Swedish Corvette Visby, one of the ships searching for the mystery sub
Last Friday, there were reports of unexplained underwater movements near the Stockholm archipelago. There were also reports of an encrypted distress call of the sort used by the Russian Navy, leading to speculation that a Russian submarine was stranded underwater. Russian officials have emphatically denied that, if there is a submarine, that it is theirs, and instead suggested that it could be a Dutch submarine, which participated in an exercise with the Swedish navy last week. The Dutch responded by saying that their sub left the area well prior to the sightings. Yesterday, Sverker Göransson, Sweden’s top military commander, told reporters. “This is very serious, I would even go so far as to say, that it’s fucked up.” (The Swedish phrase used was “Det är för jävligt.” If anyone has a better translation than “that’s fucked up,” we be happy to hear it.)
The press has been having fun with the search for the mystery submarine. One common headline has been “Hunt for Reds in October,” riffing off the Tom Clancy best seller. The New York Times, while not engaging in punning, also noted the similarity: But the search has also spawned enough conspiracy theories, claims and counterclaims to fill a Tom Clancy novel. There has been speculation online and on social networks that Moscow has been trying out the prototype for a minisubmarine with the pep of a speedboat. The Swedish news media has also reported the sighting of a mysterious man in black wading into the water near a military base on Korso, suggesting a Russian-style James Bond sent to infiltrate from abroad.
This is not the first time that the Swedish Navy has attempted to locate foreign submarines violating their territorial waters. The Swedish English paper, The Local commented: During more than a decade of hunting Russian U-boats in the 1980s and early nineties, Sweden never succeeded in capturing one, except in 1981 when the U137 ran aground several miles from one of Sweden’s largest naval bases, triggering an embarrassing diplomatic stand-off for Russia.
Thanks to Phil Leon and Alaric Bond for contributing to this post.
The photo suggests a sub sail. So, poor depth control, unintentional broach, perhaps because of encountering something not on the chart? The whole area seems a nightmare for submerged operation.
How about an intentional tease? Anything’s possible with Putin; the fellow seems to feel compelled ripple his metaphorical abs on the world stage, presumably for internal consumption. Leading the Swedes on a merry dance is one way to generate a positive glow at home, although if the sub took the ground and became stuck it’d be a different story to spin.
Its just Putin trying to rebuild the USSR.