It was Russia’s largest battleship loss since World War II.
It was Russia’s largest battleship loss since World War II.
At the end of the week, the Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged that one sailor had died and 27 were missing after the missile cruiser moskva It sank in the Black Sea on 14 April.
The ministry had earlier said that the ship caught fire as a result of an ammunition explosion, causing the ship to tilt and later sank as it was being towed away in bad weather. “The ship is seriously damaged. The entire crew has been evacuated,” the Defense Ministry had said. “Looking at the fried seas, the ship sank.”
However, Ukraine has said that it had successfully hit the cruiser with Neptune shore-based anti-ship missiles, a claim that was later supported by unidentified US officials. when what actually happened moskva Forever may remain unclear, the sinking of the 12,490-ton cruiser is in many ways a significant loss for Russia. It was the largest battleship lost since 1982, when the 12,000-ton Argentine missile destroyer, General Belgrano, was sunk by a British submarine during the Falklands Wars. In addition, it was Russia’s largest battleship loss since World War II.
heavy ship
moskva The war made headlines early on as it ordered a group of Ukrainian soldiers to surrender at a checkpoint on Snake Island, which they refused in a radio message. Although it was initially believed that he was killed, it was later revealed that he was taken captive and eventually released in a prisoner swap. Construction of the Moskva, a Slavic class Soviet-guided missile cruiser, began in 1976 and was commissioned in 1983. It is one of a series of such heavy sea-going ships built to counter NATO ships and carries 16 Vulcan missiles that can hit targets 500 km away. In addition to other weapons and defense. It has been upgraded several times over the years.
last, moskva Deployed in the Syrian conflict and as flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, it was at the fore of the Russian war on Ukraine. In addition to the huge symbolism associated with it, the loss also left Russia’s military behind, particularly with its inability to move fresh naval assets to the region, as Turkey closed the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits to warships. Was. It also increases the risk of any Russian amphibious attack on the coastal city of Odessa.
lessons for planners
As nations around the world continue to build larger surface ships, including aircraft carriers and anti-ship missiles, to counter their proliferation, naval planners are looking to take lessons from the event to protect their assets. Will analyze it very closely.
During the Cold War the Soviets built a series of missile boats to take down NATO ships and carriers. Since then, there has been a massive proliferation of anti-ship missiles, which are relatively inexpensive and offer asymmetric advantages. An example is the India-Russia joint development, the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, which began as an anti-ship missile and is a land attack version and can be fired from land, sea and air. Its name is derived from Brahmaputra and moskva rivers. In January, the Philippines signed a $375 million deal with India to supply a shore-based anti-ship version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles.
Recently there were instances of warships hitting missiles. In the 2006 Lebanon War, an Israeli warship was shot down by Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia militia, while in Yemen, Shia Houthi rebels fired anti-ship missiles at a US Navy destroyer in 2016. In December 1971, was used by the Indian Navy. Its Soviet-origin ‘Osa’-class missile boat, which launched a barrage of missiles over the port of Karachi as part of Operation Trident and Operation Python, enforced a true naval blockade, sinking a destroyer, fleet tanker and minesweeper.
drowning of moskva has once again generated discussion on the relevance and vulnerability of large surface platforms such as aircraft carriers, particularly in the Indian context China’s creation of ballistic missiles to target US carriers in the Indian Ocean.
However, the development of technologies and counter-technologies is an ongoing game and recognizes that there has been a renewed impetus on fielding aircraft carriers by many countries. To shoot down incoming anti-ship missiles, warships have layered defenses, including missiles and air defense guns, which have also seen significant progress.
aspect of why moskvaThe defense of the U.K. did not shoot down the incoming missiles, if it was indeed hit by Ukrainian missiles, it would be studied and analyzed.