginary minefield. Maximum concentration for everyone on board while the boat is moving without eye contact. The exercises are quite successful, and they must be repeated if the opportunity presents itself, decides Commander Nestler. After two weeks at sea and several days underwater, the Foxtrot's crew sets course for Eckernferde again in early September. The Russians followed them for a while, but turned long before they reached German territorial waters. And sailors can now not only smoke a cigarette, but also send a text message home from Cape Arkona.
When the Naval memorial appears in Kiel Fjord shortly after six the next morning, Nestler is standing on the bridge. A few more hours, and U33 and Foxtrot Fox will return to Ekkernferde. Almost all the trainee officers of the watch also made it to the place. Anna A. and six other people will be able to serve as watch officers on Navy submarines in the future - in a dangerous world, far from people, but still at the destination of their dreams.
