Get comfortable as you are about to embark on Part 2 of our investigative report into the Secret Team behind the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage operation. Despite facing the large swell of propaganda coming from the legacy media and their sudden renewed interest in the Nord Stream attack, we hope readers will appreciate the evidence-based, more realistic picture presented here regarding what an actual CIA-backed covered operation entails, as we identify the likely players, aiders and abetters from participating NATO members states.
Author’s note: This is open source investigative series where I lay out who the likely players, and demonstrate which countries possess the means, motive and opportunity to efficiently carry out such an unprecedented international crime on this scale. Each part in the series will gradually narrow down the field of suspects, as we further refine our analysis on the likely specialist teams, methods and equipment used to take out this major German-Russian energy infrastructural network. As always, we encourage readers to post their add their own caveats or criticisms in the comment section below this article, or contact us for any further questions.
Freddie Ponton
21st Century Wire
After having laid down the foundation of our investigation in Part 1 of the Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage, in Part 2 of our investigation we’ll refocus on the actual operational, technical and logistical aspects of this US-led NATO mission which must be considered if we are to properly identify those who had not only the means and motive but also the opportunity to take out, once and for all, the German-Russian joint venture Nord Stream pipeline system in the Baltic Sea, detonated in the wee hours of 26 September 2022.
Initially, our investigation’s aim was to put a face on some of the key story points made by renowned investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in his Nord Stream incident report published on 8 February 2022. In Part 1 of our investigation, we presented data and evidence which validated the main elements of Hersh’s story, including the CIA-led Navy diving team out of Panama City in Florida, and also that the explosives were planted on the Nord Stream pipelines at a depth of 260 feet just a few miles off the coast of Denmark’s Bornholm Island – under the cover of the annual NATO BALTOPS-22 drill in the Baltic Sea held in June 2022. We also confirmed the validity of Hersh’s accusation that NATO ally Norway was in fact intimately involved in this covert military operation.
There were parts of Hersh’s story which we did not go into detail in Part 1 of our investigation, but which we have been able to do here. This includes substantiating Hersh’s claim that the C4 explosives attached to the pipelines during the BALTOPS exercise in June would be triggered in late September by a sonar buoy dropped by a Boeing Poseidon P8 aircraft. We will also demonstrate how specialists from the deep sea oil and gas industry were also consulted and would have, at least, participated in the planning of this operation. In addition to this, we will also show how NATO member Denmark was also involved in the operation as well, as well as the cover-up alongside its close Nordic neighbour Sweden.
Throughout this investigation, our strategy was never to crunch large amounts of flight data, or military and commercial ship logistical data, as there are many capable researchers who specialise in these areas, and we will be highlighting their work accordingly. Rather, our strategy here is to review as much available and pertinent evidence we could gather, which has turned out to be substantial, while sticking to a plausible and common sense-based analysis, and see where this approach would eventually take us.
In this article we will show how a CIA-led operation with highly trained divers and the latest Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) technology, was able, with the help of NATO allies, to operate under the cover of a major NATO Naval exercise BALTOPS-22, to take out the Nord Stream pipelines. In order to further validate Hersh’s story, we must first prove that NATO possessed all of the equipment and teams necessary, that these were all mission capable, and that they were positioned at the crime scene during BALTOPS-22. The following evidence and corresponding analysis will demonstrate the following:
• We will show you how a “Made in Britain” Dry Combat Submersible (DCS1) funded by US-SOCOM (US Special Operation Command Program UOES2 – DOCK1) could have taken a team of highly trained Navy Seals and Saturation Divers who are experts in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) onto the Baltic Sea floor at the site of the Nord Stream pipelines during NATO’s BALTOPS 22 naval exercise.
• We will review US Navy SEAL involvement, along with the UK’s Alpha, Bravo, Delta & Echo, and Charlie Squadron diving units from the British Royal Navy Diving & Threat Exploitation Group (DTXG) and the various roles they may have played with their US, Norwegian and Danish counterparts, bringing expertise in Maritime Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) to the Nord Stream mission. We will also review the capabilities of the British Royal Navy’s DTXG ‘Bravo Squadron’ which provides support for another essential component of this operation: the NATO Submarine Rescue System, a joint UK, Norway and French Submarine Rescue System program sponsored by the UK Department of Defense.
• We will also answer the important question: was the Nord Stream sabotage operation the result of a public and private partnership? If so, then which firms provided the operational capability for this mission? We will review the potential role of British companies such as MSubs (Submergence group), Forum Energy Technologies (FET) and James Fisher Defence (JFD), a world-leading underwater capability provider serving the oil and gas industry as well as the Defence diving markets.
• In order to prepare for the Nord Stream mission, we can reveal the role of the US Navy’s Operational Test and Evaluation Force OPTEVFOR, the US Expeditionary/Littoral Warfare Division and their SEAL/EOD/Dive/Riverine Section which are testing the US Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System (SRDRS) but also Deep (dry) Combat Submersible (DCS). This would be the same equipment used for special ops by the Navy SEALs and U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 8.
• Why is it important to understand the decompression challenge when using a Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) and performing saturation dives down at 260 – 330 feet? We will review the process and the challenges for successfully completing the Nord Stream mission.
• Evidence of U.S. Navy divers assigned to mission capable Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit “EODMU 8” and Royal Danish Navy divers assigned to Mine Counter Measures (MCM) Denmark Dive Team meeting with mission capable Norwegian Reine-Class patrol vessel called Magnus Lagabote (A 537) to conduct a decompression exercise.
• What were the Norwegian Oksøy-class mine hunters M343 Hinnøy doing in the Nord Stream Pipeline blast zone on May 22, 2022, 15 days prior to the launch of BALTOPS 22?
• We will answer the question: what was the role of the Naval Oceanography Mine Warfare Center (NOMWC) which collaborated with BALTOPS 22 NATO teams for mine countermeasures (MCM)? This will include the important detail of pre-deployment of these units, and the importance of controlling the underwater environment/conditions and establishing a special operation diving perimeter ahead, and during, a covert mission. Understanding why so many Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV) were used off the shores of the Bornholm Island of Denmark.
• We will demonstrate how a successful sabotage operation would require direct consultation and involvement of deep water pipeline installation and maintenance specialists from the oil and gas industry, and see exactly their take on the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline. Learn what it actually requires to perform deep-water dives on pipelines (video evidence).
• We will clearly demonstrate exactly how data crunching and open source tracking tools can help identify the military aircraft involved in the dropping of SonoBuoys (sonar buoys) to ‘delay-trigger’ the explosions that destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines and see how one OSINT aircraft watcher was able to track down a mysterious US-made P8 Poseidon aircraft directly above the Nord Stream pipeline which needed to be refuelled in the air in order to complete a ‘drop and go’ mission described in Seymour Hersh’s report.
• CUI BONO? Who are the economic and geopolitical beneficiaries of the Nord Stream sabotage attack, and how does the NS2 sabotage fit perfectly with the European Union’s ‘New Green Industrial Plan’?
In order to prove Hersh’s story was not only plausible but very accurate, is not enough to understand the political and geopolitical context of this event. To understand how this complex covert operation was successfully executed, we must now identify the specific technology and equipment which had to have been used to carry out the mission within the given time and environmental parameters.
Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) Program (UOES2) and Their Diving Teams
To understand how this operation was carried out, we must first acknowledge that U.S. Special Operations Command (US-SOCOM) has been engaged in a Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) program since 2018. This provides the first building block of the operation to take out the Nord Stream pipelines.
