Posted on 04/13/2022 2:12:42 PM PDT by marktwain
ABOARD THE MOSKVA MISSILE CRUISER (Reuters) - This Russian warship left the shipyard 25 years ago and it shows: the electronics consoles look like museum exhibits and its hull carries a thick crust of paint from years of running repairs.
Its shortcomings reflect the Russian navy’s many problems, highlighted again this month by an accident on a nuclear submarine that killed 20 people.
But looks can deceive. Hidden beneath the decks of the Moskva cruiser are 16 “Bazalt” guided missiles, which travel faster than the speed of sound and can strike an enemy aircraft carrier group 500 km away.
The Moskva, flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, symbolises Russia’s navy: all too easy to dismiss as an ageing rust-bucket, it can still pack a formidable punch.
The navy’s capability matters now more than at any time since the Cold War because the Kremlin is using it to project Russia’s new-found confidence far beyond its coastal waters, bringing it face-to-face with NATO warships.
“I believe we are treated with respect,” captain of the Moskva Igor Smolyak told a group of visiting journalists when asked what foreign navies made of his vessel. He was standing in front of a 130-mm cannon at the bow of his ship.
“They treat with respect the flag, the ship and -- accordingly -- our nation,” he said during the visit in late September.
BUTT OF JOKES
When Russia this year sent its nuclear-powered missile cruiser Peter the Great to Venezuela -- the first such manoeuvres off the U.S. coast since the Cold War -- Washington poked fun.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
They bombed to force Serbia to permanently give up territory it had held for centuries. This totally transformed the thinking of Russia about NATO and the wests intentions.
There were many sides in that fight, which I disagreed with, seeing it mostly as a Wag the Dog exercise by Clinton.
But to claim Serbia as Russia's closest ally? As part of Yugoslavia, it was closer to neutral. Many cultural ties, to be sure.
Hall of mirrors...
Hard for me to believe the "Biden" administration wants Ukraine to win the war..
But then, who is really running the "Biden" administration?
The globalists?
The Russians?
The Ukrainians?
The Chinese?
The Deep Green Enviromentalist wacos (oops, already said globalists)
I am not sure anyone knows for sure, except it is not American First nationalists...
Serbia is historically Russia’s closest ally
Well, OK, but it's a two way street. The Soviet system was completely bankrupt and had been for years. They knew they were neck deep in crap. They could have pursued a better way forward, but they chose not to. GHW Bush was very proactive in trying to help the Russians. We even made them a special NATO partner. I hear this constant drone of all the ways the west has forced them this way and NATO forced them that way. We also did a lot to help them.
Made them a special NATO partner by immediately bombing their closest ally for 78 days, slaughtering large numbers of civilians from high altitude, permanently ripping territory from the country they had held for long centuries.
That’s quite a way of reaching out with NATO, the “defensive” alliance that permanently rips territory from countries
In the early 90s I had a chance to go aboard A Soviet Kara class cruiser in Norfolk, VA. From what I saw, the Soviet Navy did not have the faintest concept of damage control. Watertight integrity was nonexistent. Saw no fire stations on the weather decks and few inside of the ship. Saw no emergency power distribution system. The Soviet Naval philosophy was the ship had to last long enough to launch its main missile battery. Whether it survived after that seemed to be of no particular concern.
One in 100. Probably one in 1000.
You would know better than I about that.
Let’s hope we never have to test it for real.
L
You know what, cry me a damn river! By the time Yugoslavia deteriorated the US had spent 50 years post WW II trying to warn the world away from Communism. And every single country that fell for that system wound up a shit hole. The Russians had a second chance. That they didn’t take it is their problem.
You are badly confused if you think Serbia chose communism.
USA never gave Russia a chance, Cheney hatched a scheme to destroy Russia from 1991. They tricked Russia in the Dayton accords with two different sets of a settlement, it read differently in Russian and English. Then they tricked Russia again with the Minsk accords, which they never implemented and never pushed Ukraine to follow.
Have you taken into account the two solid fuel boosters of each of the sixteen 5.3 ton P-500 Bazalt missiles the Moskva carried on her deck?
The US and NATO didn't create the racial and cultural pressure cooker in Yugoslavia, Tito did. And the Russians cheered him on while he did it.
You want to hand wring over that forever, be my guest. My concern is what the Russians are doing now. They refuse to learn their lesson that these top down belligerent strong man regimes don't work. Fine. The west will just have to shut them down permanently so they can't create more trouble in the future.
ping
ping
Not quite Travis - how many years have you spent at sea on US warships? Ever hear of the kill chain? It isn’t as easy as you pretend it is. I agree with a lot of what you say, but not this.
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