Russia’s Black Sea Flagship Moskva Hit By Ukrainian Missile, Abandoned After Explosion – The Russian Navy’s Black Sea flagship, the guided-missile cruiser Moskva (RTS-121), has suffered major damage and the crew has abandoned ship. Russian state media TASS and RIA confirmed late Tuesday that a fire onboard the cruiser had set off ammunition.
“As a result of a fire, ammunition detonated on the Moskva missile cruiser. The ship was seriously damaged,” Russian media didn’t explain further the cause of the fire.
The abandoned, burning ship is another blow to the Russian military’s prestige as they have struggled badly in their invasion of Ukraine and have taken far more casualties and lost more aircraft and armored vehicles than was envisioned.
Storms over the Black Sea have obscured satellite imagery and military analysts say that they will also hamper any rescue efforts for the cruiser.
However, Ukrainian officials have claimed that the cruiser was hit by cruise missiles. Odesa governor Maksym Marchenko posted on his Telegram page, “It has been confirmed that the missile cruiser Moskva today went exactly where it was sent by our border guards on Snake Island!”
“Neptune missiles guarding the Black Sea caused very serious damage to the Russian ship. Glory to Ukraine!”
The Moskva was featured in one of the earliest actions during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when it demanded the surrender of the small Ukrainian force on Snake Island. The Ukrainians responded with “Russian warship, Go F**k yourself”.
Russia Claims The Moskva Will Be Towed Back Into Port
The Russian Defense Ministry has said that the Moskva will be towed back into port after the explosion on the ship caused ammunition to explode and the fire resulted in the crew abandoning the ship.
However, the BBC reported via the Ukrainian Southern Military District’s Facebook page that the explosions caused the ship to overturn and begin to sink.
The defense ministry said that the fire had been contained but that the ship had suffered major damage as a result of the fire. As before, the ministry didn’t elaborate on what caused the fire but did say that they were launching an investigation.
“The fire on the cruiser Moskva is under control. There are no flames visible. Ammunition supplies are no longer exploding.
“The cruiser Moskva is still afloat. The main missile armory has not been damaged.
“The crew of the cruiser were evacuated to Black Sea Fleet vessels nearby. Measures are being taken to tow the cruiser into port.
“The causes of the fire are currently being established,” the ministry said in its statement.
Moskva: A History
The Moskva was commissioned into the then-Soviet Union Navy in 1982 and is one of three Slava-class guided-missile cruisers.
The three 11,500-ton Slavas each carry16 SS-N-12 Sandbox anti-ship cruise missiles, as well as several different types of anti-submarine and mine-torpedo weapons. The Sandbox missiles have a maximum effective range of about 350 miles.
Developed during the height of the Cold War in the 1970s, the Slavas and the Sandboxes were designed to take on U.S. and NATO aircraft carriers by launching a plethora of anti-ship missiles that the crews couldn’t defend against.
The Moskva, with its crew of 510, operated in the seas off of Syria where it served as naval protection for the Russian forces’ Hmeimim airbase.
The two other Slavas are RTS Marshal Ustinov (055) and RFS Varyag (011) have been operating in the Mediterranian.
The Neptune cruise missile, as mentioned by Governor Marchenko was developed by the domestic Ukrainian Luch Design Bureau and was based on the Soviet KH-35 cruise missile. It became operational in the Ukrainian forces just last year, according to Ukrainian defense officials, and has an effective range of 170 miles.
Steve Balestrieri is a 1945 National Security Columnist. He has served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer before injuries forced his early separation. In addition to writing for 19fortyfive.com, he has covered the NFL for PatsFans.com for more than 10 years and his work was regularly featured in the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle and Grafton News newspapers in Massachusetts.