This Naval Special Warfare (NSW) program was known as UOES2 (User Operational Evaluation System) and was designed to provide solutions for the covert insertion and recovery of Special Operation Forces (SOF) from ‘denied’ areas. By reducing operator exposure to the underwater environment, the DCS improves mission endurance and range over existing small submersibles which made it the ideal replacement for the Seal delivery system (SDV), a crewed submersible and diver delivery vehicle used to deliver US Navy SEALs and their equipment on covert missions for underwater demolition.
The Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) Block I Program is active and fully funded, and consists of three boats with a dry and warm interior (unlike the MK 8 and MK 11 SDVs that have their interior crew and passenger compartments flooded to the outside ocean water temperatures). DCSs allow for a crew of two (pilot and co-pilot) and up to eight SEAL passengers to have “less impact to the diver in transit to maximize their operational time on station.” (source)
The DCS currently further enhances the Special Operation Forces (SOF) mission capability with additional payload capacity (for equipment and explosives needed to execute this mission). In 2021, DOT&E approved IOT&E test plans for at-sea testing and shore-based cyber survivability testing, however, assessment results are classified. In February 2022, the US Navy Operational Test and Evaluation Force OPTEVFOR completed cyber survivability tests consisting of a cooperative vulnerability and penetration assessment and an adversarial assessment of the UK-based, US-SOCOM approved defence contractor MSubs and its S351 NEMESIS DCS1. Data from preliminary assessment of operational effectiveness are yet to be released, but will very likely remain classified.
US-SOCOM announced in 2021 they were putting their new Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) Block 1(S361 NEMESIS and other DCS) through testing in preparation for delivery that autumn. James Smith, acquisition executive for US-SOCOM, speaking on May 17, 2021, with reporters in a roundtable of the National Defense Industrial Association’s Special Operations Industry Conference, said: “The first submersible, DCS1, is finishing up Developmental Test and will begin Operational Test this summer” (meaning summer 2021), adding that “SOCOM is working on ‘pre-program activities’ for DCS-Next generation, which is planned as a Dry Combat Submersible that will be able to operate from submarines”. (source: SeaPower Magazine)
US- SOCOM Block 1 for Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) under program designation UOES2, was not designed for this mini-submarine to be launched from a large submarine – but rather from a MOSHIP (multi-role Navy ship), or a dock with the assistance of cranes.
IMAGE: Example of an S361 Manned Dry Combat Submersible (DCS1) from Msubs.
Msubs are manufactured at a facility located in Estover, Plymouth, Devon England, a short drive from British Royal Navy Base Devonport, Plymouth (UK) where one of the best British Royal Navy explosives exploitation diving expert teams known as RN Diving & Threat Exploitation Group (DTXG) are located.
The UK Ministry of Defence (UK DOD) is known to have acquired a mix of REMUS 100s and REMUS 600s Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV) for mine countermeasure operations over the last 20 years. Since Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) acquired Hydroid Inc from Norwegian DOD contractor Kongsberg, they have sold more than 600 UUVs to some 30 countries worldwide, including sales to 14 of the NATO member countries, including the UK (source).
Royal Navy DTXG’s explosives exploitation diving experts are also known as the “Echo & Delta Squadron” and were led by Lt-Commander Tom Forbes at the time of BALTOPS 22 (although it’s possible that he might have been replaced by Lieutenant Commander Dave Starkey). Also, the DTXG Alpha Squadron for special operations is led by Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander Martin Seal, whilst the commanding officer of the overall Diving & Threat Exploitation Group (DTXG) is Commander Sean Heaton. Moreover, the DTXG Bravo Squadron works out of HMNB Naval Base Devonport, Plymouth, presently under the command of Lieutenant Commander Nathan Isaacs.
Confirming the presence of the Dry Combat Submersible military equipment at BALTOPS is crucial in understanding how this operation could have been carried out under these specific conditions. In Part 1, we established that the company MSubs (Submergence Group) manufactures Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) for US-SOCOM (US Special Operation Command). Msubs DCS S351 Nemesis went through extensive trials with USSOCOM under the program designation UOES2. More here on DCS.
On the 2nd August/2022 Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the Diving & Threat Exploitation Group (DTXG) at the UK Defence Diving School, Horsea Island (North shore of Portsmouth harbour). During the visit, he was briefed on the current activities of the Royal Navy’s Mine Clearance Diver specialisation and also a capability demonstration. HMNB Portsmouth. Advanced diver training in the UK is conducted at Weymouth, Falmouth, Plymouth and the west coast of Scotland.
Was Boris Johnson coming to congratulate his boy for the BALTOPS 22 Nord Stream Pipeline job? Time will tell…
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has visited the Diving & Threat Exploitation Group (DTXG) at the Defence Diving School, Horsea Island, HMNB Portsmouth. Picture by Kyle Heller/No 10 Downing Street (Source)
Just over two months, after the Nord Stream explosions, the British Royal Navy awarded a £15.4 million contract for its first crewless submarine to Plymouth firm MSubs. According to a Royal Navy report dated Dec 2022, the contract is funded by the Anti-Submarine Warfare Spearhead programme known as ‘Project Cetus’. The mini submersible will deliver the largest and most complex crewless submarine operated by a European Navy.
The UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said in December 2022:
“In order to meet the growing threats to our underwater infrastructure, the Royal Navy needs to be ahead of the competition with cutting-edge capabilities. Project Cetus, alongside bringing forward the MROS ships, will help ensure we have the right equipment to protect the security of the UK and our Allies.”
We can’t help but not entertain the possibility that this contract came as a reward or a sign of gratitude for the MSub Dry Combat Submersible’s ‘remarkable performance’ during BATOPS 22.
Interestingly, a report from ‘Counter-IED Report’ informs us that Royal Navy DTXG divers from the Delta Squadron based on Horsea Island across the RN base in Portsmouth (UK), undertook ‘important’ explosives clearance using state-of-the-art underwater drones in Lithuania with their US counterparts and with divers from NATO allies Canada, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Estonia all joining the exercise. This in itself wouldn’t be important unless we start realising that this particular drill took place on 15 June 2022 – in the middle of NATO’s annual maritime-led joint Baltic Operations (BALTOPS 22) exercise which took place between June 5-17, 2022. This was also confirmed by the British Royal Navy who have since taken down their article.
The media outlet ‘Divnet’ reported in June 2022 that the Delta Diving Unit from the Diving & Threat Exploitation Group (DTXG) were in fact training and operating on improvised explosive devices (IEDs), on the shores of the Baltic Sea around the port city of Klaipeda, Lithuania. To assist their operations beneath the surface, Delta Diving Unit reportedly used robots and autonomous vessels, including the REMUS an Under Water Vehicles (UUV) formerly manufactured by Norwegian company Kongsberg and its subsidiary Hydroid Inc currently operating under US DoD contractor Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII).
IMAGE: HII Delivers Three REMUS 100 UUV to Royal Navy (Source)
On September 25, 2022, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) delivered three more REMUS 100 Unmanned Underwater Vehicles to the British Royal Navy. Also in 2022, The Royal Navy changed the way its diving teams operated in the biggest shake-up in more than 25 years. The new Diving & Threat Exploitation Group (DTXG) was designed to deliver ‘relevant, globally deployable specialist mission teams’ capable of contributing to maritime Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), mine countermeasures (MCM) diving, and underwater battlespace exploitation capabilities. They would now replace the long-standing Fleet Diving Squadron. This restructuring aimed at providing the diving fleet with diving, exploitation, and EOD force elements with greater availability, sustainability, and lethality and was activated on 31 January 2022. Personnel based in Portsmouth, Plymouth and Faslane in the United Kingdom were to integrate all of these new technologies and realise opportunities and overcome new threats, as identified by the Royal Navy and NATO. Under the leadership of Lieutenant Commander Tom Forbes, of Echo Squadron, DTXG’s diving explosive exploitation experts, this very specialised diving unit became the experts in the field of maritime exploitation of conventional and improvised explosive devices and munitions – a capability that doesn’t exist anywhere else across UK defence.
