Thursday, November 9, 2023

076 - Archipelago Endeavor 22 exercise and Sweden in mid September

Archipelago Endeavour 22

SWE exercise

As previously stated, a crisis was brewing in the Baltic Sea from September 15 to September 19, 2022.

On September 19, 2022, NOR delivered critical intelligence to the US and informed its allies.

According to data, the United States assessed the situation as detrimental to its own security and opted to withdraw from the Baltic Sea due to uncertainty about Russia's nuclear posture in the event of an attack on its major export infrastructure. 

The Navy was training with the US, although it appears that the exercise ceased or was completed on September 23, 2022. SWE sent planes over the area to see what was going on. Then it dispatched ships to Bornholm.  The US navy withdrew from the Baltic sea.

Let's look at how Sweden handled the problem. 


SWEDEN:

August:

21 Sept 2022 - THE NAVY'S AUTUMN EXERCISE 2022

During the period 24-31 August, the navy is carrying out a major exercise in the entrance to the port of Gothenburg and in the Hakefjorden to Stenungssund and Wallhamn. The purpose of the exercise is to practice protecting Swedish ports and transport routes at sea. Military personnel, ships, boats and helicopters will most likely be seen and heard more than normal in the area.


September:

21 Sept 2022 - Navy chief Ewa Skoog Haslum visited the anti-submarine and surface combat exercise over the weekend. Hear what she says about practicing more and finally getting to meet some of the staff

21 September 2022 - Chief of the Royal Swedish Navy visits U.S and Swedish Marines who are participating in Archipelago Endeavor 22

21 September 2022 - Swedish Navy Rear Admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum (left), 

Chief of Swedish Navy, and Col. Adam Camél (right), commanding officer, Stockholm Marine Regiment, receives a demonstration on expeditionary engineering reconnaissance equipment employment while visiting U.S. and Swedish Marines during exercise Archipelago Endeavor 22 (AE22) on Berga Naval Base, Sweden, Sept. 21, 2022. AE22 is an integrated field training exercise that increases operational capability and enhances strategic cooperation between the U.S. Marines and Swedish forces.

21 Sept 2022 - Swedish Navy Rear Admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum, Berga Naval Base

U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Brandon Klewicki (left), and Swedish Marine Capt. Jacob Lindholm (center), joint commanders of the ground force element, greet Swedish Navy Rear Admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum (right), Chief of Swedish Navy, while visiting U.S. and Swedish Marines during exercise Archipelago Endeavor 22 (AE22) on Berga Naval Base, Sweden, Sept. 21, 2022. AE22 is an integrated field training exercise that increases operational capability and enhances strategic cooperation between the U.S. Marines and Swedish forces.

21 Sept 2022 - Swedish Chief of Navy Visits Archipelago Endeavor 22

Swedish Navy Rear Admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum (right), Chief of Swedish Navy, and Swedish Marine leadership, receive a demonstration on how unmanned surface vehicles are used in support of expeditionary advanced base operations, while visiting U.S. and Swedish Marines during exercise Archipelago Endeavor 22 (AE22) on Berga Naval Base, Sweden, Sept. 21, 2022. AE22 is an integrated field training exercise that increases operational capability and enhances strategic cooperation between the U.S. Marines and Swedish forces.

21 Sep 2022 - Five days before the pipeline blasts,... 

On September 22 and 24, two Swedish reconnaissance flights, SVF623 and S100D Argus 

(Swedish AWACS with call sign C604), flew over the area between Bornholm and Baltiysk.

22, 23 24 September - SWE newspapers Dagens Nyheter report that Swedish navy was in the area a few days before the sabotage. 


Description of this even here

21 Sep 2022 - Five days before the pipeline blasts,...


...it was a chilly and overcast day on the east coast of Sweden. The Intelligence Ship - HSwMS - Swedish Corvette „K31 Visby“ (K31) was set on a southward course... The next morning, something must have happened.



[M: It is known that SWE and DK share responsibilities and costs over guarding the Danish straights. There are several radar stations, sensors which could trigger the mission.]

The „Visby“ left Karlskrona on 22 September around 08.30 a.m. (06:30 UTC) at 18-20 knots, according to MarineTraffic data, effectively double the speed of its patrol ride on the previous day. Now it was heading southeast for Bornholm. Had it received a radio call instructing it to search for something?
   
