Nord Stream Pipeline Video

[HalcyonDaze]

Getting away from the political drift, here's a list of Russian vessels that could be used for "special" underwater missions. At least some are officially operated by the GUGI (Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research). Granted, I wouldn't figure any of the full-size nuclear boats to be involved with this for the same reasons I rule out the USN or RN - the only reason anyone takes SSNs, SSGNs, or SSBNs in there these days is when the Russians are holding a parade in Saint Petersburg, and even then they run on the surface. Most of the Russian special missions craft are homeported with the Northern Fleet's nuclear subs near Mumansk/Severomorsk on the Kola Peninsula.

• K-329 Belgorod is the brand-new big daddy of the lot, converted from an incomplete Project 949A Granit nuclear-powered cruise missile sub (NATO reporting name Oscar-II). Supposedly its primary mission is to carry the Status-6 "Poseidon" nuclear torpedo (both warhead and propulsion system), but there's also reportedly provisions for carrying unmanned underwater vehicles and not-so-mini subs.
• The Belgorod being used as a special missions boat makes some sense as the two existing "motherships" are getting long in the tooth. The Russians reportedly still have two converted Project 667 ballistic missile subs in use as special projects/minisub carriers; BS-136 Orenburg if still in service is a Project 667BDR/Kalmar/Delta-III boat that is over 40 years old while BS-64 Podmoskovye is a newer Project 667BDRM/Delfin/Delta-IV that was commissioned in 1986 but refitted into a minisub carrier between 1999 and 2016.
• The AS-31 Losharik is a one-of small nuclear boat; it can be thought of as a significantly larger (~2000 tons submerged displacement as opposed to 400 tons) counterpart to the USN's retired NR-1. It was designed to be docked with the above-mentioned mothership subs and have a dive depth of over 2000 meters; AS-31 is currently out of service following a fatal 2019 battery fire near Murmansk.
• Two similarly-sized nuclear boats of the Kashalot (NATO reporting name Uniform) class are also still reported to be in service.
• The Russians also reportedly have two smaller nuclear boats (~300 tons, more directly analagous to NR-1) in service, the Paltus-class. Reportedly these have a dive depth of around 1200 meters; like the Losharik they are designed to dock with a dedicated nuclear sub mothership.
• The B-90 Sarov is a relatively new boat commissioned in 2008; while it is listed as a trials boat it does have characteristics that would make it a useful special projects vessel. It's a relatively small diesel-electric boat based on a stretched Kilo-class hull, with a plug inserted for a small nuclear reactor that reportedly is not connected to the propulsion system but can be used to recharge the batteries. That would make her a small, quiet sub with extended underwater running time.
• The Russian Northern Fleet also operates two military counterparts to the civilian Mir-class deep submergence vessels, the Rus and Konsul, which can be deployed from surface ships.
• The Yantar is a dedicated GUGI "underwater research ship" assigned to the Northern Fleet that has been used to recover crashed Russian aircraft in the Mediterranean and has been sighted near underwater communications cables in the Atlantic; it is capable of deploying minisubs and ROVs.
• The Russians have a newly converted GUGI support vessel, the Evgeny Gorigledzhan, which just entered sea trials in the Baltic earlier this year. Supposedly it's to be assigned to the Northern Fleet, but it would be very interesting if it was still in the Baltic and hanging around the Nord Stream pipelines back in September - H I Sutton - Covert Shores

Of course, it wouldn't necessarily take a specialized vessel to find and demo a pipeline in relatively shallow water; the Russian Baltic Fleet has a substantial fleet of minesweepers that could presumably do the job and if they wanted to be more covert the Baltic Fleet also has a single Project 877 Paltus/Kilo diesel electric boat that could theoretically deploy divers and demo charges.

 

[admikar]

So, you basically claim that Russians did it, even though they could just not open the valve since they closed it months ago and even though US president said it in public he will do whatever is required to shut NS2 down?
Hard to give your high moral ground? As dubious as it already is?

 

[lexvil]

So, you basically claim that Russians did it, even though they could just not open the valve since they closed it months ago and even though US president said it in public he will do whatever is required to shut NS2 down?
Hard to give your high moral ground? As dubious as it already is?

Just shutting the valve, as would be reasonable leads to negotiations and everyone thinks they will prevail.

I put in many years in a large agency who did hostage reaction and negotiation drills, always believing there was a flow to such things, often there is. When I proposed a twist, ie when I ask/demand my In ‘n out burger in 15 minutes and you stall, what will you do when I kill a hostage and toss the body out the door?

they just couldn’t comprehend random factors, a practice still in place it’s seems judging by Uvalde.

I don’t know who did it nor do I know if it were done at all but when the unexpected happens the ones who think they hold all the cards discover the other side isn’t playing cards at all.

until we know, we likely will never know, it’s important to keep an open mind as to all possibilities and not preconceived notions. who benefits the most from chaos?

 

[Eric802]

So, you basically claim that Russians did it, even though they could just not open the valve since they closed it months ago and even though US president said it in public he will do whatever is required to shut NS2 down?
Hard to give your high moral ground? As dubious as it already is?

I have no idea who did what or why, but if the intent was for a false-flag incident to point the finger at another county, just keeping the gas off doesn't do that. Self-sabotage allows the Russians to point the finger at someone else and claim that they'd be "willing to negotiate to turn the gas back on, if it wasn't for those bastards in the US/UK/Poland/wherever".

I have no idea what happened and honestly really don't care.

 

[lexvil]

 

[Vicko]

I kind of find it hard to believe that any president would announce their country is going to do a covert act of terrorism, sort of defeats the point.

 

[admikar]

who benefits the most from chaos?

And who profits the most from selling natural gas to EU in this case?

 

[tursiops]

Someone in the US/Nato/EU circle definitely did the sabotage.

I love it when pure speculation begins with a "fact."

 

[lexvil]

And who profits the most from selling natural gas to EU in this case?

The person who still has another functional pipeline, reduced capacity jacks up the price. The consumers benefit more from excessive supply than the sellers. So long as I have one more hostage to kill I have the upper hand.

 

[admikar]

The person who still has another functional pipeline, reduced capacity jacks up the price. The consumers benefit more from excessive supply than the sellers. So long as I have one more hostage to kill I have the upper hand.

Unless that higher price is enough to offset reduced capacity, I would say most profit goes to the person that didn't sell much, but it is now at that same increased price