After a fire and an explosion, one of the largest Russian warships, the cruiser Moskva, sank in the Black Sea. According to the Ukrainian account, this is the result of a successful attack with anti-ship missiles.
The Russian cruiser Moskva sank in the Black Sea on Wednesday, possibly after a missile hit.
It is a heavy loss for the Russian Navy: After a fire and an explosion, the guided missile cruiser “Moskva” – the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet – sank on Thursday. The crew had previously been evacuated. The Russian attempt to tow the badly damaged ship to a port and save it was unsuccessful.
There were different statements about the incident: the Ukrainian side said that the 184-meter-long cruiser was hit with two anti-ship missiles in the waters off Odessa. That Ministry of Defense in Moscow He kept a low profile on the cause and only explained that a fire had caused ammunition to explode.
As of Thursday, the ministry still claimed that the fire had been extinguished and that the ship was now being taken to a port for repairs. But late in the evening Russia reported that the “Moskva” had sunk in a storm. It is currently unknown how many victims the catastrophe claimed. However, it would be amazing if the entire crew of around 500 survived the inferno.
«Glory to Ukraine!», the governor of Odessa, Maxim Marchenko, had already said on Telegram in the morning written. The Ukrainian authorities did not provide any evidence of the use of anti-ship missiles. But such an attack is conceivable. The American naval expert H.I. Sutton pointed this outthat the cruiser’s movements had followed a fairly predictable pattern over the past few weeks. The ship, built in 1979, also had no modern missile defense systems.
The Ukrainian Neptune missiles have a range of around 280 kilometers. They are a development of an older type and entered service with Ukraine only in 2021.
Designed to hunt aircraft carriers
The “Moskva” has been cruising off Odessa since the beginning of the war. The Slava-class ship was part of a larger formation there that was used to blockade the Ukrainian port city. Armed with several dozen S-300F anti-aircraft missiles, it played an important role in sealing off the airspace. It also had a powerful radar. According to Sutton the “Moskva” did not participate at the periodic rocket fire of Odessa.
Unlike more modern warships, the “Moskva” had no missiles that could be used against land targets. As a Slava-class cruiser, the “Moskva” was developed in the 1970s to hunt down NATO aircraft carriers. It therefore had 16 Vulcan anti-ship missiles at its disposal. In the current war, these played no role, since Ukraine has hardly any ships of its own since the annexation of Crimea and the loss of almost its entire fleet.
The pride of the Russian Navy
Despite the limited military importance of the «Moskva», its loss is a severe blow to Russia. If Ukraine actually managed to hit the ship with rockets, this would be its second successful attack on a Russian warship: on March 24, the landing ship Orsk caught fire in the port of Berdyansk, presumably after a Ukrainian rocket hit and damaged so badly that it sank.
At that time, too, the Russian side said that an accident while unloading ammunition led to the fire. But the outbreak of fire on warships is extremely rare. For such an accident to happen in the middle of the war would be a great coincidence. Regardless of what caused the fire and explosion on board «Moskva», their destruction is a great achievement for Ukraine.
“Russian warship, fuck off!”
The loss of the “Moskva” should have given the Ukrainians particular satisfaction, since it was the cruiser that prompted the Ukrainian garrison on the strategically important Snake Island to surrender on the first day of the war. She became a symbol of the will to resist when she answered by radio: “Russian warship, fuck off!” The Ukrainians were taken prisoner, but were later exchanged for captured Russians.
It was also «Moskva», created in March 2014 after the Russian occupation of Crimea had blocked the Ukrainian naval base there. As a result, the Ukrainian warships could not leave Crimea and were later taken over by Russia. In its more than 40-year history, the “Moskva” has taken part in various military operations, including in Syria. She was also involved in the 2008 war in Georgia. It is said to have been damaged by a rocket at the time, but survived the hit.