Posted on 10/01/2022 5:33:36 AM PDT by PK1991
Until a forensic analysis is done its all just speculation. Sabotage is clearly a possibility. Improper operations and maintenance is another possibility. Faulty materials or construction techniques would still be another possibility. Software failure used to control pumps and valves could be yet another. I’m sure there are others.
Too early to draw conclusions about who or what caused this.
Yeah, it’s not like pipelines have ever blown out before.🙄
Being it’s Russian, they probably used shoddy materials, cut corners on welding the pipe, pencil whipped the hydrostatic test, or was operating the line above the designed MAOP..... It’s not like the Russians are competent operators. 1989 Ufa Russia, operators noticed a pressure drop, instead of searching for a leak, they increased the pressure on the line and KABOOM.
bkmk
Links and explanation of 24 above:
Just do a video search for: Airborne Mine Neutralization System.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kegFJgpNNmg&ab_channel=DefenseFlashNews
The US Navy can drop UUVs from Sea Hawk helicopters to find and “neutralize” undersea mines by “detonation.”
Please watch this 47-second video, and look at the many other more in-depth videos.
The US Navy in the form of the Kearsarge Amphib. Ready Group [ARG] was practicing this in the Western Baltic around Bornholm all summer:
BALTOPS 50 Site For Experimental Mine Hunting Equipment
12 June 2021
PUTLOS, Germany - Exercise Baltic Operations (BALTOPS), the premier maritime-focused exercise in the Baltic region, has been underway since June 6, 2021.
For the first time this annual exercise, explosive ordnance and mine countermeasure units from the Navy and the Marine Corps integrated into a NATO multi-national exercise using cutting- edge technology and experimental equipment to increase the effectiveness of mine countermeasure.
[I can’t wait to see the results of the “investigation” of the NS1 & 2 pipeline sabotage operations. IMHO, the same folks who were tasked to perform the sabotage will be tasked with the investigation.
Read the info at the link and watch the embedded video. The new term for an untethered ROV is UUV, Underwater Unmanned Vehicle. Instead of finding war mines, they can find a well-charted pipeline a lot easier, and be modified to blow it up. Just spitballing, but I believe these are the tracks to investigate.
“Improper operations and maintenance is another possibility.”
Only on Planet Kindergarten.
There were 4 seismically-recorded explosions, on 2 separate pipelines, kilometers apart, the same hour.
4 unseen asteroid strikes is just as likely.
True, but it is the stupid (incompetent) that clear the path and facilitate the malicious.
Good questions. I wonder if they have decided if the blasts came from outside the pipe or internal pipe failure, being iron pipe under salt water.
Everybody knows the US did it. This will prevent any backsliding by Germany. That was always the motive.
[This information goes with the photo of the “Kingfish” UUV above. Note US Navy mine-countermeasure UUVs can be deployed by Sea Hawk helicopters.]
BALTOPS 50 Site For Experimental Mine Hunting Equipment
12 June 2021
PUTLOS, Germany - Exercise Baltic Operations (BALTOPS), the premier maritime-focused exercise in the Baltic region, has been underway since June 6, 2021.
For the first time this annual exercise, explosive ordnance and mine countermeasure units from the Navy and the Marine Corps integrated into a NATO multi-national exercise using cutting- edge technology and experimental equipment to increase the effectiveness of mine countermeasure.
[I can’t wait to see the results of the “investigation” of the NS1 & 2 pipeline sabotage operations. IMHO, the same folks who were tasked to perform the sabotage will be tasked with the investigation.
Read the info at the link and watch the embedded video. The new term for an untethered ROV is UUV, Underwater Unmanned Vehicle. Instead of finding war mines, they can find a well-charted pipeline a lot easier, and be modified to blow it up. Just spitballing, but I believe these are the tracks to investigate.
To my knowledge, being a former frogman but not EOD, after locating a mine on the sea floor, they are blown up.
Not sure if these Kingfish UUVs take along an attached demo charge to leave on the mine, but that’s my educated guess.
Or, for a “very high value target” (like a pipeline) the Mark 18 could be packed with demo and parked next to the pipeline.
Most units like these are modular, so it’s not a big deal to add a meter or so containing an explosive stage in the middle.
If the POTUS ordered the USN to blow up the NS1 & 2, IMHO, this is how it could have been done.
If this happened, quite a few USN personnel know about it. I’d love to read their NDAs. They will probably all be transferred to separate “Ice Station Zebras” where they will not be available for testimony.
Much more info about the Mark 18 “Kingfish” UUV at the link here:
"Navy’s Knifefish minehunter completes risk reduction test The U.S. Navy’s Knifefish, an unmanned undersea vehicle designed to modernize the Navy’s mine-hunting capability, is one step closer to reality after completing a comprehensive risk reduction program."
http://thebusinessofrobotics.com/military/navys-knifefish-minehunter-completes-risk-reduction-test/
Active hyperlink to above:
AUGUST 6, 2013
Navy’s Knifefish minehunter completes risk reduction test
http://thebusinessofrobotics.com/military/navys-knifefish-minehunter-completes-risk-reduction-test/
It would seem like Sweden or Denmark could send some submersibles to investigate internal v. external rupture.
Who gains who loses…
Quite right and equally right to note that motive alone is not and has never been sufficient basis to form a conclusion of guilt.
What are you kidding me? All sides agree this could only be done by a major state actor, they are the only ones with the necessary military sophistication to pull something like this off. Russia certainly isn’t going to destroy its own infrastructure, a pipeline that was holding an estimated $600-$800 billion in natural gas. As mentioned above Biden has already come out saying Nordstream2 will never be allowed to open. I suppose it was just coincidental that in the days proceeding this there were mass demonstrations in Germany and elsewhere in Europe demanding an end to the Russian sanctions.
There’s no doubt whatsoever the US did this out of fear that Germany might go soft on those sanctions when confronted with the economic hardships they are guaranteed to bring. The entire Baltic Sea is covered with NATO monitoring stations to keep track of Russian subs, if they did it we would have proof.
The US can lie all they want about this and perhaps European leaders will go along with it out of fear of directly confronting the US, but the European people themselves can put 2+2 together and figure out who was really responsible. I mean this could literally be construed as an act of war against countries that we are supposed to be allied with. Just unbelievable chutzpah on the part of the US, it makes me feel ashamed as an American.
All the governments are saying it wasn’t an accident but sabotage given the size of the blast, locations, etc... Why would accident still be considered a possibility. Its really a question of who and why.
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