From news reports, it appears the Ukrainians have sunk the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Cruiser Moskva (Moscow) with two Harpoonski (Soviet copies of the US Harpoon, apparently upgraded since by the Ukrainians) missiles.
The Wall Street Journal: Russia’s Black Sea Flagship Abandoned, Damaged After Ukraine Claims Missile Strike Sank It
Considering the stated impressive anti-missile defenses on the cruiser, the loss of it implies the Russian Navy is in the same sad shape as the Russian Army. The anti-missile systems (including six Russian copies of the US Phalanx CIWS system) not work to knock out a couple missiles. On top of that, the crew abandoned ship and their damage control procedures and efforts seem to be rather sub par. Much smaller US Navy ships have been hit by bigger missiles and survived, thanks to exellent damage control procedures and training.
The training and equipment seem to be so sub par that the Moskva may have already transformed into a Sub, albeit one that cannot surface.
To add to the festivities, it was Moskva that had shelled Snake Island and to which the Ukrainians famously replied to surrender demand by telling the ship to do something anatomically impossible.
A loss of a major surface combatant is a big deal, and the extensive string of Russian failures on land and sea both is not exactly making them look like a competent peer military power that they had been proclaiming themselves to be.
2 comments:
Hey Aaron;
If I was Russia; I would be getting worried, their incompetence is giving China ideas, remember Siberia is full of resources that China needs for their industry and if the Russians can't handle the Ukrainians, they won't be able to handle the much more flush Chinese with better weapons and training.
MrGarabaldi: It does seem like they're trying to rely on China (and Iran) for trade now that the sanctions are biting, I expect that will not go well for them.
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