Sabotage On Sweden’s “Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier”
Sweden’s “Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier” (AKA an island) has faced various methods of sabotage from 2022 onwards. There is no official culprit, but all signs point towards Russian involvement.
Swedish authorities began an investigation on Sunday into suspected sabotage of a water pump on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. According to EuroNews, the system had been tampered with over the weekend, while last week an internet cable was also, “severed off the island.”
These were just the latest incidents involving a NATO member in the region in recent months. It was in November that an undersea telecommunications cable connecting Finland with Germany was also believed to have been sabotaged, with speculation it may have been carried at the behest of Moscow.
The 728 mile long C-Lion1 fiber-optic cable is the only direct telecommunications link between the two nations.
The uptick in sabotage of the undersea infrastructure resulted in Stockholm announcing in January that it would increase its military presence in the Baltic Sea. As Euro News further reported, citing a statement, the Swedish Navy announced plans to deploy as many as three warships, which, “would be placed under NATO control and would monitor the Baltic Sea for potential sabotage.”
Russians Cutting Cords?
As an island, Gotland is surrounded by water, but the act of sabotage could have left it without drinking water. Though it is unclear who may have been responsible, the region’s increased acts of sabotage have been described as part of Russian hybrid warfare.
“Sabotage is on the rise in Europe,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told the German-based news outlet DW in January. “We shouldn’t see these events in isolation, but as part of a bigger picture. And understand that Russia has intentions towards Europe and European security architecture that haven’t changed.”
Sweden’s “Unsinkable Carrier”
It is unclear what the intent was, but it is possible this was a test to see how Stockholm would respond, and whether it could keep the island supplied with fresh water. Gotland, which is fifty miles from mainland Sweden and about 160 miles from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, is home to approximately 60,000 people.
It has been under Stockholm’s indirect control since the ninth century, but Sweden officially gained the island as part of the Treaty of Brömsebro in 1645, signed towards the end of the Thirty Years’ War.
As the island is also located between Sweden and Latvia, it has been seen as a potential target should Moscow decide to move into the Baltic States.
While Sweden had previously maintained only a small military presence on Gotland until Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine three years ago, throughout the Cold War, the island was still known to be an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” from which aircraft could be launched to combat any vessels moving in and out of Kaliningrad or via the Gulf of Finland.
During the Cold War, upwards of 25,000 soldiers in four regiments had been stationed on the island, and while the current numbers aren’t at those levels, the island’s defenses are being bolstered considerably.
“NATO’s dominance over Gotland makes the defense of the three Baltic states much easier. The island permits an additional means of fortifying the region above the present land route from Poland through the constricted Suwałki Gap, a weak point in NATO territory situated between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad,” the EurAsianTimes reported.
The size of the island and its location practically ensures that the Baltic Sea is a NATO lake. The Swedish Air Force’s Saab JAS 39 Gripen multirole fighters could easily operate from the island in a conflict, not requiring dedicated bases and built-up facilities. The island’s roads, a fuel truck, ordnance carriers, and a ground crew are all that the aircraft would need to land, refuel, rearm, and then return to action, able to sink any adversary vessel in the nearby waters or strike targets in Russia’s exclave.
However, those facts are also why the island could be a prime target. If Russia could capture Gotland in the opening stages of a conflict, it would gain the “unsinkable carrier.” That could be what makes this recent sabotage so worrisome.
Cutting off the flow of water and the flow of information could make it that much harder for a defender. These recent incidents may just be testing the waters.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
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