Anton Kuprin, the captain of the Moskva flagship that sank in the Black Sea. Pic: Russian Ministry of Defence
Posted on 04/15/2022 9:15:31 PM PDT by Widget Jr
Anton Kuprin, the captain of the Moskva flagship that sank in the Black Sea. Pic: Russian Ministry of Defence
Ukraine has claimed the captain of a Russian warship that was sunk in the Black Sea died on board.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's ministry of internal affairs, shared the claim on Telegram saying that the ship's captain, Anton Kuprin, died during an "explosion and fire on board".
The Moskva went down as it was being towed to port in rough seas after an explosion of ammo caused a fire, according to the Kremlin.
Ukraine said it had hit the ship with missiles fired from the coast, but Russia did not confirm the attack.
However, the US later said it believes the vessel was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles.
A senior US official said the country believes there were Russian casualties, though the number of them remains unclear.
It is not yet known why the ship's air defence systems did not kick in, the official said, but the missiles may have come at a high angle that evaded them or a drone may have distracted them, as some have reported.
Other possibilities are that the air defence systems were not turned or suffered maintenance problems, they said.
The crew of more than 500 were evacuated, said Russia's defence ministry.
[EXCERPT / RULES ]
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
This ship like many Russian ships has weapons bow to stern on the upper decks, which means, all their fuel and warheads are on the upper decks and vulnerable if hit. Captian's quarters on larger warships are in the forward superstructure, close to the bridge. That means on the Slava the captain spends a lot of time between two rows of really big anti-ship missiles with 2,000 pound wardheads and a few hundred gallons of jet fuel each.
If a Neptune, which is similar to the Harpoon, hit amid those P-500s, it would easily explain the reports of ammunitions "detonations", the ship sunk "while being towed", and the captain getting killed. My guess is she was hit near the P-500s one one side, one or two of them detonated, and the ship was a lost cause almost immediately.
The intital hit or secondary explosions killed the captain and likely quite a few officers and NCOs. Who, being on the command ship, would likely be at the top in Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
Unless anyone has a better idea.
Go down with his ship or
go back to Moscow and face Putin with his failure.
Decisions.
Decisions.
Most excellent analysis Widget Jr
Is he dead … or is he captured and being hidden while the Ukes extract info?
BTW according to the UK Daily Mail maps. These two Neptunes were fired from Odessa obscurity and cover. And done at night it seems. These Ukie missiles travelled 24 miles to hit the Russian vessel
This ship allegedly carried two nuclear warheads. Where would those have been stored? It’s unlikely that they were carried mounted for launch by default.
#3. Thank you.
How would Ukraine even know? Nobody can confirm it but Russia.
Thanks UK Daily Mail for the above graphics.
#6. According to the Daily Mail the Moskva “might” or “could” have carried nuclear warheads. I take that as more of their excessively hyperactive reporting.
My current bet is two nukes aboard the sunken Rooskie vessel. Let’s be aware that these are nuclear warheads to be attached onto cruise missile.
go back to Moscow and face Putin with his failure.
Suicide by Neptune???? 😀😂
Go down with his ship or be executed on order of Putin for losing his ship.
The drone decoys makes the most sense on how these missiles got through the defense. Neat trick. Hope our Navy was paying attention. Hope the Chinese weren’t if it comes to war with them.
Quite a few of the crew died instantly.
#2, #15 & #16: If my guess is right the captain died at his post, along with several other senior officers and NCOs. Including personnel of the Black Sea’s command staff controlling their naval operations. This cost Russia more than just a ship. It cost them their command ship and a good part of their command staff.
That is what they are telling us, which makes me a little suspicious.
Maybe they had a small swarm of Bayraktars some high, some very low. One of the low ones hit an anti-ship missile tube with a 25kg warhead in a kamikaze attack. Wild success, and the missile blows up. They quickly fire two Neptunes in order to cover the successful strategy and inflict even more damage on the Moskva...
Or, maybe some other scenario. Co-ordinated swarm attacks are relatively new and we do not know what they can really do. Think about the possibilities of coordinated swarm attacks with dissimilar components. And don't just stop at two kinds (Neptunes and Bayraktars) add in a third and maybe a fourth one. Some with more stealth, some with more punch.
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