The following day, 23 September, the „Visby“ rounded the island of Bornholm, passing closely by the later explosion site #1 in the process. After leaving the area westward, the naval corvette returned for a second look at explosion site #2 the following day, 24 September, around midday at 12:13 local time..


The Danish Patrol Boat - On the same morning of 22 September when the „Visby“ left Karlskrona seemingly in a hurry, the Danish Navy Patrol Boat „Nymfen“ P524 had already headed to the same waters northeast of Bornholm.

Nymfen left Rodbyhavn 21/9 ~19.50

[M: Note that DK navy does not have the ASW sonar capabilities to track submarines and so DK most likely asked SWE navy to help out to locate, track and identify what was under the surface.]
                      

Focusing on a particular section of the Danish patrol boat’s movements (blue box) near site #2, a search pattern emerges. The location of the blue box is approx. 18-20 km from the later explosion site #2.




The „Nymfen’s“ route on 22 Sept. – blue box: close-up area






The patrol boat’s movements seem to indicate a kind of search pattern. At one point, it almost came to a halt, moving at 1 knot or less (indicated by the red arrows). What information was it that brought the boat out to this location? Where did the information come from?


The fact is the „Nymfen“ was crusing in the highlighted area (blue box) between 08:17 a.m. local Swedish time (06:17 UTC) and 08:41 a.m. (06:41 UTC) — the same time that the Swedish warship „Visby“ was just leaving Karlskrona heading for the same general area. Had the Swedes received a call from the Danes? Or had the Swedish Navy intercepted a Danish radio message and decided to take a look themselves?
                                      
The routes of the „Nymfen“ (left) and the „Visby“ (top, right) on 22 September.


By the time the „Visby“ arrived near explosion site #2 around 01:00 p.m. local time (11:00 UTC), the Danish patrol boat „Nymfen“ had already left for the nearby port of Nexø on the island of Bornholm.
 

23 Sept 2022 - Archipelago Endeavor 22 

U.S. Marines with 2d Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force and Swedish Marines with 2nd Amphibious Battalion, Swedish Amphibious Corps conduct multiple training events during exercise Archipelago Endeavor 2022 (AE22), at Berga Naval Base, Sweden, Sept. 23, 2022. AE22 is an integrated field training exercise that increases operational capability and enhances strategic cooperation between the U.S. Marines and Swedish forces.

[MRT: This is the last instance of the news about the exercise, did it end naturally or was it cancelled? Note that SWE Naval Warfare Centre is in Karlskrona (also 44th mine clearance). Berga is near Stockholm. SWE ships left from Karlskrona. The Swedish Armed Forces Diving and Naval Medicine Centre is also in Karlskrona as well as SWE Submarine flotila.] 

5 Oct 2022 - US considering offering to analyse underwater audio recordings to aid Nord Stream pipeline sabotage investigations

The US Navy’s processing of the sonar signatures – the term for the unique underwater sounds – provided by Sweden and Denmark could boost the investigations by providing a more detailed picture of what was in the area at the time of the pipeline explosions and what caused them, sources said... 
Each type of underwater machinery like submarines, torpedoes and vessel engines makes a unique sound that is called a “sonar signature,” and the US has an extensive library of these sounds.

6 Oct 2022 - Swedish authorities announced on October 6 they had conducted an underwater inspection of the site and collected "pieces of evidence" 


Meanwhile, Danish police on Tuesday said they had completed several inspections of the leaks in the Danish zone, together with the intelligence service PET.

 

Questions:

  • When? I could not find anywhere the plan for the exercise, from-to.
  • Did it end earlier because the USA announced they will leave the Baltic Sea? 
  • Why did SWE Navy send its ships to the Bornholm area?
  • How does that connect to the NOR increasing its naval security level to 2 on 22/09?
  • The SWE and DK Navy have hydro-acustic data, where did they record it and when? 

2023


19 Oct 2023  - Submarine hunting - around the clock in all weathers


Hunting for submarines in the Baltic Sea is a difficult task due to temperature layers and bottom conditions
 
Since 2016, when the Swedish Armed Forces began conducting submarine hunting by helicopter again,  there has been a lack of an approved air operational routine for performing after dark and in bad weather. This is because it is pitch black out at sea and there are therefore no visual references. Thus, the crew cannot determine either height or flight position visually, but must rely entirely on instruments when descending towards the water surface.


[MRT: PLease pay attention when SWE + USA were still conducting joint defence navy exercises and when they abruptly stopped (22-23/09/2022)... Then SWE + DK discovered the sub. See other posts. ]

 


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