Chief Petty Officer Carl Thomas, of Alpha Squadron, DTXG’s special operations squadron who contributed to a Royal Navy article on 7 March 2022 stated:
“We recognise and embrace modern, innovative technology such as autonomous underwater vehicles and remotely operated vehicles (known as AUVs and ROVs) to deliver operations and enhance training.”
The Alpha Squadron DTXG diving explosive exploitation experts were then scheduled to be deployed to the US, France, Norway and Iceland over the following months, as well as continuing to operate in the Middle East with partner nations and deployed ships, such as HMS Montrose, mine-hunters HMS Middleton, HMS Bangor, HMS Chiddingfold and HMS Penzance and Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) support ship Lyme Bay. The key point here is that these specialised teams would have plenty of opportunities to practice under the new technology framework.
RN divers working in Portsmouth in Feb 2022 (Credit: Lee Blease/Royal Navy)
The Alpha Squadron DTXG operates in six key areas:
• Naval special operations (specialist diving, maritime and land EOD, and maritime exploitation capabilities);
• Mine-Hunting Capability (persistent mixed-gas underwater EOD and exploitation capabilities);
• Maritime Task Group (persistent diving, in-water maintenance, and repair to carriers and wider task group, and capable of providing underwater force protection to the force);
• Littoral Response Group (LRG)/Future Commando Force (persistent mixed-gas diving and maritime and land EOD capabilities to the LRG (Littoral Response Group) or to (CTF 68) Joint Expeditionary Force [Maritime];
• In-water maintenance and repair and battle/peacetime damage repair support to surface and submarine flotillas;
• Homeland defence (specialist diving, maritime and land EOD capabilities to support civil authorities, and EOD under the Ministry of Defence/Home Office service-level agreements and directives).
Last, but certainly not least, the RN DTXG Charlie Squadron is made of expert divers, very skilled in bomb disposal and the handling of marine mines, as well as in Submarine underwater rescues. Charlie Squadron operates as the leading diving group for the NATO Submarine Rescue System. They can even conduct submarine rescue in depths up to 610 msw (meter sea water or foot sea water (fsw) in the US). The msw and fsw are the conventional units for measurement of diver pressure exposure used in decompression tables and the unit of calibration for pneumofathometers and hyperbaric chamber pressure gauges in a case of deep and prolonged deep dive. This is an important technical point, as it speaks directly to the technology required to bring the divers down for the long job of preparing the pipeline areas with explosives and then back up again using decompression systems.
Special Operations and Naval Special Warfare
This detail is critical to confirming the mission-capable qualifications of the equipment and the teams operating it.
According to the US Navy’s Operational Test and Evaluation Force OPTEVFOR the US Expeditionary/Littoral Warfare Division and their SEAL/EOD/Dive/Riverine Section conduct independent planning and execution of operational tests and evaluation of traditional and non-traditional programs for Special Operations and Naval Special Warfare, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), Diving and Salvage, and Riverine programs.
Programs include:
• Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System (SRDRS)
• Deep (dry) Combat Submersible (DCS) and
• Advanced Explosive Ordnance Disposal Robotic System (AEODRS).
This indicates unequivocally that Navy Seals EOD Divers uses 2 components from these 3 programs for their Special Operations (CIA-backed covert Operation). We already covered some aspects of the MSubs Dry Combat Submersibles, and further down will focus in even more detail, but for now, we will demonstrate why Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System (SRDRS) are important and why the UK Department of Defense (UK-DOD) sponsors NATO Submarine Rescue System program – a technology which provided the operational backbone of the Nord Stream sabotage mission.
IMAGE: NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) (Image: source)
In order to successfully complete an underwater mission like the Nord Stream attack, diving teams would have to be fluent in the latest advanced operating procedures. One such component was new to the 2022 BALTOPS NATO naval exercise in the Baltic Sea: the incorporation of more robust medical response scenarios including personnel recovery training aboard a submarine featuring five participating nations. (source: U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa / U.S. Sixth Fleet – C6F).
This new exercise was introduced by U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. Sixth Fleet during BATOPS-22, and in itself represents the perfect cover story for an actual rescue covert operation, involving the extraction of deep-sea Navy SEAL divers from a submersible. These would be the very Navy teams which Seymour Hersh has indicated were involved in the Nord Stream sabotage during BALTOPS-22. Further below we will see how and why the topic of decompression is never mentioned by the legacy media and how important the role of a Submarine Rescue System is when considering safety and mission time management. In other words: without it, the mission may not have been possible under those specific conditions.
During our research, we’ve identified a joint UK-Norway-French NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) special unit, which just happened to be used by the Royal Navy DTXG squadron divers, namely the DTXG Bravo & Charlie Squadrons. The NATO-NSRS is known to have been used in previous NATO naval search & rescue exercises. The evidence of this is in the public domain.
https://twitter.com/RN_DTXG/status/1409499615506931718?s=20
Where the Military Meets the Deep Sea Oil and Gas Industry
In this investigation, it is absolutely crucial to understand the link between the military and the deep sea oil and gas industry. The NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) was designed and manufactured by a company called Forum Energy Technologies Subsea Division (FET). The Submarine Rescue Vehicle (SRV) along with a portable launch and recovery system (PLARS) are part of the package. More info here. FET is a global leader in products and services for the oil and gas, with an extensive range of skills and knowledge for Subsea operations. They have reliably supported military organizations and naval forces for more than 45 years. The global headquarter of FET is located in Houston, Texas, with divisions operating out of the UK, Norway, Singapore and Brazil.
Forum Energy Technologies (FET) – Rescue Submarine system in action (source):
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NATO Submarine Rescue System is used by highly trained divers and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) experts, like the British Royal Navy DTXG Bravo & Charlie Squadron diving teams, but the contract for maintaining this NATO program was awarded to JFD (James Fisher Defence), a UK DOD contractor. The UK Ministry of Defense renewed the JFD contract until 2023. JFD is a world-leading underwater capability provider serving the oil & gas industry, as well as the Defence diving markets, as part of James Fisher and Sons plc.
According to JFD UK, JFD North America is also supported by none other than United States Special Operation Command (US-SOCOM), the very same organization for which UK Plymouth-based company MSubs Ltd has designed and manufactured the S361 NEMISIS Dry Combat Submersible (DCS), a midget submarine whose aim is to covertly deploy and retrieve SEALS divers. JFD has offices at the Deepwater Building on Horsea Island (UK) where the RN DTXG divers are based, but also an office for the Baltic and Arctic area, located in Vaxholm, Sweden which happened to be a co-host country for NATO’s BALTOPS-22 large-scale naval exercise. (source)
JFD is also known for their Portable Hyperbaric Rescue Facility (HRF) that can support deep water diving operations across the whole of the North Sea. This article discusses FSD training on mating exercises with TechnipFMC and the Deep Discoverer and Deep Arctic vessels. See the video here.
