You have commented 358 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Putin's 79 dimensional chess continues. In his latest tactical masterpiece he's lost a naval flagship to a country without a navy
2022-04-14
[TWITTER]

Courtesy of DarthVader:
Russian warship Moskva gutted by fire, Ukraine claims credit
[PMNewsNigeria] Russia's major warship the 'Moskva' was evacuated Wednesday after an ammunition explosion triggered a ravenous fire that will likely sink the ship.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday night that the cruiser suffered "serious damage," adding that the cause of the fire was under investigation.

The entire 500-man crew has been "safely" evacuated, Russian military said.

However, Ukrainian officials on Wednesday evening claimed that a battery of their Neptune anti-ship missiles hidden in Odessa had successfully struck the Moskva twice, setting the cruiser ablaze.

Among those making the claim were Maksim Marchenko, head of the military administration in Odessa, and Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Interior Ministry in Kiev.
Pics at link
Courtesy of Whons Whavirt9958, News Australia has more.
Related:
Moskva: 2022-04-09 Most Powerful Russian Warship In The Black Sea Is Operating In A Pattern
Moskva: 2022-03-17 Ukrainian perspective: Russian invasion of Ukraine, March 16th, 2022
Moskva: 2022-02-24 Russian missile cruisers on battle alert face NATO carriers in Mediterranean
Posted by:Fred

#45  Might be stamp collectors are right there with vegans?
Posted by: swksvolFF   2022-04-14 20:27  

#44  Troll Forkbeard. We (most of us) are happy it was sunk. You suck at personal interaction interpretations. Probably a personality flaw - genetic?
Posted by: Frank G   2022-04-14 19:34  

#43  Good news Vlad, Moskva is no longer burning.
Posted by: European Conservative   2022-04-14 18:07  

#42  I would hate to be that admiral.
Posted by: Chris   2022-04-14 17:34  

#41   Where are all our Putin suck ass boys? Embarrassed by the sinking of your top ship?

Russia is finished as a power. Not a great power, a power.

What has Russia ever produced except misery for her own people and her neighbors?
Well, they have succeeded in getting some right wing nuts in the USA to side with them.
Posted by: Flater Forkbeard8651   2022-04-14 17:23  

#40  State owned Russian media now reporting that Moskva has now sunk.
Posted by: DarthVader   2022-04-14 16:48  

#39  ^Oops, wrong thread...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2022-04-14 16:32  

#38  "She's forgotten more than lots of politicians know..."
Posted by: M. Murcek   2022-04-14 16:31  

#37  Isn't there some EU environmental body that should be complaining about now?
Posted by: M. Murcek   2022-04-14 16:31  

#36  Maybe Jared from Adventures With A Purpose can refloat it.
Posted by: Super Hose   2022-04-14 16:26  

#35  A scary ship in its day. Those missile launchers were huge and intimidating. Evidently they were also very flammable. The above the superstructure looked to be burning like the sun throughout the night vision video that I saw. I have no idea how they could have evacuated other than diving over the side.
Posted by: Super Hose   2022-04-14 16:24  

#34  Sunk.
Posted by: Matt   2022-04-14 16:12  

#33  I could see Joe going all Lend Lease if not for the fact he the DC swamp is all in for Ukraine.

It's too bad, we have some LCS that the Navy doesn't want anymore and a few clapped-out cruisers we are de-commissioning.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2022-04-14 15:59  

#32  Certainly good for a laugh. But when has Ivan been concerned about casualties or losses of equipment? In WWII they had NKVD battalions following forward troops and if they didn't keep the time table it was curtains. In WWI Imperial Russian officers were forbidden by custom and law to take cover under fire.

Look what the Finns did to them and on the cheap at that. I don't know, perhaps Borodino? or maybe not. The way they think seems to be the essence of it's not over until it's over.
Posted by: Cesare   2022-04-14 15:56  

#31  bad for Russia but will have minimal effect on the landside conflict
Posted by: Lord Garth   2022-04-14 15:21  

#30  Little more updated information from PJ Media.

Doesn't look like it sunk, but is definitely out of the war and given Russia's ability to drydock at the moment, Moskva will not be putting back to sea.
Posted by: DarthVader   2022-04-14 12:32  

#29  Lower case nazis made Putin do it.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2022-04-14 12:11  

#28  will there be cool pens with a ship and liquid at the top or battle ship game snow globes?
Posted by: Greng Black3494   2022-04-14 12:05  

#27  #20 I was reading some reportage last week that the Moskva had settled in to "routine" while conducting support operations.
Posted by: Rex Mundi   2022-04-14 12:01  

#26  This twitter feed has authentic-looking diagrams of mmuniation stowage on the Moskva. Salt to taste.
Posted by: Matt   2022-04-14 11:40  

#25  The mine is more likely to snap the keel with an underwater blast. I have seen two ship fires, it would be hard to believe that the ship was evacuated for towing without a bunch of dead guys. She is gas turbine powered so it is possible to turn the key off and leave. Not sure why you would abandon ship unless she was actively afire. If she is actively burning and loaded with ammo, I wouldn’t want to be the tow truck.
Posted by: Super Hose   2022-04-14 11:30  

#24  Good, blow yourselves up or be missile targets, I don’t care. Putin is our enemy. Put a hurt on him whenever you can. I
Posted by: Xyz   2022-04-14 11:30  

#23  There goes the air cover.
Posted by: Rex Mundi   2022-04-14 10:59  

#22  A modern antiship missile would have snapped them Moskva's keel in two, sending it immediately to the bottom.

