Navy destroyer joins NATO Baltic Sea mission

Thursday, October 02, 2025

A U.S. Navy destroyer is operating in the Baltic Sea as part of a NATO mission that is adding air defense to its underwater focus as the alliance confronts repeated unidentified drone incursions into northern European countries. USS Bulkeley joined Baltic Sentry on Tuesday, the first deployment of a U.S. ship to the mission, an unidentified Defense Department official said Tuesday, speaking on background because they were not authorized to talk publicly about the matter.

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... A Navy P-8 Poseidon patrol and reconnaissance plane deployed to Baltic Sentry last week. The Navy has previously supported the mission with P-8 aircraft, the DOD official said.

NATO formed Baltic Sentry in January following a rash of telecommunication cable cuttings and pipeline disruptions thought to be sabotage. The mission largely comprises Baltic countries, including Germany and Finland.

The beefing up of Baltic Sentry with a U.S. destroyer capable of simultaneously tracking and neutralizing multiple aerial targets along with the P-8 and other assets is a visible sign of allied solidarity, James Holmes, chair of the maritime strategy program at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., said in an email.

It also is the use of deterrence, "issuing a clear threat -- in this case, putting Russia on notice to stay out of NATO airspace," he said. "If successful, this effort should deter further Russian mischief. That assumes Moscow believes in NATO capability and resolve, of course." ...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-10-02 02:14 PM

... Polish border guards chased off a Russian ship spotted near a gas pipeline off the Polish Baltic coast on Wednesday, officials have said.

The incident took place in waters near the northern town of Wadysawowo on the Baltic Sea, heightening concerns over potential sabotage in a region on edge since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Baltic Sea is bordered by eight NATO member countries, which have stepped up efforts to safeguard underwater cables and pipelines following a series of suspected sabotage incidents, some of which Western officials have attributed to Moscow.

"On October 1, a Russian fishing boat was spotted by the Border Guard reducing speed while performing suspicious maneuvers in close proximity to a submarine pipeline belonging to Petrobaltic," the border guard said in a statement on Thursday, referring to the company that works in the area. ...

... Russia on Thursday said that there was no Cold War with the West because it was now a "fiery" conflict, and that the European Union and the NATO military alliance were lying about alleged Moscow's sabotage operations to justify vast military spending.

The war in Ukraine, Europe's deadliest since World War Two, has sparked the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

"I would disagree with the comparison with the Cold War," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters when asked if there was now a new Cold War with an "Iron Curtain"-like drone wall being built in Europe.

"We are already in another form of conflict. There has been no cold here for a long time; there is already fire here." ...