News Forum - Large Russian war ship struck, abandoned to flames in Black Sea

[Thaiger]

As Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its 50th day, its flagship cruiser has been abandoned to flames in the Black Sea, after allegedly being struck by cruise missiles. At least, that’s the Ukrainian side of the story. Russia state media reported on Wednesday that a fire onboard the ship had detonated ammunition, requiring sailors to abandon ship. They made no mention of a Ukrainian strike. Neither did they report any casualties. A guided missile cruiser, Moskva is the flagship of the Russian navy’s Black Sea fleet. Storms over the area have so far obscured satellite imagery, preventing visual confirmation of […]

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[Fester]

A fire that big causing all crew to abandon a ship like that would most likely be the result of a missile attack.    

[TedG]

This is good news. 

[Zorba_the_Geek]

Ukraine: *Plays AC/DC Thunderstruck from observer drone as Ruski rust-bucket meets Davy Jones.*

[Zorba_the_Geek]

Zelenskyy is the Churchill of our Century. 

Stand with Ukraine in its darkest hour; that they shall never surrender!

[Poolie]

A thousand of them did only this morning. Just saying like.......

[Politenessman]

43 minutes ago, Fester said:

A fire that big causing all crew to abandon a ship like that would most likely be the result of a missile attack.    

Not necessarily, between poor Russian maintenance and poor damage control procedures, a fire starting and getting dangerously out of control is not inconceivable.

Having said that my money is on a cruise missile hit.

However, you also have to ask "is it really better from a Russian perspective if the flagship of the Black Sea fleet essentially disabled itself through incompetence rather than enemy action?"

[Fester]

2 minutes ago, Politenessman said:

Not necessarily, between poor Russian maintenance and poor damage control procedures, a fire starting and getting dangerously out of control is not inconceivable.

Having said that my money is on a cruise missile hit.

However, you also have to ask "is it really better from a Russian perspective if the flagship of the Black Sea fleet essentially disabled itself through incompetence rather than enemy action?"

Well I did say most likely. 

And I couldn't  give a poo about the Russian perspective right now.

[Freeduhdumb]

Russia is losing the war!! ✌

With the exception of the first sentence, alleging a missile attack, The entire article is about a fire on board ship... I'm inclined, based upon the article's lack of any evidence of a missile attack anywhere found in the article and... that it appears there were no casualties, and the boat is still operational, that there was in deed just a fire. 

[Bifrost]

I hope it wil sink  .  and the hit more of the russkij ships in the black sea - I wait the british Harpoons will arrive

[Rookiescot]

35 minutes ago, Freeduhdumb said:

Russia is losing the war!! ✌

With the exception of the first sentence, alleging a missile attack, The entire article is about a fire on board ship... I'm inclined, based upon the article's lack of any evidence of a missile attack anywhere found in the article and... that it appears there were no casualties, and the boat is still operational, that there was in deed just a fire. 

Except the Ukrainians announced it had been hit with two missiles BEFORE Russia said there had been a fire on board.

Hmmmm its almost like the Ukrainians had some kind of mystic knowledge of future events and are trying to claim credit for an unfortunate event. 

 

 

[Marble-eye]

35 minutes ago, Freeduhdumb said:

Russia is losing the war!! ✌

With the exception of the first sentence, alleging a missile attack, The entire article is about a fire on board ship... I'm inclined, based upon the article's lack of any evidence of a missile attack anywhere found in the article and... that it appears there were no casualties, and the boat is still operational, that there was in deed just a fire. 

This is the second Russian ship to catch fire, do you think it might be spontaneous combustion then, if Russian ships are so inflammable it might be a good idea not to use wood for the decks.

[Rookiescot]

1 hour ago, Poolie said:

A thousand of them did only this morning. Just saying like.......

Because they run out of ammunition.

Just saying like.