JDF Submarine Rescue Systems:
JFD Submarine Rescue Systems
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JFD Mines Countermeasures:
JFD Mine countermeasures brochure_web_version_Sept_2017
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JFD is part of NATO’s Submarine Escape and Rescue Working Group (SMERWG), a tight community which encourages the development and implementation of military standardisation within the global Submarine Escape, Rescue and Abandonment (SMERAS) community.
IMAGE: Industry reception 22 June 2022, with the JFD stand at the NATO SMERWG 2022 Conference in Amsterdam. (source)
JFD is also taking part in NATO Underwater Working Group (UDWG) which standardises the following: Diving Techniques Amphibious Warfare Operations, Ship’s Diver Operations, Salvage Operations, Underwater Construction Operations, Medical Guidance, and Diving and Seabed Operations below 50 metres. JFD also had a stand at the NATO UDWG Industry Reception 2019 in Toulon, France. (source)
Covert Diving Teams
We now know that all the relevant specialist diving teams for the Nord Stream sabotage operation were already in position in Europe. In May 2022, just before BALTOPS-22, Navy divers attended the NATO Underwater Working Group 2022 which was held in Italy. The event was attended by underwater specialist forces of NATO allies countries and partner countries. The programming for this event was coordinated by British Royal Navy Capt. Peter Laughton MBE. (source)
Going back to NATO Submarine Rescue System, according to the British Royal Navy DTXG, Bravo Squadron provides support to the NATO Submarine Rescue System. These bomb disposal and underwater explosives diving experts are also able to deliver a team working on this extremely complex rescue chamber system – a globally deployable network of recompression chambers and mini submersibles. Again, this equipment is essential for completing the Nord Stream mission. (source)
At this stage, it would appear that the British Royal Navy DTXG Bravo Squadron and the RN DTXG Charlie Squadron would have been the most qualified deep sea bomb explosive ordnance divers that could have supported, if not participated, in a deep-dive demolition mission and a subsequent extraction or rescue/recovery mission.
Mission Capable: NATO’s Underwater Rescue System
The other key component to the mission is the previously mentioned NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS), a tri-national project between UK, Norway and France, designed to develop a NATO-standard “interoperable” international submarine rescue system. The system provides a rescue capability primarily to the partner nations of the UK, Norway and France, but also to NATO and allied nations and to any submarine (or mini-submarine) equipped with a suitable mating surface (mating flange) around its hatches.
In the following video, we can see the Norwegian Coast Guard team or Kystvakten in Norwegian, operating the new NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) from MOSHIP (Mothership) “Kystvakt”. The Norwegian Coast Guard is a military force and part of the Royal Norwegian Navy.
NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) from the Norwegian Coast Guards MOSHIP (Mothership) “Kystvakt”. Watch:
As confirmed on several technical specs pertaining to the MSubs Dry Combat Submersible (DCS), the hull features two topside hatches as well as a lockout chamber and can easily perform missions of up to 24 hours, with a range of about 70 miles (~112 km). (source)
When NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) is not in used by other partnering countries, it is based in the UK at the RN Base Faslane, one of the Royal Navy submarine bases where the DTXG Squadron Bomb Disposal divers operate and train from. DTXG operating teams aim to deploy the NSRS anywhere in the world within 72 hours.
Interestingly, it can rescue crew members from a submarine (or mini-submarine) which can then be transferred up to the ‘Under Pressure’ decompression facility on board the MOSHIP, while the Submarine Rescue Vehicle (SRV) can be redeployed to perform further deepwater recovery operations. The system is also referred to as a “diver-less launch and recovery system” – known as “DLARS” and uses a transfer under pressure (TUP) system. This system would be crucial in carrying out the explosive preparations and subsequent exfiltration of specialist diving teams.
In the following video, the NATO NSRS is being launched from Glasgow’s King George V Dock, Scotland in view of a 2 weeks NATO exercise dubbed ‘Golden Arrow’ which took place off the Isle of Arran in Sept 2019. Watch:
This data point is crucial because, in March 2022, the NATO Golden Arrow exercise appears to have been using (according to Naval Today) the British SD Northern River as a MOSHIP to launch the NATO Submarine Rescue System. It was only the second deployment of the whole NATO rescue system since September 2019, and we can estimate that it was then that an international diving and operation team (US–UK-Norway, and perhaps France) were able to rehearse the final details of the Nord Stream sabotage operation planned for BALTOPS-22. Such at-sea operations provided valuable training for the Secret Teams under the guise of NATO Allied Command Transformation Joint Force Development (JFD) operations, covering every aspect of the mission – from launch and recovery, submarine (minisub) rescue vehicle (SRV), and night-time operations.
The MOSHIP “SD Northern River” seems to be based in Devonport, Plymouth, Royal Navy DTXG demolition divers base (it would be worth tracking this ship’s movements during the BALTOPS window between May and July 2022).
Decompression: A Key Challenge on Dry Combat Submersible (DCS)
Some of you will wonder if Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) are equipped with positive displacement scroll decompression pumps which would offer the possibility to depressurise dry combat submersible (DCS) hyperbaric spaces while at diving depth, and indeed it would be a good question to ask as it is critical to executing a successful underwater demolition of the Nord Stream pipelines during BALTOPS-22.
The main point: regulating decompression on ascent following underwater deep-sea diving significantly decreases the risk of oxygen toxicity, nitrogen narcosis, and decompression sickness. The benefit would extend to deep dive covert missions requiring deployment at sea, transport at depth, and then rapid ascent, or ‘back to the surface’, thus reducing substantially the period of time spent in a deck decompression chamber (DDC) upon their return to the MOSHIP, therefore minimizing health and mission risks. More info about surface decompression can be found here.
So the question is: was MSubs Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) equipped with a positive displacement scroll decompression pump allowing onboard depressurisation on the ascent after the covert operation during BATOPS 22 ready and completed?
It is abundantly clear that US-SOCOM were very interested in fitting the DCS1 with a depressurizing pump for depressurisation purpose, and we invite you to take a look at the Comparative Study on Decompression Pumps for Dry Combat Submersible ordered by US-SOCOM (Special Operations Command) which was eventually awarded to a company called Air Squared Inc. We of course needed to make sure the fitting and testing of such a valuable option was completed before BALTOPS 22 and this is what America seed fund SBIR, an open-source Award Details platform is revealing.
Insert Air Squared Award Information Decompression Pump for Dry Submersibles (SBIR.gov):
Air Squared Award Information Decompression Pump for Dry Submersibles _ SBIR.gov
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Air Squared study Phase I was to produce a comparative study for decompression pumps to be fitted in dry combat submersible (DCS), it was funded by HQ USSOCOM and awarded by the US Department of Defense. Phase 1 was successful, and Air Squared applied for Phase II SBIR funding from USSOCOM in June 2020 (source: update near the end of the page) and the contract award date was scheduled for 11th December 2020. Strangely the project went dark (classified) as the DOD or US-SOCOM stopped sharing funding data. However, Air Squared page on SBIR shows the Phase II award year in 2021. (source) and Award End Contract End Date 2022-07-05 (just 3 weeks after BALTOPS 22).
PHASE II: Develop, install, and demonstrate a prototype system determined to be the most feasible solution during the Phase I feasibility study on a Depressurization Pump for Dry Submersibles.
PHASE III: This system could be used in a broad range of military applications where the military service requires the use of a depressurization pump for hyperbaric spaces. (source: search page for SOCOM192-002 Depressurization Pump for Dry Submersibles)
Conclusion: the required underwater technology was ready, mission-capable, and in position for the Nord Stream mission.
