Norwegian submarine Utstein completes NATO patrol guarding offshore oil and undersea infrastructure

A veteran of NATO patrols

Utstein is an Ula class attack submarine. During the deployment just completed, she monitored maritime activity around offshore oil installations and critical undersea infrastructure, feeding the information into NATO's common maritime picture, which the Alliance uses to understand what is happening in and under its waters.

It is not the boat's first mission for NATO. In autumn 2024 Utstein completed a North Atlantic patrol under the Commander of NATO Submarines, providing situational awareness and deterrence and taking part in Neptune Strike activities alongside the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group.

- To have HNoMS Utstein on patrol for NATO strengthens our capabilities and situational awareness in the North. It has been a successful deployment for us, and a valuable experience for the crew - Captain Jim Robertsen, Chief of the Royal Norwegian Submarine Service, said at the time.

Russia maps the seabed, NATO watches from below

Since the destruction of three Nord Stream pipelines in 2022, Allies have shifted their focus to undersea infrastructure, and since 2023 they have observed growing numbers of vessels mapping pipelines, power cables and fibre-optic lines. In April 2026 the UK government told Parliament of a Russian operation in the North Atlantic involving an Akula class submarine and two specialist boats of GUGI, Russia's Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research. No sabotage took place, London said, but the Russians had invested considerable effort in mapping British undersea infrastructure. In September, Allies prevented three Russian submarines from completing training in Arctic waters near Norway's Svalbard, close to vital data cables.

NATO has responded with a growing set of missions. Baltic Sentry has reinforced the Alliance's presence in the Baltic since January 2025, while the new Arctic Sentry mission covers the High North. Uncrewed systems are playing an increasing role: between March and October 2025, Task Force X-Baltic tested 70 aerial and maritime drones alongside Allied warships, and in February 2026 eight Allies including Poland agreed to fast-track the joint acquisition of new technologies for naval operations and seabed protection. Submarines such as Utstein remain essential where what matters is a long, invisible presence close to protected assets.

From Ula to 212CD, and the Baltic connection

Norway is already preparing to replace its Ula class boats with the new Type 212CD submarine, whose propulsion combines air-independent propulsion with hydrogen fuel cells for significantly greater dive endurance, alongside improved stealth, sound absorption and reduced radiated noise.

The mission also has a direct Baltic dimension. Norwegian North Sea fields supply Poland through the Baltic Pipe, so protecting the kind of infrastructure Utstein patrolled translates directly into Polish energy security. In June 2026 Poland signed a contract for three A26 submarines under its Orka programme, which once in service are expected to carry out comparable tasks in the Baltic: discreet surveillance of the sea area and protection of infrastructure on the seabed.