Russian ship with a mini submarine confirmed to be near the Nordic Streams a few days before the explosions

The Russian SS-750 Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessels was near the site of the explosions of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream-2 gas pipelines four days before the incident. This information has been confirmed by the Ministry of Defense of Denmark, Information reports. On September 22, 2022, the ship was photographed by the crew of the Danish patrol boat P524 Nymfen.

The SS-750 AHTS vessel belongs to the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy and has an AS-26 mini submarine on board.

AS-26 Priz-class (Project 1855) deep-submergence rescue vehicle

Satellite images show that the SS-750 left Kaliningrad on September 21. At the same time, the ship's AIS (Automatic Identification System) transmitter was deactivated. H I Sutton, an independent maritime OSINT analyst, believes that "the SS-750 submarine rescue vessel and its deep-sea rescue systems are ideally suited for seabed operations".

AS-26 mini submarine as part of the SS-750 AHTS vessel

AS-26 is a Priz-class (Project 1855) deep-submergence rescue vehicle.

It was designed by the Lazurit Design Bureau and classified as a mini-submarine. The first such vehicle was used in 1986. In total, the Russian Navy has four AS-26s in service: one for each of the fleets.

The mini submarine has an autonomy of 120 hours and can dive to a depth of 1,000 meters. The underwater speed of up to 3.7 knots allows you to perform tasks at a distance of 39 km from the dive site. The AS-26 crew consists of 4 people, and the vehicle can also take 20 passengers on board.

As previously reported, on September 26, 2022, both Russian gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea were damaged by explosions.