(Sevastopol) Early Wednesday morning (14/09/23) the Ukraine struck 2 naval targets - Rostov-on-don a Kilo type Submarine and the Minsk a Project775 Ropucha-class large landing ship. The targeting was somewhat easy as both were in dry dock undergoing maintenance for the Rostov-on-don and repairs for the Minsk after it had been damaged by an earlier Ukrainian attack on the 3rd of August 2023 and so the Ukrainians knew exactly where they were.
New Sevastopol dry dock higher resolution satellite image shows heavy damage on both ships hit; Ropucha landing ship and Kilo submarine.#Sebastopol https://t.co/snrsyfdIY4 pic.twitter.com/xbvVAdhzG5
— Tom Bike (@tom_bike) September 13, 2023
The loss of both ships and the blockage of two major
drydocks until both wrecks are cleared will
impact on the Russian Navy’s ability to conduct offensive operations for a while.
The loss of the Kilo Submarine will be the largest loss as it is the major launch vehicle for the Kalibr cruise missiles which it has been doing with impunity since the war started in Feb 2022. The Russians started with 2 kilo class submarines in the Black Sea, with usually 1 at sea and the other 1 in dock. The loss of 1 will now impact Moscow ability to launch missiles, not only that but due to Kyiv’s lethal strikes on the Russian fleet in and around Crimea, and after the sinking of the Moskva April 2022 by the use of Anti-Ship missiles, Moscow has relocated most of its Black Sea fleet to the port of Novorossiysk as far away from Ukraine as possible in which to keep them out of harm’s way. That said, the Captain of Krasnodar the other Kilo class submarine in the Black Sea, was gunned down and killed on the 10th of July 2023 apparently in revenge for the missile launched by his submarine on the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia in July 2022 of which killed 27 civilians, including three children.
The loss of the Minsk landing ship, may not
be felt now, but if the Ukraine manage to take out the Kursk bridge, then its
loss will be felt. Also if the Ukrainian army makes progress in its march towards
the sea, it would also allow the Russians to quickly redeploy troops from the sea,
but that is something of a guess seeing as of the 6 Project 775 Ropucha-class
large landing ships Moscow had in the Black sea at the start of its invasion of
Ukraine in Feb 22,1 (Minsk) has been destroyed
and another 3 are currently undergoing repairs after been badly damaged by
Ukrainian attacks . Meaning the Russians understand only too well how these
ships are vulnerable and as we have seen, they have become somewhat adverse to
putting them in harms way.
