US Navy vessels were operating near the Nord Stream pipelines shortly before the explosions that crippled the connectors in the Baltic Sea, Danish newspaper Politiken has reported, citing a local harbormaster. The newspaper added that their transponders – used to locate vessels for safety purposes – had been switched off.

According to the article, American warships had been operating in the area east of the Danish island of Bornholm a few days before the explosions with their transponders off. The circumstances prompted a local harbormaster at the nearby Danish port of Christianso, John Anker Nielsen, to launch a rescue mission.

However upon reaching the scene they saw that the vessels in question were US Navy ships, Nielsen said. The Naval Command then told Nielsen and his colleagues to turn back, the harbormaster recounted.

US Navy vessels were operating near the Nord Stream pipelines shortly before the explosions that crippled the connectors in the Baltic Sea, Danish newspaper Politiken has reported, citing a local harbormaster. The newspaper added that their transponders – used to locate vessels for safety purposes – had been switched off.