Posted on 09/13/2023 6:03:03 PM PDT by marcusmaximus
Explosions and flames wreathed Sevastopol harbor early on Wednesday morning as Kyiv scored another success against Russia's beleaguered Black Sea Fleet, its cruise missiles and drones striking at the heart of Moscow's regional power center.
Russia's Defense Ministry said ten cruise missiles and three naval drones attacked Sevastopol, with all three UAVs destroyed and seven missiles shot down. Photos and video from the scene showed Sevastopol's drydock area engulfed in flames, with the Minsk Ropucha-class large landing ship and Rostov-on-Don Kilo-class attack submarine believed to have been damaged.
-snip-
ighteen months of war have been punctuated with multiple humiliations for Russia's naval forces in the Black Sea. Ukraine does not have a meaningful conventional navy able to challenge Russian vessels but has kept the Black Sea contest by pivoting to the use of drones and long-range missiles.
The Black Sea Fleet flagship—the Moskva guided missile cruiser—remains the most notable victim, having been sunk by Ukrainian anti-ship missiles in April 2022. Kyiv almost claimed the flagship successor Admiral Makarov in October 2022 when naval drones attacked and damaged the frigate.
In August, Ukrainian naval drones hit the Ropucha-class Olenegorsky Gornyak landing ship anchored in Novorossiysk—more than 200 miles east of Sevastopol—and soon afterward they struck the oil tanker Sig off the coast of Crimea. Both were seriously damaged and had to be rescued by tugboats.
Oryx open-source data suggests that 16 Russian vessels have been hit since February 2022, 10 of which have been destroyed. Those lost include the Moskva, the Minsk, the Saratov Tapir-class landing ship, and one Project 11770 Serna-class landing craft. Those damaged include the Rostov-on-Don submarine, the Olenegorsky Gornyak, and a Project 266M Natya-class minesweeper.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
With all the Ukrainian victories you’d think the proxy war would be over by now.
“Thank you, I lost a kilo.” — priceless!
I’m thinking if the USA really dies want to decisively change the dynamic of this invasion we should do a moon landing race urgency crash program of all sorts of attack drones and missiles for the Ukes to throw back at Russia. Civilians there need to ve just as miserable and afraid of being hurt or killed in strikes as the Ukes civilians are. Keep the Russians off balance and flailing in response. Rail lines, ports, airstrip, fuel depots, supply lines and especially mixed use targets within Russia proper. Only then will true pressure be brought to bear. Best thing will be to re-elect Trump and do a balks to the wall push yo drill and increase oil production to drive the world price of crude down below what Russia NEEDS to sell at to survive. Only then will any proper negotiating position be established for the Ukes.
We should add 50 or more new large nuclear electric power plants here as well and harden our oil refining infrastructure and electric transmission grid. The American people would get behind such a program if explained to and enlisted with incentives to help. I believe we could send troops to assist if we incentivized our existing and future illegal migrants here to go fight for Ukraine and gave them and their families compensation and citizenship for doing so.
Could the Ukes use a million motivated and well equipped volunteers from here to help against Russia? Knowing that they (if they survive) and their families back here regardless would be rewarded with citizenship and a stake to start fresh and succeed here in return?
Have thought about this at length. Thoughts?
Ukraine is winning again — the media told me so. /sarc
Russia lies all the time
Unfortunately for the Ukraine, this is not a sea war.
The top comment at the Newsweek comment was “We’re reaching a turning point where dedicated warships are becoming wastes of money and resources.
As drones become cheaper, more precise, and more advanced, large and expensive targets become vulnerable to swarm tactics. That 30 million dollar cruiser can be sunk by a drone for a hundredth of the cost and a thousandth of the manufacturing time. I wouldn’t be shocked if, by the end of the century, the world’s navies re-orient themselves to mostly consist of cheap drone carrier ships.
The ironclad replaced sailing ships. Battleships replaced ironclads. Carriers and missile cruisers replaced battleships. Now it looks like carriers and missile cruisers are on their way out.”
I agree with this comment, but we are fools if we think Russia will be the only one to ever realize this new truth. My guess is that USA relies on imports via ship 5x to 10X compared to Russia based on our geographic positioning.
We currently rely on having everything from petroleum to vaccines imported from overseas. If there were a war between USA and any modern enemy, USA will most likely be waving a white flag within a few weeks as not only would our navy would be lying at the bottom of the ocean, but also would all the ships that transport to USA. Well, maybe not the transport ships, as those all belong to China.
Just prolonging the inevitable
Just prolonging the inevitable
I’ll be waiting for pics of burned out ships and damaged submarines. Until then, this is more of the same old crap. Bold claims followed by the next set of bold claims. Last week, “Robotino has fallen, the road to Crimea is wide open”. This week Zelensky admits on CNN that the counteroffensive failed. One thing for certain, many Uke citizens and soldiers will die during the Russian retaliation. As in every one of these instances, the butcher’s bill for the poor Ukrainian people will far outweigh the trivial damage these Uke attacks cause.
reality is China makes a ton of drones. If we go to war with them...we are toast if it ends up whoever can make the most drones.
Summary: damage to two ships that were docked under repair.
Operational effect: none
Tactical advantage: TBD
Strategic value: N/A
Cost: 10 British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and sea surface drones
I always thought the US Navy could benefit from oil tankers converted to fly cruise missles and intermediate range ballistic missles. Now add drones to that inventory. Cut costs and improve lethality for less cost than an aircraft carrier.
“With all the Ukrainian victories you’d think the proxy war would be over by now.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Ukraine is 1000 times weaker than Russia. That’s why Putin proudly said he would take Kiev and the rest of Ukraine in 14 days... We are now into a 18 months long war and Ukraine has already managed to take back +50% of Ukrainian territory that Russia stole in the beginning of the war!
And as we speak, Russia is loosing ground bit by bit every single day. How can that be? Russia is a MASSIVE military war machine that has built itself exclusively on wars and mass-murder!? Why can’t they manage to take a tiny place like Ukraine??
ANSWER: Ukrainians have a Churchillian spirit, that’s why. That kind of spirit simply can’t be vanquished. It’s “live free or die”!
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