Well, if it hit an armored box launcher and exploded there it could have done a lot of damage without destroying the structural components below the waterline.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2022-04-14 10:10  

#21  'Andrei... you lost another warship?'
Posted by: Raj   2022-04-14 10:10  

#20  Ukraine DID take out Putin's sitting duck naval flagship: Kyiv says it hit Moskva cruiser with missile after bungling Russian admirals let it sail around Black Sea within range amid claims of 'hundreds' of casualties onboard
Posted by: Skidmark   2022-04-14 09:03  

#19  If it didn’t sink it’s got a cluster of other distracted ships around it that should be a target of opportunity. I’m leaning towards a mine as well based on initial damage reports and the sequence of events as conflicting as they are.
Posted by: Slenter Panda4300   2022-04-14 08:59  

#18  But considering this was the ship that the Snake Island garrison told to go fuck themselves...

This is the story the nets are selling. However...
The Snake Island ship was Vasily Bykov, a large patrol corvette. I noticed when the stamp first came out, the pictured ship was *not* Vasily Bykov, but of a different class.

Vasily Bykov pic - note the deck gun and lack of missile tubes that Moskva, being a missile cruiser has.

For the time being, I'm going with badanov's mine theory or an ammo explosion.
Posted by: SteveS   2022-04-14 08:03  

#17  Is there one designated guy who breaks news like this to Putin, or do they just slip an envelope under his door?
Posted by: Matt   2022-04-14 07:55  

#16  Also this article is good Reconsidering Russian Maritime Warfare
Posted by: 3dc   2022-04-14 07:41  

#15   Article published before the sinking discussing the air denial protection the fleet was supplying. With this ship's destruction Russian air denial in southern Ukraine gets iffy
Posted by: 3dc   2022-04-14 07:21  

#14  A modern antiship missile would have snapped them Moskva's keel in two, sending it immediately to the bottom.

Increasingly likely it was struck by a mine.
Posted by: badanov   2022-04-14 06:56  

#13  From a commenter at V Kontakte:

Turkish media write about the cruiser that it hit a mine, which was pushed onto it due to a storm. A fire started, and the fire-fighting system on the 1970 cruiser and the fire reached the ammunition load, which exploded.
Posted by: badanov   2022-04-14 06:53  

#12  Russian Navy is one of the few modern navies that continues the practice of using ship crews as infantry in fleet missions.
Posted by: badanov   2022-04-14 06:45  

#11  ...And to top off a Very Bad Day for the crew of the Moskva:

You all want to know the kicker for this?

Now the crew of the Moskva gets to be infantry replacements in Mariupol.

No, I'm not joking.

Putin is putting ashore Black Sea ship crews to fight as infantry like its WW2.
1/

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2022-04-14 06:20  

#10  here comes our fleet of anonymous trolls: "Tis but a scratch!"
Posted by: Frank G   2022-04-14 06:18  

#9  According to Andrey Chervonets:

The Russian Ministry of Defense says:

- The source of ignition on the cruiser "Moskva" is localized.
- There is no open burning.
- Explosions of ammunition are stopped.
- Cruiser "Moskva" retains afloat.
- The main missile weapons were not damaged
- The crew was evacuated to the ships of the Black Sea Fleet in the area.
- Currently, measures are being taken to tow the cruiser to the port.

Prolly more forthcoming from Boris Rozhin soon.
Posted by: badanov   2022-04-14 06:16  

#8  Rumor is two volleys of two missiles each were fired by the Ukrainians. The first volley was defeated electronically.

One of the two missiles of the second volley hit a loaded missile launcher cannister with a 1,000 pound warhead. The Moskva did not have a modern fire extinguishing system.

The rest is predictable.
Posted by: badanov   2022-04-14 06:10  

#7  Rumor is the Moskva was scuttled.
Posted by: badanov   2022-04-14 05:25  

#6  Russian say there has been no official word from the Ukrainian ministry of defense about the Moskva.
Posted by: badanov   2022-04-14 05:18  

#5  Uh-oh, Ukraine's in trouble now. [Pacific Fleet sets sail]
Posted by: Blossom Snusomp5491   2022-04-14 04:50  

#4  Oops.....bet they drew straws to see who got to tell Rasputin er I mean Putin.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2022-04-14 04:46  

#3  ^-- looks like it passed the test.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2022-04-14 00:33  

#2  (Wikipedia) Neptune (Ukrainian: Р-360 «Нептун», romanized: R-360 "Neptun") is a Ukrainian anti-ship cruise missile developed by Luch Design Bureau.
Neptune's design is based on the Soviet Kh-35 anti-ship missile, with substantially improved range and electronics. The system is designed to defeat surface warships and transport vessels with a displacement of up to 12,490 tons, either in convoys or moving individually.

The system entered service with the Ukrainian Navy in March 2021.
Posted by: Clusosh Floluter6074   2022-04-14 00:31  

#1  Given Russia's historically bad ability to carry weapons on ships and not have them blow up, I kinda have to think this is truly an accident.

But considering this was the ship that the Snake Island garrison told to go fuck themselves... it is karma like and funny as hell.
Posted by: DarthVader   2022-04-14 00:04  

00:00