What Does the Oil & Gas Industry Say About the destruction of Nord Stream Pipelines?
We briefly brought the topic of Sub rescue systems to your attention because experts report from the oil and gas industry have spoken, and described some important technical aspects and requirements regarding deep sea diving, such as deep sea pipeline repair projects, which we are going to unpack for you now. Understanding how they interface with the military operation is critical in piecing together the Nord Stream sabotage operation.
Oil and Gas engineering firms are experts in pipeline installation and repair, and give us insight as to what it takes for Deep Sea/Saturation Divers to operate past the 50/70 meters level below the surface – and it’s far from being a walk in the park. A complex array of high-level equipment and teams are required.
Saturation divers typically breathe a helium-oxygen mixture to prevent nitrogen narcosis and limit the work of breathing, but at shallow depths, saturation diving has been done on nitrox mixtures. This part was specifically mentioned in Seymour Hersh’s report, stating how divers “… would dive with a mixture of oxygen, nitrogen and helium streaming from their tanks, and plant-shaped C4 charges on the four pipelines with concrete protective covers. It would be tedious, time consuming and dangerous work…”
Take a look at this video to see how deep-sea saturation divers work on pipelines:
Background
The following information was published on October 3, 2022, by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT Technology Review – the report was written by journalist Chris Stokel-Walkerarchive:
Until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines were a key part of Europe’s energy infrastructure. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the Nord Stream lines supplied 18% of all Europe’s gas imports. Half of Russia’s gas imports to Europe came through Nord Stream 1— a record high. (Nord Stream 2, which has been completed, has not yet come online after Germany withheld its certification following the invasion).
Since then, Nord Stream has become a geopolitical pawn as Russia has retaliated for economic sanctions imposed upon it after the invasion. In July 2022, Russia took the pipeline offline for scheduled maintenance but never returned it to full capacity; by August 2022, Russia’s state energy company had declared an unplanned outage.
Then, in late September 2022, the sabotage caused four leaks in the subsea pipeline system in the Baltics Sea, the largest leak being 900 meters in diameter. The second one is a smaller leak and is over Nord Stream 2. It is roughly 200m in diameter. Soon after, the race was on to fix the vital pipelines before winter but the reality of the devastation started to sink in, with experts describing the fixing mission as an unprecedented challenge for the oil and gas sector, requiring complex robotics and imaginative engineering.
And while we don’t even know for sure how bad the situation is, the damage is expected to be significant: The September 26 blasts believed to have caused the pipeline ruptures registered 2.2 on the Richter scale, according to the Swedish National Seismic Network. Swedish and Danish investigators, who took the lead on probing the leaks reported that they were caused by blasts equivalent to “several hundred kilos of explosives.”
“These are massive explosions that may have damaged this pipeline over a greater distance [than we know of],” says Jilles van den Beukel, an independent energy analyst who worked for Shell for 25 years, most recently as a principal geoscientist. “Perhaps this pipeline is not in its original position anymore.” adding “These kinds of leaks are described as a one-in-100,000-years kind of thing, the only way these kinds of things happen is sabotage.”
From this description, you can see what was required to prepare the explosives to blow up the pipelines. The Nord Stream steel pipelines are 1.6 inches thick, with up to another 4.3 inches of concrete casing wrapped around them. Each of the 100,000 or so sections of the pipeline weighs approximately 24 metric tons.
As for Jean-François Ribet of the Monaco-based oil and gas pipeline repair company, 3X Engineering, which has previously repaired pipelines in Yemen that have been sabotaged by the likes of Al-Qaeda, in this report he talks about how an assessment could be done using an inspection robot, a remotely operated vehicle, or specialized divers to establish the state of the pipe and what the damages were. Perhaps the most interesting remark Jean François made was that sending divers to the site would be challenging because of the depth of the pipeline, reminding us that if the leak is concentrated in relatively shallow water, around 50-70 meters deep, still, the majority of the pipeline lies 80-100 meters underwater, and all of it would need to be inspected for potential damages.
What was even more enlightening was the comment made by Olivier Marin, R&D and technical manager at 3X Engineering:
“We’ve done repairs at that depth, but you have to use saturation diving,” (in saturation diving, which is used for deep-sea conditions, divers remain at an extreme depth in a specialized habitat and undergo a single decompression once the operation is over), adding “You can maybe do a 10 hours dive, but you will have to stay for one month in a hyperbaric chamber.”
With such knowledge at hand, it is difficult to ignore the set of difficulties, an embedded CIA covert operation inside of a NATO naval exercise would have encountered. It is abundantly clear that such a mission would have required a lot of preparation and qualified skills from NATO Allied Command Transformation Joint Force Development (JFD) operators, as well as a mixed team made of the best combat EOD divers in the world.
Could such information also indicate the likelihood the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage was another of these infamous public-private partnerships, bringing together the military and top deep-sea oil and gas services? It would appear so.
The Norwegian Navy & U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) – 8 divers
BALTOPS 22 is the premier maritime-focused exercise in the Baltic region. The exercise, led by U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, and executed by Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) in June 2022 provided a unique training opportunity in the Baltic Sea but it also provided the perfect backdrop for a CIA-led covert operation with the aim to sabotage the Nord Stream pipelines.
In Part 1 of our report, we’ve taken the time to describe the very special U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit known as “EODMU 8”. As it turns out, they just happened to be working with the Norwegian Navy during the NATO Naval exercise BALTOPS 22 in a major decompression exercise. Pay attention to the decompression chambers on the MOSHIP deck in the picture below, as they are identical to the equipment required to complete the Nord Stream mission.
Here are two of the likely smoking guns…
Here we can place the relevant mission-capable military ship and specialist diving teams in position at BALTOPS-22. Below are photos of U.S. Navy service members assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit “EODMU 8” and Royal Danish Navy divers assigned to Mine Counter Measures (MCM) Denmark Dive Team, approaching the Norwegian Reine-Class patrol vessel Magnus Lagabote (A 537) while at exercise BALTOPS 22 in the Baltic Seas on June 08, 2022. (source)
IMAGE: Norwegian Reine-Class patrol vessel Magnus Lagabote (A 537) at exercise BALTOPS 22 (Source: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Richard Hoffner/Released)
According to the U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. Sixth Fleet, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit EODMU 8, which works under the Navy Expeditionary Combat Task Force Europe-Africa/Task Force 68 (CTF 68), is the unit responsible for assembling demolition operations, providing explosive ordnance disposal operations, naval construction, expeditionary security and theatre security efforts to Naval Forces Europe-Africa and U.S. 6th Fleet. (source)
EODMU 8 and Royal Danish Navy divers assigned to Mine Counter Measures TF (MCM) – Photos: source 1– source 2 – source 3 – source 4
Open Source Data Corroborates Hersh Story
Let’s now talk about crunching open source data pertaining to the Nord Stream sabotage – especially the naval military and commercial movements prior to, during, and after BALTOPS 22. These are great indicators, but can also be very deceiving. Countries participating in a major NATO Naval exercise would have all participated in various types of intelligence briefings, even though, in the context of a covert operation, very few would have been ‘in the know’. A military or a commercial vessel passing above the sabotage zone does not necessarily mean it is a MOSHIP that is participating in the covert sabotage operation. The level of uncertainty is rather high for the data’s interpretation to be accurate, and many vessels could easily have switched off their AIS transponders (thus no pen source tracking data) during sensitive manoeuvres. However sometimes, and the same goes for airspace data, it can be used to either verify or contradict the claims of a proposed scenario – like the dropping of sonobuoys (sonar buoys) by a P-8A Poseidon aircraft, for instance.