[Poolie]

33 minutes ago, Bifrost said:

I hope it wil sink  .  and the hit more of the russkij ships in the black sea - I wait the british Harpoons will arrive

Me too. I want to see how they are going to launch them.

[Fester]

17 minutes ago, Marble-eye said:

This is the second Russian ship to catch fire, do you think it might be spontaneous combustion then, if Russian ships are so inflammable it might be a good idea not to use wood for the decks.

Maybe they were making a cuppa?

[Fester]

4 minutes ago, Poolie said:

Me too. I want to see how they are going to launch them.

 

[Rookiescot]

4 minutes ago, Fester said:

Maybe they were making a cuppa?

OK you fetch the teabags and I will get the phosphorus grenade 

[Fester]

Just now, Rookiescot said:

OK you fetch the teabags and I will get the phosphorus grenade 

One lump or two? 

[Rookiescot]

Just now, Fester said:

One lump or two? 

Dont think it matters now we have been blown overboard. 

[Poolie]

8 minutes ago, Fester said:

Precisely. These are sea launched. And they are obsolete in 2023.

[Rookiescot]

5 minutes ago, Poolie said:

Precisely. These are sea launched.

No. They can be launched from land as well.

[Fester]

6 minutes ago, Poolie said:

Precisely. These are sea launched. And they are obsolete in 2023.

Whoa! I guess the tides out then.

[Poolie]

12 minutes ago, Fester said:

Whoa! I guess the tides out then.

https://www.navylookout.com/can-the-uk-supply-anti-ship-missiles-to-ukraine/

Maybe. No launchers though.

[EdwardV]

1 hour ago, Freeduhdumb said:

Russia is losing the war!! ✌

With the exception of the first sentence, alleging a missile attack, The entire article is about a fire on board ship... I'm inclined, based upon the article's lack of any evidence of a missile attack anywhere found in the article and... that it appears there were no casualties, and the boat is still operational, that there was in deed just a fire. 

"It appears there were no casualties" - coming from Russian sources, what else do you think they would say? They still claim there are less than 2K dead Russian soldiers. 

While it is certainly believable it was just basic Russia incompetence that caused the fire, it's also not as likely as a missile strike. The thing is the Ukrainians claimed the missile strike several hours before Russia announced the fire and abandonment of the Moskva. Here is a video reported to be of the missile strike (admittedly it's dark but you do see firing from the ship prior to a huge explosion, no doubt the ship trying to shoot down the missiles).

 Video Shows Russia's Moskva Cruiser Hit by Ukraine's Neptune Missiles (newsweek.com)

The missile in question is the newly built Ukrainian Neptune, just coming into service last year (ironically a copy of a Russian missile). It was doubted to be operation yet . The report is they have but a single battery and had been holding it in reserve for the chance at hitting the Moskva. The Neptune is similar to the Harpoon in they are subsonic sea skimming cruise missiles. The Neptune of course being much newer, slightly larger and longer ranged but with a smaller warhead. The fact it's not a technologically advanced missile calls into question Russian ship defensive abilities.  

For the Russians this is a massive loss. The Moskva is the Black Sea Fleet flagship, the largest and most heavily armed ship in the fleet. It's also completely irreplaceable. Russia only has three of these ships, and this one is out for the rest of the war. With Turkey blocking naval vessels from transiting the Bosporus strait, they can't replace it. Keeping in mind the Moskva is twice as big as any of the other Russian ships in the Black Sea fleet. Its the one who's been shelling Odesa and carries the large long range cruise missiles to hit deep into Ukraine. 

 

[Marble-eye]

So there seems to be two reasons why the Russian warship caught fire.

Reason 1. The Ukraine hit the warship with a missile.

Reason 2. The Russian navy is totally gormless.

 

"Russia’s Ministry of Defense said the warship was “seriously damaged” and that its crew was “completely evacuated” after the explosion, which occurred when “ammunition detonated” as a result of a fire, according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS."

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/14/pentagon-explosion-russian-warship-00025243