Another Bad Day for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet
Rubin Class Patrol Boat Sergei Kotov
Ukraine’s drones sink another Russian warship, Kyiv says
Story by Svitlana Vlasova and Brad Lendon
Ukraine’s military on Tuesday claimed another successful attack on a Russian warship, marking the latest in a string of naval defeats for Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet that Kyiv says has reduced its numbers by more than a third since the start of the war.
The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine said maritime drones operated by its Group 13 special unit struck and sank the 1,300-ton Russian patrol ship Sergei Kotov in the Black Sea, near the Kerch Strait that separates occupied Crimea from the coast of southwest Russia.
“As a result of the strike by Magura V5 maritime drones, the Russian ship Project 22160 ‘Sergei Kotov’ sustained damage to the stern, starboard and port sides,” sparking a fire aboard the vessel, a statement said. The military later confirmed the ship had sunk.
The mission was conducted in cooperation with the Ukrainian Navy and with the support of Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, it added.
Catchy tune picks up around 1:06.
The vaunted Russian Navy hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory during the Ukraine invasion starting with the sinking of its Slava class CG Moskva by knock-off Harpoon missiles. Now Ukes use maritime drones, a relatively low tech and cheap weapon. Sea drone swarm attacks against a superior platform are now a proven and scalable tactic. With a coordinated air assault by UAVs the attacks could be overwhelming, and a lot of folks are paying attention.
Big bada boom!
Yep! A very nice “water shattering” KA-BOOOM! Marvin…grins!
I reckon a bad day for the Rooskie Navy is a good day for everybody else? Is this vessel the Rooskie equivalent of a Little Crappy Ship?
YouTube channel, Reporting from Ukraine, posted an update explaining the bigger operation that lead to the destruction of that warship:
Dear Hasbro,
Could you please update your Battleship game to more accurately reflect current events?
Asking for a friend
Hopefully Big Navy is paying attention. And I’d bet my next pension check Taiwan is definitely paying attention
Oh yes; my Bubba Network says that Big Navy is paying VERY close attention to all of this.
The Russian Navy, as well as the Chinese Navy, are primarily coastal navies. Their emphasis and bread and butter involves operations close to the coastline with the backing of coastline defenses. This makes them easier to target.
It doesn’t help that in Russia’s case, they keep making the same mistakes. They should know by now that the faster their ships move at sea, the faster drones have to travel and the sooner they’ll be detected.
Fortunately for the U.S. Navy, at least when I was in, our focus was over the horizon and distance engagement. All branches of the U.S. military are following the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s targeting of specific types of Russian ships suggests that they eventually will go for destroying the Crimean Bridge (Kerch) and cut Russia’s ability to reinforce manpower or to provide additional supplies through this route. This is Russia’s most secure of the main supply routes. Destroy this bridge and you set the stage for collapsing Russia’s ability to hold onto Crimea.
Those ships would serve as backup if the bridge is destroyed. The Ukrainians are weakening Russia’s ability to effectively utilize these ships for both transport and for back up firepower once the Ukrainians gun for Crimea.
The destruction of the Kerch Bridge would force the Russians to move supplies through areas under Ukrainian fire control.
As I noted last year, the bridge should have been HVT number one. Word is the US Biden administration did not want them to target for fear of antagonizing the Russians. They have been fighting a war for 2 years I don’t know how much more antagonistic it gets.
Support the war effort, turn in your old jet ski.
Don’t you mean jetski?
$50 million aint bad for a new sub.
A field of advanced sonobuoys and a MK-54 ASW torpedo should cost ~$1.5M.
New artificial reef- priceless.
ReDDDDit has the video filmed by the crew spraying and praying until the first KaBooMSKI.
I believe that weapon is standard issue to the ATF whiskey rescue team WRT.
Excuse me, the ATF in too inept, incompetent, and impotent to field a Whisky Rescue Team. However, I’m a “one man gang” when it comes to that shit! I’ll rescue the shit out of some whisky. And, I don’t discriminate…bourbon, rye, Canadian, Irish, Scotch, Japanese I’ll give them ALL a good home!
Multicultural diversity in action. Kind’a brings a tear..
*sniff*
It was a long day. I am currently “rehoming” some Jamesons refugees that had to flee British oppression.
Matter of fact, I just rehomed a couple of varieties:
Tawny Port Manhattan made with Knob Creek Rye and a generous helping of Sandeman Tawny Port for an aperitif.
A couple of glasses of a decent house Pinot Grigio with dinner. Yeah, I know, it’s not whisky but roll with me.
A double MacAllen 12 for a digestif.
And, now that I’m back at the hotel, a nice Yuengling Traditional Lager. Which means I hit the trifecta and you all get to play this:
https://youtu.be/v1NEgIfyVsw?si=TmpSCdfamkAXK_hW
See, I’m not a one-note guy, I can appreciate alcohol in ALL its forms!🍺🍹🥃🍷🥂🧉🍸
And here’s another musical interlude from His Eminence, The Reverend Horton Heat:
https://youtu.be/2C263jcNKpY?si=bRsmcZQ_bIq2ZHuS
Pic of the Ukes Magura V5 maritime drone with a human for scale. Cost is estimated at a mere 273,000 USD a pop.
I’m sure we paid for it…
Can you ski behind it?
I’m guessing once.
It’s like the Japanese dragged the Pearl Harbor attack out over two years and we just sat around and took it. Remember back when we thought the Russians were ten feet tall? Now they look like a bunch of kids on the short bus.
More like a remake of Braveheart with Blinken playing this guy:
https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/a5975ba5-7c17-4673-9ef9-0dfdeb4e0951
Out CIWS
In: oversized Claymores.
It strikes me that Russia would have a difficult time attacking NATO since they’ve been mired in Ukraine over 2 years now.
What am I missing?
Nukes!
I’ve got a score card here fir everyone
“Russian Navy vessels under the Blac Sea”
I didn’t see any indication the ship was at an alert status as I couldn’t see any outgoing fire from it. The only impacts in the water I saw were frags from the boats blowing holes in the ship.