Those interested in data crunching can check out this link shared by Erik Andersson on Twitter @Erkperk which offers a breakdown of all vessels passing within 10 nautical miles of the Nord Stream sabotage’s site from the period between June-October 2022. Military vessels are in separate files (tracked using AIS Maritime Data tracking system). Erik has also shared a complete archive from the Danish Maritime Authority which can be found here, which could also be useful.
We should also point out some very good analysis from independent researcher like Michael Kobs (Twitter @MichaKobs) who reviewed some of the claims made during the latest international legacy media stunt, conjured by Danish media and reified by the BBC, which proposes that the Nord Stream sabotage was orchestrated by the Russians.
The Danish authorities have apparently confirmed that 26 photos of the Nymfen show the submarine rescue ship SS-750. A good reason to rehash old nonsense once again, as long as it makes Russia seem more likely to be the culprit.https://t.co/XGrhNkiROV pic.twitter.com/A4zrgd0wsl
— Michael Kobs (@MichaKobs) April 28, 2023
To add the scepticism of these brand new revelations and conspiracy theories suddenly being released by Denmark is the fact that investigations by key Nordic players Denmark and Sweden are being kept partially or fully from public view, with officials citing “national security concerns”. It goes without saying that if Western countries had any damning evidence implicating Russia in blowing up its own pipeline, they would’ve had it in hand within weeks of the blast and proceeded to spread it across the global media. It wasn’t until Hersh’s report came out on February 8th that NATO nations, including Germany, began broadcasting various and sundry theories as to ‘rogue pro-Ukrainian actors’ and Russian ships being photographed along one of the world’s busiest maritime shipping lanes.
With that being said, let’s go back for a brief moment to the Royal Norwegian Navy Reine-class patrol vessel HNoMS Magnus Lagabte (A537), which was anchored in the Baltic Sea undertaking underwater detonations exercise during BALTOPS 2019, with Norwegian, Belgian and U.S. EOD Divers. (source)
IMAGE: Royal Norwegian Navy Reine-class patrol vessel HNoMS Magnus Lagabte A537 (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Matthew Stroup/Releasedexpe)
Norway was indeed involved with the NATO BALTOPS 2019 exercise, you can see in the following video the Norwegian Oksøy-class mine hunters M343 Hinnøy, carrying on board a large underwater vehicle – so again everything is possible, but of course, the mainstream media won’t tell you that.
VIDEO: Norwegian Oksøy-class mine hunters M343 Hinnøy (go to the 0:22 second mark)
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The reason why we are showing you the M343 Hinnoy is because on May 31st, 2022, just before BALTOPS-22, this same Norwegian Oksøy-class mine hunter was spotted south of the Nord Stream blast zone.
BALTOPS 22 was conducted primarily at sea with some elements conducted ashore, such as amphibious operations and logistics. The BALTOPS Mine Countermeasures Task Group (MCM TG) served as command and control in Ravlunda, Sweden facilitating training for the task units in mine countermeasures operations.
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 8 “EODMU 8”, deployed out of Rota, Spain, and led a team of approximately 190 personnel from five different nations, providing scenarios in which participants were evaluated as they searched for, exploited, or disposed of mines both underwater and ashore.
Naval Oceanography’s Part in BALTOPS 2022
In order to carry out a successful sabotage mission, the Secret Teams would first need to do an underwater survey and digital imaging of the Nord Stream pipelines to determine the precise location and environment for preparing and planting the C4 explosives. This may have required cover, and that cover is likely to have been provided by the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command.
Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command participated in BALTOPS 22 via the embarked Meteorology and Oceanography (METOC) detachments aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) and the Blue Ridge-class command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20), along with forward-deployed Sailors, Marines, and civilians from U.S. Sixth Fleet (C6F) METOC.
The METOC detachments embarked aboard Kearsarge originated from the Strike Group Oceanography Team – Norfolk, Virginia (SGOT-N). According to their report, the team was charged with providing commanders and escort ships with ‘timely and tactically relevant environmental analysis and prediction’. Also, the ‘METOC detachment’s continuous environmental analysis enhances decision superiority, mission accomplishment, and interoperability during BALTOPS 22.’
According to the US Navy, The Naval Oceanography Mine Warfare Center (NOMWC) collaborated with BALTOPS 22 NATO teams for mine countermeasures (MCM). They provided asymmetric war-fighting advantage as an embedded member of Mine Warfare forces by ‘reducing risk and tactical execution timelines through the fusion of oceanographic sciences, intelligence preparation of the operational environment, tactical mine hunting, and data analysis.’
During BALTOPS 22, NOMWC provided an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Platoon (UUV PLT, 8 personnel) and a Data Fusion Cell (DFC, 5 personnel), providing not only complete support for mine countermeasures (MCM) change detection, in-situ environmental analysis, and MCM contact identification but also providing commanders with an operational picture of the BALTOPS 22 underwater environment.
NOMWC obtains its data from The Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) which collects data around the world that describes the characteristics of the seafloor. NAVOCEANO gives this data to NOMWC’s data fusion cell and UUV platoon who use the data to plan their mission based on the predicted environmental conditions.
As we have previously shown in Part 1, it is the sailors from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit EODMU 2, who trains in Panama City Florida, that operate this Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV). Their operators are assigned to Expeditionary Mine Countermeasures ExMCM Company 2-2. Their job is to detect, identify, and neutralize simulated or not mine threats. EODMU 2 is headquartered at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story and provides credible, combat-ready EOD forces capable of global deployment in support of US national interests.
According to Chief Petty Officer Heidi Cheek from U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa Public Affairs, the US Navy under the command of U.S. Navy Capt. Sam Brasfield, Commander of the BALTOPS 22 Mine Countermeasures Task Group (MCM -TG), experimented with new types of unmanned underwater vehicles which were tested off the coast of Bornholm Island, Denmark during the BALTOPS 22 exercise.
At this stage, we have strong reasons to believe that the Naval Oceanography Mine Warfare Center (NOMWC) and the US Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) were part of a pre-deployment strategic and intelligence-gathering team responsible for securing and scanning the battle space including underwater and surface areas providing operational awareness necessary for any sensitive mission, especially one where a Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) is being used to take navy seals to the Nord Stream pipelines operational theatre.
Based on the CIA-backed covert operation described in Seymour Hersh’s report, it is our opinion that the eMETOC command post afforded a perfect on-site control centre for the CIA and its team, to keep an eye on the entire operation.
Back to the diving teams…
All the Pieces Were in Place
To extract Saturation Divers from the safety of their Sub, NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) only requires the rescued (mini) submarine to be fitted with an escape hatch with haul-down points. The extraction is about protecting the divers in a safe compression environment before bringing them back in one go to the MOSHIP where they will be placed in decompression chambers.
In a scenario where US-SOCOM was able to fit the S361 NEMESIS (DCS 1) or another of MSub Dry Combat Submersible (DCS1) with a depressurization system from Air Squared, it will still have required for these combat divers (SEALs) to progressively depressurise their environment in the mini Sub before being able to safely head back progressively toward the surface and board the MOSHIP to spend some (much lesser) time on board of the MOSHIP’s own surface decompression chambers.
