A NATO maritime mission to monitor the Baltic Sea over the past year has sucessfully deterred threats to critical undersea infrastructure, commanders told AFP on a tour of the Dutch warship Johan de Witt on Friday.

The hulking grey vessel -- the flagship of one of NATO's four permanent multinational fleets known as standing maritime groups -- is docked in southeast London for a port visit, after months of conducting training exercises, including as part of the alliance's Baltic Sentry patrol mission.

Baltic Sentry was pulled together in January to protect underwater infrastructure -- thousands of kilometres of cables critical for global internet traffic -- after five cables were severed in the Gulf of Finland in December 2024.

The Baltic Sea has become a flashpoint for tensions between

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