Elisabeth Braw: The Undersea War

A ship’s anchor can wreak havoc on the world’s undersea infrastructure, something that has provided plenty of rich material for Splash reporting in recent years.

For Elisabeth Braw, the Cook Islands-flagged tanker Eagle S provides one of the most brazen examples. On Christmas Day 2024, the vessel was accused of dragging its anchor 90 km across the Gulf of Finland seabed, severing the Estlink 2 power link and four telecommunications cables before Finnish authorities intervened.

There was nothing sophisticated about the alleged method. The potential for using merchant ships to damage undersea infrastructure is, Braw tells Maritime CEO, “blindingly obvious”.

The case also exposes the awkward legal territory governments must navigate. The Eagle S crew deny wrongdoing, arguing the damage was accidental. After a Finnish district court ruled it had no jurisdiction over an incident outside territorial waters, an appeals court overturned that decision in August this year and sent the case back for examination. That collision between maritime law and an emerging security threat runs through Braw’s new book, The Undersea War: The International Battle for Supremacy at the Bottom of the World, published by John Murray this month.

Braw, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who leads research into threats to the global maritime order, started writing in October 2024, having followed the subject for considerably longer. Events have barely allowed the manuscript to stand still.

The 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions remain in the headlines. German investigators have identified seven Ukrainian suspects, with one charged and facing trial in Hamburg, putting a fresh spotlight on one of Europe’s most consequential acts of infrastructure sabotage.

For Splash readers, the subject is familiar territory. The Eagle S affair followed the Yi Peng 3 cable investigation and has been succeeded by further suspected anchor-dragging incidents in the Baltic. Off Taiwan, cargo ships with murky identities have faced investigation over damaged communications cables, with one Chinese captain charged last year.

The book ranges from the Baltic to the Pacific, drawing on interviews with naval officers, undersea engineers and cable operators to show just how dependent modern economies have become on infrastructure that is difficult to monitor and harder still to defend.

Braw believes European governments are considerably better prepared than they were in 2021. The Baltic states in particular have improved their coordination. Taiwan faces a parallel challenge as pressure on its surrounding waters grows. Yet readiness does not necessarily mean the ability to act. What can a coastal state lawfully do when a foreign-flagged ship threatens infrastructure beyond its territorial sea? How far can it go before stretching international maritime law? There is, Braw tells Maritime CEO, “a limit in what you can do”. The deterioration of the global maritime order only makes that problem more acute.

And for Braw’s next project? Another maritime book is in prospect, although no publishing agreement has been signed. After years examining the confrontation beneath the waves, she sees no shortage of material.

“There is so much happening in maritime, so much drama,” she says.

The Undersea War: The International Battle for Supremacy at the Bottom of the World is available on Amazon here.

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