Since we are currently not able to confirm 100% if Air Squared successfully managed to equip the MSub DCS with ‘Decompression Pumps for Dry Combat Submersible’ and so we must assume that both scenarios were entertained. All in all, it makes perfect sense for a NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) to have been deployed during BALTOPS 22 as a logistical support which offers a second layer of comfort and safety for the divers, and of course a perfect cover story too.
S361 NEMISIS (DCS 1) Block 1 was designed by Msubs to operate from surface ships only and not from submarines which fit our proposed scenario. The next DCS generation design will concentrate its effort on a version deployable from a military submarine in 2023/2024.
We are not excluding the possibility that US-SOCOM might have chosen other available Msub (S Serie) dry swimmer delivery submersible (DSV) as support for, what increasingly appears to have been, a CIA-backed covert operation.
BALTOPS 22 robust medical response scenarios, specifically during personnel recovery training exercise aboard a submarine seem to have provided a perfect opportunity to justify the presence of recompression chambers on the MOSHIP deck, which indicates that saturation dives were indeed conducted during this unforgettable BALTOPS 22 NATO Naval exercise which clearly was used by the CIA as a backdrop and cover story to allegedly perform an act of terrorism on one of Europe key energy infrastructure.
The Mysterious P8 Poseidon Flight Above the Nord Stream Pipeline Site
This brings us to the other smoking gun.
According to the Seymour Hersh report, the Americans were faced with a last-minute challenge with orders coming from the top. It appears that the US Government executives behind this CIA-backed operation decided to put some distance between the BALTOPS 22 NATO naval exercise, which they have used as an opportunity to plant their explosives, and the actual time period when they were remotely detonated.
According to Hersh, the plan was to remotely detonate the C4 explosives placed around the Nord Stream pipelines on the Baltic Sea bed, using a sonobuoy (sonar buoy) which could at a push of a button start emitting a sequence of unique low frequency that would be recognized by the timing device connected to the C4 explosive charges which were placed at strategic points along the Nord Stream pipelines. This sonobuoy(s) would have had to be programmed with pre-set hours of delay (Sept 26, 2022) before the explosives could be triggered.
Many have debated how these sonobuoy were delivered to the Nord Stream pipelines site and according to Hersh’s report on September 26, 2022, by a Norwegian (US-made) Navy P8 surveillance plane which made a seemingly routine flight in this zone and dropped a sonar buoy.
Although Hersh’s scenario is plausible, we feel far more comfortable sharing the following open-source data (SpyGlass) gathered and released by OSINT blogger Monkey Werx who confirms unequivocally in his very comprehensive blog, the presence of a Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft coming from a United States base from the west, and flying to the Baltic, before flying above or in the proximity of the 33rd Air Base, a US/ NATO Air Force support, near the town of Powidz in Poland, in the early hours of the 26th Sept 2022. The data clearly shows this US P8 Poseidon military aircraft being air refuelled by a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, an American military aerial refuelling tanker aircraft, before heading to the Nord Stream pipeline explosion site for a final descent to drop the sonobuoy(s) at the predesignated area above the Nord Stream pipelines, making few loops above the critical zone before starting its return journey back towards the US.
Below is the open source data of a Boeing P-8A Poseidon flight patterns to Nord Stream pipelines (full video). More in-depth info on the Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage in this video (flight data starts at 25:17). Credit to Monkey Werx (see his YouTube channel here).
VIDEO: Watch this edited clip of the period in question:
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Based on the commercial design of Boeing’s 737-800, the P-8A Poseidon is built specifically as a military aircraft and has been substantially modified to include a sonobuoy deployment system. In addition, the P8A Poseidon underwent some modifications to increase structural strength for low-level operations (down to 200ft). The P8A can be loaded up with 129 sonobuoys. (source)
CUI BONO? (Who’s Profiting?)
I guess many of you will remember the European Parliament representative for Poland, Radek Sikorski (the husband of prominent American anti-Russia campaigner Anne Applebaum), who posted these comments right after the Nord Stream attack was announced, “Thank you, U.S.A.!”, tweeted just as European Union officials were travelling to Goleniów, Poland, to inaugurate their own new pipeline project connecting Poland to Norway.
This partially EU-funded Baltic Pipe project was launched to facilitate the forwarding of Norwegian natural gas to Poland through Denmark, subsequently creating an export market for Poland in Denmark. Once the Nord Stream pipelines were destroyed, this new pipeline allowed for Norway and the USA to corner the market on natural gas into northern Europe.
ENERGINET was of course very happy to announce that the EU Baltic Pipe could be launched in full operation mode one month ahead of its schedule and notified the gas market that the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline was to be commissioned at full capacity by the end of November 2022.
Therefore, it is also nearly impossible to ignore the CIA warning directed at Germany and informing them of a possible attack on both Nord Stream pipelines, weeks prior to the explosions. The information was reported by German media Der Spiegel.
The ‘Russian sabotage’ theory was promptly adopted by Germany, Denmark, and Poland, and as for the EU, they decided on a more conservative approach temporarily ruling out the Russian sabotage theory.
EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson quickly reminded everyone the new Baltic Pipeline was a strategic energy security project and an effort from the EU to ‘diversify its gas sourcing strategy’, and its critical role in ‘mitigating the current energy crisis in Europe’ was brought forward.
So is that it? Was the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage an easy way to create market space for the Baltic Pipeline, and for the new players in the market? Or is there something far more long term such as energy projects that are far more in line with the WEF and UNSDG ‘green’ and ‘Net Zero’ policy recommendations which very few are paying attention to?
The answer to all the above questions is YES. However, we must unpack our answer regarding this mysterious long-term energy project whose foundation lies in the creation of a European Hydrogen Market.
The Barents Sea projects:
1. Barents Sea Hydrogen project
2. Barents Sea Blue project to make ammonia
Revealed: Barents Sea Hydrogen Project
To fall in line with the next generation of ‘green’ energy requirements for Europe, we must first go back to the year 2010 when Russia and Norway signed an Arctic border agreement, ending a 40-year dispute over an area in the Barents Sea – an untapped area which contains potentially huge oil and gas reserves.
The two countries eventually decided to divide a 175,000 square kilometres (67,000 sq miles) disputed area, half the size of Germany, to the north off their coastlines.
There are about 7.6bn so-called “tonnes of equivalent fuel” in the Barents Sea alone, with much more to the east in the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea, according to Russia’s natural resources ministry. That basically equates to 39bn barrels of oil or 6.6 trillion cubic metres of gas, though some industry observers say this is too optimistic, while others insist the reserves could be at least twice as large. Either way, this would be a major geopolitical game changer, and could potentially turn this region into a hotly contested ‘new Middle East’ in terms of energy supply competition.
However, getting to the oil and gas was bound to be both difficult and expensive, especially with fallen global gas prices pushed by new discoveries of non-conventional gas supplies such as shale gas in the US and elsewhere in the world, it was therefore not clear when or how quickly it would be profitable to push ahead with exploration and extraction. In fact, the Ukraine War has provided the perfect opportunity to launch this chapter of the Great Game in northern Europe and the Arctic.
In Norway, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg who also was Norway’s Prime Minister from 2000-2001, was paying much more attention to increasing oil and gas production than to issues such as the environmental risks of oil exploration and transportation, or the seasonal issue of increased melting Arctic sea ice. Not everybody was happy with the Barents Sea becoming an oil and gas exploitation area, and yet we will see how 13 years later the Barents Sea project has witnessed a sudden renewed interest from the EU, Norway, Germany and Denmark. This is no coincidence.
