BREAKING. Russian Flag Ship Sinks While Being Towed to Port – Opinion

Russian media report that the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship is the guided-missile cruiser. MoskvaWhile being town to Port, a sunk. According to TASS

Russian Defense Ministry reported Thursday that the Moskva missile cruiser, which was being towable amid severe storms, sank due to hull damage from ammunition detonation.

“During the towing of the Moskva cruiser to the designation port, the ship lost stability due to hull damage, sustained during the detonation of ammunition because of a fire. Amid the heavy storm, the ship sank,” the Ministry said.

Minister said that crew were evacuated from the ship to Black Sea Fleet, just as announced.

The crew suffered a number of injuries that we don’t know about.

I really hope this story can put to an end the innuendo that this is a “fake news” story.

BREAKING covered last night’s initial reports. The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet Hit by Ukrainian Missiles, Dead in the Water, Crew Evacuated. A Ukrainian Neptune missile-launcher fired two missiles at the Moskva. One of the two missiles that penetrated the defense system of the missile/gun missile base set off an explosion of propellant and weapons in its firing tubes, creating an at least one missile. The explosions caused a firestorm that overwhelmed damage control and forced the evacuation of the crew. The fires were eventually put out or brought under control enough to allow for evacuation. MoskvaTo be taken in tow While on transit Moskva sank.

There may be some other thoughts.

• Today marks 110 years since the founding of the RMS TitanicYou can strike an iceberg.
• This marks the Russian flagship’s first loss since the Battle at Tsushima Straits.
• The Argentines have the honor of sharing the anguish of losing a capital ship in World War II.

Russians continue to blame Russian incompetence rather than giving Ukraine credit. Placing the responsibility for the loss on a non-specific “explosion” is rather lame as the evolutions a cruiser would carry out don’t have the same risk factors as those aboard aircraft carriers (see USS Oriskany and USS Forrestal; the loss of the USS Bonhomme Richard is in a class of its own).

Strange for an “accident” aboard one ship, as per Russia’s MoD, to cause all the others to sail farther away from shore unless the accident was being hit by Ukrainian missiles. https://t.co/R9I4CfhUM7

— Michael Weiss 🌻🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@michaeldweiss) April 14, 2022

In the beginning of World War II, the Moskva was prominently involved in an incident when it requested that the Ukrainian troops protecting Snake Island surrender. This incident was commemorated by a Ukraine stamp. This sinking will give a tremendous morale boost.

Not sure if y’all aware of this — that iconic “Russian warship, go fuck yourself” was initially addressed to the Moskva cruiser pic.twitter.com/vCk75OwV7a

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) April 14, 2022

The most immediate military impact, excluding the boost in Ukrainian morale (yes, I know, “In war, the moral is to the physical as three is to one”), is the permanent loss of Moskva’s impressive array of missile launchers to the Black Sea Fleet. The following is the text of the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits warships of belligerent nations can’t enter the Black Sea unless they are homeported there. Turkey stated that Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine was a war for the Convention and has refused three requests from Russian warships to enter the Straits. They are less capable of landing-attack, so they’ll act like an old man in a room filled with rocking chairs.

Nobody can believe that the Moskva lost its life in a tornado and experienced a combination of a devastating fire and an explosion due to negligence.

Interesting development. Russia can try to spin what happened, lie about the amount of damage, say there was a Black Sea storm (there wasn’t)…but it’s hard to counter the Moskva resting on the bottom & no news on the crew. https://t.co/h4QegLUGg8

— Mark Hertling (@MarkHertling) April 14, 2022

Two homegrown Ukrainian missiles struck her fatally, one of which should not have been capable of making it through, according to simulations. Moskva‘s defenses. Russia suffered a huge loss of prestige, which may be seen retrospectively as the pivotal moment in the war.