Russia Sends 1 More Warship to Mediterranean Sea Fleet

Russia will send another warship to the Mediterranean Sea next week, a high-ranking Russian Navy official told RIA Novosti Friday.

The Kashin-class guided missile destroyer Smetlivy from the Black Sea Fleet is due to leave the port of Sevastopol on September 12-14, the official said, adding that it is to join the Mediterranean task force “on a rotational basis.”

A group of warships, including the large amphibious landing ships Novocherkassk and Minsk, as well as the electronic intelligence ship Priazovye joined the Mediterranean fleet earlier on Friday, he said.

He also said the Slava class guided missile cruiser Moskva will reach the Mediterranean Sea, where it will take over from the Admiral Panteleyev destroyer, on September 17, and on September 29 the missile boat Ivanovets and the guided missile ship Sthil will reach an area off the Syrian coast.

Any major engagement will result in a disaster for the Russians at this point, and so they will avoid it if they possibly can.

There's no doubt about that, but the main question, when we're dealing with a country that possesses a nation-killing nuclear arsenal, is whether they might decide to vaporize, with nukes, our conventional assets based abroad, daring us to retaliate with nukes against their assets on Russian territory and kicking off a general nuclear conflagration. I think the odds are good that we'll retaliate against a Russian nuclear strike against our fleet with a nuclear strike against their fleet, but that's a lousy trade. If we extend it to Russian assets beyond that theater, but outside of Russia, the Russians could retaliate against our bases around the world. And obviously, if we target assets in Russia, there's the possibility of our thousand largest cities and military bases getting burned to the ground.

I think it's a lousy gamble just to grind Russia's face into the dirt. I think we've established pretty clearly who's boss, and it's time to stop treating every Russian attempt to shore up its crumbling client states as the second coming of the annexation of the Sudetenland that was formalized at the Munich Agreement. We won the Cold War, and the end zone dance isn't just boorish, it's dangerous behavior in the face of a former adversary that remains armed with 10K nukes.

The Kashin Class destroyer is obsolete. Ivanovets is a Project 12411 Molniya missile boat and carries Uran/Kh-35 Switchblade missiles. The Sthil is a Project 1234.1 (Nanuchka III). Unless it has been upgraded to carry Sunburn or Moskit missiles, these small missile boats are no threat. The Slava class Moskva is. But even if this is a limited threat to our growing fleet in the area, it is a message.

The Sunburn-equipped, recently updated Nastoichivy (Sovremenny) is due in the area in the next couple of days, as well. This is the Baltic Flagship, and apparently made a high-speed run.

As I said, they are deploying the modernized units as they become available.

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