EU Green Deal Industrial Plan
It seems that European Commission also wanted to put some distance between the Nord Stream sabotage and the announcement of their “Green Deal Industrial Plan for the Net-Zero Age” (EU report: source) and for good reason, as it needs to be viewed as a major announcement regarding the making of a European Hydrogen Market. They stated:
“The EU is committed and convinced that it can speed up net-zero industrial transformation at home. On top of needs and opportunities such as the roll-out of renewables, the transformation of energy and transport infrastructures such as grids, and the massive switch to fossil-free hydrogen as a storage medium, fuel and feedstock. We can also create new forms of clean tech cooperation with our partners abroad. By working together with partners on developing net-zero technologies, diversifying and strengthening supply chains, and supporting others on their green transition, the race to net-zero can be good for the planet and for business”.
According to the EU green plan industrial plan report, infrastructure is key to the conducive net-zero business environment that the Green Deal Industrial Plan seeks to establish. Full coverage of the TEN-T networks with charging and refuelling infrastructure and development and strengthening of a European hydrogen backbone and the extension and strengthening of smart electricity grids to accommodate large quantities of renewables on the TEN-E network are deemed as priorities.
To develop and strengthen hydrogen and electricity infrastructure the EU Commission will further examine the resource needs of the Connecting Europe Facility and will use the full scope of the revised TEN-E Regulation to accelerate the planning, financing and deployment of crucial (cross-border) infrastructure. Notably, the development and implementation of the cross-border infrastructure will be accelerated in the coming years. That time is now.
The rest of the report and all the other fact sheets will provide you with everything you need to know about the creation of this new EU Hydrogen market.
‘Green Pipeline’ – Germany & Denmark Hydrogen Project
According to this excellent February 6, 2023, Hydrogen Central article, a Hydrogen pipeline is being planned through the Baltic Sea – a 140km pipeline stretching between Germany and Denmark.
Consider this fact when pondering NATO’s choice of location to blow up the Nordstream pipeline. The German-Danish joint project will build this new 140-kilometre pipeline connection from the Island of Bornholm to Lubmin on the Baltic coast of Germany with an import capacity of up to 10 GW.
The H2 Interconnector Bornholm-Lubmin (red marks in the map below) is scheduled to bring hydrogen from the Danish island Bornholm to Lubmin in 2027. To add to its ‘green’ bona fides, the new cross-border hydrogen infrastructure will also facilitate an accelerated development of offshore wind in the region and wider Baltic Sea while securing a reliant and ‘cost-efficient decarbonization pathway for the north-eastern European energy system.’
Now Norway will become a very large-scale exporter of hydrogen gas.
This 17th April 2023 Reuters article addresses some ‘security of supply concerns that prompted the Arctic Barents Sea gas pipeline rethink in Norway. The Nord Stream attack has effectively reformed the European energy matrix, making Norway Europe’s largest gas supplier following a drop in Russian flows.
“A new ‘Barents Stream’ pipeline could fuel Europe with Arctic gas”, says this “Barents Observer” article.
As part of an existing 40-year energy partnership between Norway and Germany, RWE announced another promising joint project with Norwegian energy company Equinor for early 2023. Equinor ASA, one of Europe’s largest gas suppliers, with ‘ambitious goals in the renewable energy sector’, particularly in the offshore wind business, has said that this latest project involves ‘high investment in the production, transportation and combustion of green hydrogen‘.
Is this Germany’s consolation prize for NATO blowing up its critical energy infrastructure? It seems so. The partnership between Norway and Germany is known as the REW project and involves the transportation and combustion of green hydrogen. (source)
The plan is to source both blue and green hydrogen from Equinor in Norway and transport it to Germany via a hydrogen pipeline, where RWE will burn the fuel in hydrogen-ready, gas-fired power plants as a means of producing electricity for European member states.
In terms of the technology and infrastructure involved, both the hydrogen pipeline and hydrogen-ready gas-fired power plants are major projects designed to contribute to the European energy supply and ramp up the hydrogen economy in Germany and the EU. Equally, the partnership is intended to strengthen European security of supply within an ultimately de-carbonised electricity sector – all magically in line with the EU’s new Green Deal Industrial Plan.
That’s the plan, but will it actually work, and will it rescue Germany as its economy and standard of living rapidly collapse? At this point, all bets are off.
Explained: How green and blue hydrogen is made:
green and blue hydrogen (1)
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Conclusion
Despite mainstream legacy media’s constant efforts to blame the Russians for the Nord Stream sabotage, with articles such as the one released in March 2023 by the NYT reporting on an intelligence report suggesting “Pro-Ukrainian Group” involvement or this recent article from The Guardian published 28th, April 2023, and rehashed by the BBC and others, essentially reporting on a Danish media production suggesting that a Russian navy vessel specialising in submarine operations “was photographed near the sabotaged Nord Stream gas pipelines” just prior to the mysterious September blasts. Thus far, the alleged pictures were deemed so confidential that the Danish government, in its quest for truth, felt they were too sensitive to be released to the public, and yet no mainstream media outlet has bothered to ask why Denmark wouldn’t release evidence that allegedly proves Russian involvement in the sabotage. When intelligence evidence is not released it is because they are being traded behind the scenes, or because they are simply a red herring, as Seymour Hersh alludes to in his March follow-up piece, The Cover-Up.
Are we meant to believe the Russians are stupid to the point of openly navigating around the Nord Stream sabotage zone just days prior to the explosions, thus making sure everyone can flag them at the scene of the crime? And if true, is it possible they were actually acting on intelligence reports indicating suspicious deep-diving activities during the BALTOPS 22, indicating that the US Administration might have acted upon the threat Biden made during a press conference on Feb. 7, 2022?
Regardless, we are in the realm of clandestine, double-blind speculation here, but the facts presented in our two-part investigation tell another story – a story of a complex military operation conducted under the cover of a massive NATO naval exercise.
We cannot stress enough the mainstream media’s compliance in treating the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage story with no common sense whatsoever, and no desire to pursue the story in the immediate aftermath of the story. That in itself is a damning indictment and speaks to the cosy relationship between the mainstream media, government and the intelligence community. If they were doing their jobs, then the truth would have surely automatically taken them to the complex logistical requirement and risks that come with deep sea diving and saturation dive operation, which they are of course not interested in investigating.
But we did, and the evidence of a CIA-led NATO operation is plentiful.
We hope we’ve opened new and fruitful avenues for other researchers, and the wider investigative journalist community, to pursue, and perhaps help us to fill some of the remaining missing gaps.
One thing which we are absolutely certain of is that the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage was an international team effort, with ‘Secret Teams’ involving the US and several NATO member states, on a ‘need to know’ basis, bringing various sets of skills and types of equipment necessary to achieve what was evidently a CIA-backed covert operation, just as Seymour Hersh has accurately reported.
Knowing the truth of this incident, it will be hard for the European citizenry to move forward knowing a foreign power, and its allies in NATO member states, have been allowed to act with such impunity, conducting a state-sponsored act of terrorism on European territory – against one of Europe’s most critical energy infrastructure, to further their geopolitical ambitions whilst advancing the globalists new ‘green’ industrial agenda.
Europe is economically and politically reshaping itself, and events such as the war in Ukraine and the Nord Stream sabotage operation must be seen as a milestone for the so-called new “rules-based international order”. The US Administration is not thriving, but surviving to maintain an appearance of hegemony over Europe and the world, whilst accomplishing one of its most profound objectives which always was the alienation of Russia from the global economy, politics, and culture.
Again, Qui bono?
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