Sweden Is Hunting For A Russian Submarine Less Than 31 Miles From Stockholm

[Syt]

http://www.businessinsider.com/sweden-hunting-russian-submarine-2014-10

Sweden Is Hunting For A Russian Submarine Less Than 31 Miles From Stockholm

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden boosted its military presence in Stockholm's archipelago on Saturday to scour its waters for "foreign underwater activity" in a mobilization of ships, troops and helicopters unseen since the Cold War.

The search in the Baltic Sea less than 31 miles (50 km) from Stockholm began on Friday and brought back vivid memories of the final years of the Cold War when Sweden repeatedly hunted suspected Soviet submarines along its coast with depth charges.

The operation comes amid increasing tension with Russia among the Nordic and Baltic statesover the Ukraine crisis. Finland last week accused the Russian navy of interfering with a Finnish environmental research vessel in international waters.

The Swedish military has said information about suspicious activity came from a trustworthy source, without providing details, and that more than 200 military personnel were involved in the search.

Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, citing unidentified sources with knowledge of the search, said the military operation came after a radio transmission in Russian on an emergency frequency.

Further encrypted radio traffic from a point in the archipelago and the enclave of Kaliningrad, home to the Russian Baltic fleet's headquarters, was intercepted on Friday evening after the Swedish search started, the newspaper said.

Ships, helicopters and troops from an amphibious unit as well as the home guard combed the search area. The forces include HMS Visby, a corvette that has stealth technology and equipment for anti-submarine warfare.

"We still consider the information we received as very trustworthy," Captain Jonas Wikstrom, head of operations for the search, told reporters. "I, as head of operations, have therefore decided to increased the number of units in the area."

In 1981, the Soviet submarine known under its Swedish designation U137 was stranded deep inside Swedish waters not far from a major naval base in the neutral country, sparking intense suspicion about the scale and motives of such incursions.

The military said on Friday there had been no armed intervention and declined to comment on who might be responsible for the suspicious activity, or whether the report had been about a submarine.

Should the search find proof of foreign military activity in Swedish coastal waters it will represent the first real test of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's center-left minority government only weeks after coming to office.

Last month, Sweden said two Russian warplanes entered its airspace, calling the intrusion a "serious violation" and sending a protest to Moscow's ambassador in the Nordic country.

Countries in the Baltic Sea region have become increasingly wary of Russia's military ambitions since Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in March.

[Bluebook]

This one is the real thing.

The background that were leaked yesterday is that we caught a non-encrypted sos-transmission from the mini-sub to its home base the day before the hunt began. There has also been another transmission after that, this time encrypted.

At the same time, a Russian oil tanker, the Ns Concord has been acting strange to say the least. This is a plot of how it has moved since the day of the sos-transmission.

[Bluebook]

And when more and more people started talking about the tanker, it turned off its identification system and turned east and headed back to russia

[Syt]

Obviously lies, Russian media speak of "alleged foreign submarine", so it's clear Moscow has nothing to do with it.

[Admiral Yi]

What possible advantage could Russia get from a mini sub poking around in Swedish waters?

[Tonitrus]

Obviously lies, Russian media speak of "alleged foreign submarine", so it's clear Moscow has nothing to do with it.

And according to Russian media, their ministry of defense has denied there were any problems with their submarines.  So it cannot be true. 

[Syt]

Anyone can buy mini subs from their local surplus store.

[Eddie Teach]

Maybe the captain's trying to defect.

[Sheilbh]

What possible advantage could Russia get from a mini sub poking around in Swedish waters?

They do this sort of thing all the time. Nuclear subs heading into Scandi waters, planes in their airspace and so on.

[Josquius]

What possible advantage could Russia get from a mini sub poking around in Swedish waters?

Scaring swedes

[Bluebook]

What possible advantage could Russia get from a mini sub poking around in Swedish waters?

The theory I have heard (and think is plausible) is that they are restarting/changing batteries/upgrading/whatever hydrophone-installments they put there the last time they were here in the 80s. Kind of makes sense now that Sweden signed an agreement with NATO a couple of months ago to allow NATO forces to operate from Swedish bases. It might be interesting for the Russians to have some sort of hydrophone-chain around the major Swedish ports then.

Also, this is not a submarine, but a mini-sub. So that means some sort of operational agenda.

[jimmy olsen]

What are they going to do if they find it? Harass it with sonar?

[CountDeMoney]

I gotta find the post where I called this just a few months ago.

[Razgovory]

This one is the real thing.

The background that were leaked yesterday is that we caught a non-encrypted sos-transmission from the mini-sub to its home base the day before the hunt began. There has also been another transmission after that, this time encrypted.

At the same time, a Russian oil tanker, the Ns Concord has been acting strange to say the least. This is a plot of how it has moved since the day of the sos-transmission.

Well, you can see the exact point in the cruise when the sailors broke out the vodka.

[FunkMonk]

Andrei... You've lost another submarine?