Cruiser "Moscow" was hit by two Ukrainian anti-ship missiles?

On the flagship cruiser of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia “Moskva” a fire broke out “as a result of the detonation of ammunition”, reports April 14 TASS with reference to the Russian Ministry of Defense. On the eve of the Ukrainian authorities said that the cruiser was hit by two Ukrainian anti-ship missiles “Neptune”.

“As a result of a fire, ammunition detonated on the Moskva missile cruiser. The ship was seriously damaged. The crew was completely evacuated,” the Russian military department said. The ministry said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

On the evening of April 13, the head of the administration of the Odessa region, Maxim Marchenko, reported on the telegram channel that the cruiser was attacked missiles “Neptune” Ukrainian-made and the ship received “very serious damage.” Aleksey Arestovich, adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, also announced a fire on the ship, without specifying what caused the fire.

On the morning of March 14, Zelensky’s speaker Arestovich declaredthat the cruiser Moscow sank.

“The cruiser Moskva,” writes Arestovich, “made a negative ascent in the area of ​​​​Snake Island, where on February 24 the Ukrainian military sent it to x **.”

“Where is Moscow? She drowned,” added the adviser to the head of the OP. According to Arestovich, the sinking of Moscow is a colossal military event and the largest defeat of the Russian fleet since World War II. “A very ringing slap in the face, all the more symbolic in name,” he summed up.

People’s Deputy of Ukraine Oleksiy Goncharenko published in his telegram channel the following chronology of the incident:

• “1:00 The Russian Defense Ministry announced a fire and a subsequent explosion of ammunition on the Moskva cruiser.
• At 1:05 a.m., an SOS signal was transmitted from the cruiser Moskva (source: International Maritime Forum).
• 1:14, as a result of a fire and explosion, the cruiser “Moskva” rolled over to the port side.
• 1:47 on the cruiser “Moskva” the power supply completely disappeared. Everything is bad.
• 2:07 Turkey claims that 99.99% of the “Moscow” can sink within an hour (54 sailors from the cruiser were rescued by a Turkish ship, ≈ 450 went to the bottom)
• 2:48 in Turkey and Romania they say that the cruiser Moskva sank.

Like later reported to the Department of Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, “tonight, as a result of crossing the course with two unknown objects, an explosion occurred on the deck of the cruiser Moskva, which led to smoke and the distribution of ammunition throughout the ship’s hull.”

⚡️⚡️Seems previous report on the sinking was not correct..

MOD:

▪️ The fire is localized.

▪️”#Moskva” keeps buoyancy. Main missile armament was not damaged.

▪️ Crew was evacuated

▪️ Ship will be towed to port.

▪️ The cause is under investigation.

— Tony (@Cyberspec1) April 14, 2022

The information of Arestovich and Goncharenko was spread by all Ukrainian, many Western and oppositional mass media to the authorities of the Russian Federation. Nevertheless, as it turned out, the ship did not sink, but, having received severe damageme now being towed to Sevastopol.

What threatens the loss of “Moscow”

One of the tasks of the cruiser is air and missile defense in the interests of all the forces of the fleet: the ship carries on board long-range air defense systems S-300 Fort.

The loss of Moskva’s combat readiness can seriously weaken the protection of the fleet forces participating in the war with Ukraine from air attacks. Probably “Moskva”, the only one of the ships of its class remaining in service (there is still a “Varyag” in the Pacific Fleet and “Marshal Ustinov” in the North), during modernization did not receive new radars capable of effectively detecting low-flying targets like the Neptune anti-ship missile.

The displacement of “Moscow” is 9800-11 300 tons. If the cruiser cannot be saved, then this will be the largest combat loss of the world’s fleets since 1982.

What is known about the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet

According to site The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Moskva missile cruiser was laid down in 1976 at the Nikolaev Shipyard named after 61 Communards in Ukraine and was originally called Slava. Seven years later, the ship was commissioned into the fleet. The cruiser became the lead ship of the Soviet missile cruisers project, whose main task was to attack enemy surface ships using anti-ship missiles.

In the 1990s, in the process of dividing the Black Sea Fleet between Russia and Ukraine, Russia received the ship. Kiev received an unfinished cruiser of the same class “Ukraine”, which is still on the stocks of the shipyard in Nikolaev and was possibly fired upon by Russian artillery in March 2022.

What kind of missiles hit “Moscow”

The Ukrainian side claims that the Russian cruiser was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles. Wikipedia reports that RCC “Neptune” – Ukrainian subsonic low-altitude anti-ship missile designed to destroy ships with a displacement of up to 5000 tons, as well as ground targets.

Developed by the Kiev Design Bureau “Luch” on the basis of the Soviet Kh-35 missile, in the development and production of which Ukrainian enterprises took part. The Neptune differs from the Kh-35 in its larger size and longer range, as well as a new control system.

However, some Russian experts believe that it was a Harpoon missile recently supplied by Britain to protect Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. This is reported Daily Mail citing his sources in the British government.

“Harpoon” is an all-weather over-the-horizon anti-ship missile developed by the company McDonnell Douglasand now delivers it Boeing Defense, Space & Security. It is produced in three versions: air-based (AGM-84), ship-based (coastal)-based (RGM-84) and for submarines (UGM-84). Since the launch in the series (1977), the ammunition has undergone many modifications.

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