A Second Witness Emerges in the Case of the Stockholm Mystery Sub

Last week, we brought you the story of the retired Swedish naval officer who may have spotted a foreign submarine on the doorstep of his country’s capital. Now, another witness has come forward to say that he too saw a submarine on Oct. 31, exactly a week after the Swedish Navy ended a massive search for what was widely believed to be a Russian submarine.

Robin Klameth, who works as a boat mechanic in a small port in the Stockholm archipelago, told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter that he nearly collided with what he described as a 20-meter submarine. Klameth had just repaired a boat engine and was taking the small craft out for a test when he spotted the underwater vessel. Though it’s unclear exactly how near he came to the submarine, Klameth told Dagens Nyheter that he would have collided with the sub had he not stopped his own boat and that he saw part of the sub’s tower above the waterline. Water crested against the vessel’s bow as it traveled at about three knots.

At first he thought he had come across a whale, but in the interview with Dagens Nyheter he maintains that he is completely convinced he spotted a submarine. Klameth grew up in the archipelago, understands its waters and vessels, and is adamant in his testimony. He would’ve taken a photo of the craft had he not dropped his phone in the sea the prior week. As a precaution, Klameth had decided to leave his new phone on land when he took out the repaired boat.

After stumbling onto what he thinks was the sub, Klameth sped back to port to fetch a colleague and his cellphone. When the two returned five minutes later, he says the submarine had vanished. Klameth then reported the sighting to Swedish military headquarters, whose personnel arrived a few hours later to take his detailed testimony.

Klameth’s observation occurred about three hours before the retired naval officer Sven-Olof Kviman said he spotted a vessel similar in size from his house on an island near Stockholm. Like Kviman’s, Klameth’s observation has been deemed credible by Swedish defense officials.

On Monday, the Swedish military announced that it will step up intelligence operations in the archipelago during 2015 as a response to increased submarine activity.

It is possible, but not certain, that two men saw the same boat. Given its location at the time it was spotted by Klameth, the mystery submarine could have easily traveled to where it was seen by Kviman in the three hours between the two sightings. Kviman, a veteran of Sweden’s submarine hunts of the 1980s, described the boat as being about 20 to 30 meters in length. Klameth put its size at about 20 meters.

Two credible witnesses have now come forward to describe a submarine in Swedish territorial waters a week after the Swedish navy called off its highly publicized hunt for a submarine intruder last year. That episode, which ended with the Swedish military securing definitive evidence of a sub’s presence but failing to determine its nationality, raised questions about the navy’s ability to protect its sprawling coastline.

That another sub, or perhaps the same vessel, penetrated coastal defenses a mere week later has further contributed to fears that Russian submarines are able to make their way through the Stockholm archipelago at will. So far, one might be forgiven for getting the impression that the salty island residents of the archipelago are doing a better job of spotting those vessels than the Swedish military is.

Photo credit: DN.TV