“They sank the Moskva with a weapon based on a prior soviet design.”
This weapon, this Neptune cruise missile, was made in Ukraine. Two were fired off from Odessa and two struck the Moskva, setting off the ammunition onboard.. ...Yes, based on a Soviet era design, but improved upon. Perhaps vastly improved upon. They have been busy bees in Ukraine, and preparing for years for a Russkie war against them. Ukies are very clever when it comes to war and self defense.
Ukies got lucky. Without the ammunition detonating, the Moskva probably would not have sunk. But then, perhaps Ukies had intel that there was plenty of ammo on board Moskva and where it was located.
The Neptune is an update of the Soviet-era KH-35 missile, which was fired from ships and planes, and was modified to strike from truck-mounted launchers at targets on both land and water. Its range is estimated to be 200 miles and its main prey would be cruisers such as the Moskva, along with destroyers and other warships.
When the war broke out in late February, Kyiv was carrying out final tests of the Neptune. Ukrainian defense officials had previously announced a timeline culminating in an April deployment. Privately, Ukrainian officials and defense analysts doubted the reality of that schedule, saying that the Neptune, despite impressive test videos, was far from being ready.
“If you had some available, you might be tempted to try to use them,” said Douglas Barrie, a defense fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London think tank. “Even if unsuccessful, it would force the Russian navy to honor the threat.”
A. Not likely they could target a specific part of the ship. The mussiles are radar-homing, so the center of the radar return was the target.
B. The Moskva was an old ship, so pretty much everyone knew plenty about it, even in the west. I remember an article on it in the Naval Institute “Proceedings”, the USN trade journal, back when the Moskva (then the Slava) was new, and I dont recall that it got much wrong, even 40 years ago. Its perfectly possible to tell where the magazines are just by looking at the ship. Actually, that also goes for most warships.
The Ukes built that ship. No kidding.