Slightly off topic, but this is too hot to resist. Insightmag.com has some sensational information about the Soviet submarine that went aground in Sweden in 1981. According to this article, the Reagan administration cooperated with Sweden to trap a Soviet submarine on Swedish waters.
Another deft tactical coup in covert activity, also reported here for the first time, occurred when Weinberger visited the Swedish Defense Ministry from Oct. 15-19, 1981, the first visit ever by a U.S. Defense secretary to that country.
Top Swedish defense officials showed Weinberger ministry charts and action reports that gave details of earlier penetration by Soviet and Warsaw Pact submarines into restricted Swedish military areas in violation of international law, according to U.S. intelligence sources close to the case at the time.
Then, on Oct. 27, a Soviet Whiskey-class sub suddenly and very publicly ran aground on the rocks inside a Swedish military base, using a route that had been used previously by another Soviet intruder, these sources said.
Swedish military planners had been increasingly nervous about a Soviet military buildup in the region on the nearby Kola Peninsula. And politically the Swedes were deeply embroiled in the pros and cons of deploying new Pershing II and ground-based cruise missiles in Western Europe, which had been approved by NATO in a 1979 decision, these sources said. Some Swedes thought this a needless provocation and a threat to East-West détente.
According to former U.S. Air Force intelligence sources, it was decided at the Swedish-Weinberger meetings to trap and detain a Soviet submarine, and the office of then-Vice President George H.W. Bush was kept closely apprised of the plan.
These sources also said U.S. technology was able to manipulate the sub’s instruments, causing them to exhibit “false readings” until it was misled and went aground. “We had that sort of technology,” one of the former intelligence officials said.
The result was a huge shock to Sweden, a toughening of its political attitudes, and a huge propaganda victory for the Reagan administration.
Should this be true, this is astonishing new facts about one of the most spectacular news stories in Sweden in the 1980’s. If the Swedish military was involved in trapping the submarine, how come it took 12 hours after it stranded until it got discovered?
UPDATE: Caspar Weinberger made a long interview with Swedish Television in March 2000 about submarines on Swedish waters and the US involvement. Transcript and video found here.
