After the Nord Stream incidents, the British sent a military frigate

London is going to acquire two ships to protect submarine communications

The frigate of the British Royal Navy was sent to the North Sea after incidents on the Nord Stream gas pipelines. And according to the British Minister of Defense, the UK is acquiring two specialized ships to defend against future attacks on submarine communications that supply the country with gas or Internet access.

The British Navy sent a frigate to the North Sea after an alleged sabotage last week on the Nord Stream gas pipeline, Sky News reports.

The UK Ministry of Defense said the ship is working with the Norwegian navy “to reassure those who work near gas pipelines.”

European countries believe that damage to pipelines under the Baltic Sea could only be caused by sabotage, Sky News notes.

Russia’s Gazprom said on Monday that pipeline leaks had stopped. The gas giant said the pressure in the damaged pipelines had stabilized and that it was pumping gas out of Nord Stream 2’s intact Line B so that its integrity could be tested.

Methane has been bubbling since four pipeline leaks were discovered near the Danish island of Bornholm.

A British defense source told Sky News that the pipeline incidents were likely due to deliberate attacks using underwater explosives.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told a Tory conference Sunday that Russia “makes no secret” of its ability to attack underwater infrastructure. He said the damage to the pipelines that run from Russia to Germany showed that “the Nordic countries and ourselves are very vulnerable to people who do something to our cables and our pipelines.”

Wallace said at the same time that the UK will acquire two specialized ships to protect underwater communications, since “the Internet and energy in the country are heavily dependent on pipelines and cables.”

“The first multipurpose seabed warfare research ship will be procured by the end of this year, fitted out here in the UK and operational by the end of next year,” the Defense Secretary said.

“The second ship will be built in the UK and we plan to make sure that it closes all our vulnerabilities,” the minister promised.

Ben Wallace met with other Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) ministers on Monday to share their assessments of what the British Defense Ministry called a “flagrant and irresponsible” attack.

The statement said the participants decided to increase their presence in the area, as well as conduct “intelligence and reconnaissance activities” to prevent future actions and reassure allies.

The Joint Expeditionary Force, as Sky News recalls, deals with security issues in the Far North, the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea region. It includes Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK.