Posted on 03/09/2014 6:15:44 PM PDT by Former Fetus
Russia has deliberately sunk three of its own ships to block Ukrainian navy vessels entering a lake off the Black Sea, officers say, highlighting Moscow's determination to wear down the morale of Kiev's forces in Crimea.
The Ochakov -- a Soviet-era warship decommissioned in 2011 and set to be sold for scrap -- was towed to the entrance to Lake Donuzlav on Crimea's western coast from the Russian base at Sevastopol on Thursday and blown up.
It capsized and, along with two smaller Russian vessels, is now blocking the narrow gap between two spits of land, its hull beaten by rough Black Sea waves.
Ukraine's navy has limited resources and suffered a major blow last week when its chief Denis Berezovsky switched allegiance to the pro-Russian Crimean authorities and a new chief was appointed.
But officers at a base near where the Russians sank the ship have no doubt what the Russians were trying to do and insist they will not be shaken by the tactics.
"It is blocked so we cannot get out," said Captain Viktor Shmyganovsky, second-in-command at the base in Novoozerne, one of the four biggest in Crimea.
"If it wasn't blocked, we could have taken our ships to Odessa and it would stop them being seized by Russian forces.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Dredge a path around.
Sink a cargo ship in the Bosporus. Two can play let’s bottle up the fleet.
Dam the Bosporus and pump out the Black Sea.
What? Again???
Looks like these Ukrainian ships have become barganing chips in the post Criema Take over—that or more ships for the Russian Navy.
That would be a declaration of war against Turkey.
Blame the Russians...
BTW, the TSA just bought 1,980 sticks of dynamite...
“that or more ships for the Russian Navy.”
Why would they want them?
They only have ONE Krivak-class frigate (Hetman Sahaydachniy) capable of anything resembling long range operations, and only then if it is supported by another nation’s replenishment. Add to that one, maybe TWO operational Grisha Corvettes.
The World Bank gave them a loan for 4 new corvettes that will be built in Mykolaiv, but only one has been started, not expected to be launched until 2017.
That’s a sorry looking (former?) airbase in the picture.
So blast the hulk out of the way. Get your crew some target practice.
Tunnel under it.
that just make it harder to remove later. its in a prime spot in the port, and has to be raised. thats easier when it’s more intact.
doesn’t seem like firing off anything would make much of a difference here. this is Czarist territory, and enough of the people are Russians to win any referenda on the topic of independence.
be a shame if WWIII started over some random gesture by Nikita Khrushchev..
Those was my thoughts as well when I saw the map. It shouldn’t be THAT hard to do.
Isn’t it?
That area was the HQ and training center for the Soviet Amphibious forces. You can see the hovercraft landing docks if you look along the shore near the Ukrainian Naval port. (You can’t really call it a “Base”. There is no heavy equipment, just a (floating drydock.)
You can see that both sides of the entrance were at one time covered with launchers, as well as a large number of SAM sites.
Between here, and the Balaklava Sub Base, one wonders how many western intelligence operators died trying to find out what was there, only to find it open and abandoned now.
Because the Russkies after putting the effort into into blocking the channel will stand by and let them unblock it. C'mon Man!!
that would affect also Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia and Turkey
Yeah. And? And an unfettered expansionist Russia won’t?
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