The Russian-Ukrainian war, lavish with unexpected ideas on the land and aeronautical fronts, also reserves considerable surprises on the waters of the Black Sea. , the offenses brought to the naval units of Moscow leave a notable echo.
After the sinking of the freighter Hero jumped on a mine near the port of Odessa, Berdyansk attacks, carried with missiles Tochka modernized with a GPS satellite guided system and warheads carrying 482 kg of explosives that hit the amphibious landing ship Orsk in Berdyansk and damaged the Kunikov and Novocherkassk, it was the cruiser's turn Moscow (photo), considered the most powerful unit in the area available to the Kremlin.
According to the Russian employment doctrine, cruisers perform attack functions rather than escorting larger units. It is no coincidence that the Moscow has supersonic anti-ship missiles and S-300F air defense missiles which together with the S-400 missiles from the Sevastopol base and other weapons systems deployed in Crimea allow coverage of a large part of the northern Black Sea.
During land operations, after operating in the vicinity of the Island of the Snakes, the Moscow he remained at a distance from the intimidating actions carried out below the coast by the other units by returning periodically to Sevastopol. The demonstrations of amphibious capability conducted by the Russian navy, indicating an imminent assault at the start of the hostilities, appear to have served to block the Ukrainian forces, with the Moscow engaged in command and control functions.
The news obviously chases each other, especially regarding the dynamics.
May the "Moscow" be noble ship as a cruiser there is no doubt that its military capacity is then silenced can only be of even greater importance.
The Ukrainians take credit for being able to hit the ship with their missiles Neptune, while the Russians report severe fire damage on board. In any case, for a ship of that importance, even if a simple fire, one could not stigmatize anything other than either an unforgivable neglect in the area of operations, or the recall to an acknowledgment of the dangerous obsolescence of an aging unit that entered service in 1983, which brings us back to consider the state of general efficiency of the Russian war instrument.
If the orsk it constituted a painful loss, it is easy to imagine the atmosphere that is being breathed in the Kremlin in these hours, with the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet moreover named after the capital, in fact lost; flagship, anecdote to remember, protagonist of the exchange of invectives with the Ukrainian staff stationed on the Island of the Snakes.
The Russian Navy, following the end of the Soviet regime, went through long periods of crisis, attributable to strategic shortcomings within the state apparatus which resulted in imperfect technical training of personnel and precarious maintenance.
The intentions of the current executive have focused on the modernization of weapons and equipment, with the simultaneous improvement of the living conditions of the crews.
Let's go back to the events in the Mediterranean, which saw the ships of Moscow prevented from crossing the Bosphorus as a result of the Montreux Convention.
Between the Greek and Italian maritime areas, therefore, operations are taking shape that recall memories linked to cold war checks and naval pursuits in an area, the one between the Ionian and the Adriatic, closest to Crimea and which allows the launch of long-distance ballistic missiles. .
If the Bosphorus is banned, the pressure on the outside increases. In recent weeks the Mediterranean has been crossed by cruisers Varyag (photo) e Ustinov equipped with anti-aircraft missiles, from fighters Tributes e Kulakov, from the frigate Kasatanov, with skirmishes involving US units (USS Truman with F-18 aircraft Hornet) overlooking the Calabrian coasts.
But not everything goes according to plan, as indeed on the terrestrial front; stay off-site, lack of valid support bases for maintenance, approximate logistics, are creating problems that are difficult to solve, as evidenced by the emergence of a submarine Kilo next to Cyprus supported by a factory ship and a corvette.
France has also taken off its own Flurry from the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle to keep Russian bombers at a distance. With the Bosphorus closed, Russia loses the ability to replace a naval unit capable of operating as a command and control center, and to develop additional volumes of fire. The Russian ability to sustain itself logistically and with constant maintenance in areas far from the bases and highly demanding remains to be verified.
Great absent the only Russian aircraft carrier, the Kutnetsov1, in prolonged maintenance.
1 During the works, the ship is hit by two accidents: in 2018 the floating dry dock destined for her partially sinks, and a crane crashes on the flight deck, opening a gap of almost 20 meters; in 2019 a fire broke out on board due to errors in the welding procedure.
Photo: Russian Federation MoD
