The Russian warship ''
Moskva'', the
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
of the
Russian Navy's
Black Sea Fleet
Chernomorskiy flot
, image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet
, dates = May 13, ...
, sank on 14 April 2022 during the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
. Ukrainian officials said that their forces damaged the ship with two
R-360 Neptune
R-360 Neptune ( uk, Р-360 «Нептун», translit=R-360 "Neptun") is a Ukrainian anti-ship cruise missile developed by the Luch Design Bureau.
Neptune's design is based on the Soviet Kh-35 anti-ship missile, with substantially improved ran ...
anti-ship missile
An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good ...
s, and there was a fire, information which was later confirmed by the
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
. Russia reported the ship sank in stormy seas after the fire caused munitions to explode.
The cruiser is the largest Russian warship to be sunk in wartime since the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and the first Russian flagship sunk since the ''
Knyaz Suvorov'' in 1905, during the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
.
Russia said that 396 crew members had been evacuated, with one sailor killed and 27 missing, but there are unverified reports of more casualties. At least 17 of the missing crew members were later declared dead by a court in Sevastopol.
Background
In February 2022, the
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
of Russia's
Black Sea Fleet
Chernomorskiy flot
, image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet
, dates = May 13, ...
, the
guided missile cruiser ''Moskva'', left
Sevastopol
Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...
to participate in the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
. The ship was later used against the Ukrainian armed forces during the
attack on Snake Island
On 24 February 2022, the first day of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Navy attacked Snake Island (Ukraine), Snake Island, a Ukrainian island in the Black Sea, and captured it along with its entire g ...
, together with the Russian
patrol boat
A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and the ...
''
Vasily Bykov''.
''Moskva'' hailed the island's garrison over the radio and demanded its surrender, receiving the now-famous reply "
Russian warship, go fuck yourself
"Russian warship, go fuck yourself",, uk, Російський військовий корабель, іди нахуй, translit= Rosiiskii viiskovyi korabel, idy nakhui was the last communication made on 24 February 2022 during the Russian ...
" from its garrison. After this, all contact was lost with
Snake Island, and the thirteen-member Ukrainian garrison was captured.
Sinking
Ukrainian account
The first known report of a missile hitting the ship was at 20:42, 13 April 2022 Ukrainian time (
EEST
Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes it ...
,
UTC+03:00) with a
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
post by a Ukrainian volunteer connected to the military:
“The cruiser Moskva has just been hit by 2 Neptune missiles. It is standing
ot sunk burning. And there is a storm at sea. Tactical flooding is required, apparently." Later that evening presidential adviser
Oleksiy Arestovych
Oleksii Mykolaiovych Arestovych ( uk, Олексій Миколайович Арестович; born 3 August 1975) is a Ukrainian intelligence officer, blogger, actor, political and military columnist, and propagandist. He was a speaker of th ...
reported ''Moskva'' was on fire in rough seas and
Odesa governor Maksym Marchenko
Maksym Mykhaylovych Marchenko (; born 10 February 1983) is a Ukrainian colonel, former commander of the 28th Mechanized Brigade and the Aidar Battalion of the Ukrainian Ground Forces and the Governor of Odesa Oblast since 1 March 2022.
Biogra ...
officially confirmed that Ukrainian forces hit ''Moskva'' with two
R-360 Neptune
R-360 Neptune ( uk, Р-360 «Нептун», translit=R-360 "Neptun") is a Ukrainian anti-ship cruise missile developed by the Luch Design Bureau.
Neptune's design is based on the Soviet Kh-35 anti-ship missile, with substantially improved ran ...
anti-ship missile
An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good ...
s, which "caused very serious damage."
At 12:43, 14 April EEST, the
Ukrainian Southern Command posted a video on Facebook with a report stating the ship had received damage within the range of the Neptune anti-ship missile, there was a fire and other vessels in ''Moskva''s group "tried to help, but a storm and a powerful explosion of ammunition overturned the cruiser and it began to sink."
Russian account
Hours after Marchenko's claim, the
Russian Ministry of Defense
The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (russian: Министерство обороны Российской Федерации, Минобороны России, informally abbreviated as МО, МО РФ or Minoboron) is the govern ...
said that a fire had caused munitions to explode and that the ship had been seriously damaged, without any statement of cause or reference to a Ukrainian strike.
[ Posted to ''tass.ru'' at 01:58, 14 April 2022 EST, UTC+3 article updated at 02:33, 14 April 2022 EST][ Posted to ''ria.ru'' at 01:58, 14 April 2022 EST][ Posted to ''usnews.com'' at 09:19, 14 April 2022 EST]
The ministry said on 14 April that the missile systems of the cruiser were undamaged, the fire was contained by sailors, and that efforts were underway to tow the ship to port.
Later on 14 April, the Russian ministry said that ''Moskva'' sank while being towed during stormy weather,
On 15 April, the sinking was briefly reported on Russian news media and television, where it was said to be due to "stormy seas".
Other early observations
The
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
spokesman
John Kirby said early on 14 April that they did not have enough information to confirm a missile strike, but could not rule it out. Imagery they had examined showed the ship had suffered a sizable explosion. The cause of the explosion was not clear. The ship appeared to be moving under its own power, probably heading to Sevastopol for repairs.
A defense department spokesman later stated it was unclear whether the vessel was moving under her own power or being
towed.
A senior Defense Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated the ship was "battling a fire on board, but we do not know the extent of the damage” but it was "big" and "extensive."
An image from a satellite with cloud-penetrating
synthetic aperture radar
Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional images or three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a target region to provide fine ...
(SAR) revealed that at 18:52 local time (
UTC+03:00) on 13 April 2022, ''Moskva'' was located at , about south of
Odesa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...
, east of Snake Island and around from the Ukrainian coast.
An analysis suggested this was not long after the damage occurred which caused the ship to eventually sink. In the image, the cruiser is accompanied by other vessels.
[
At 02:59, 14 April 2022 EST the Reverse Side of the Medal, a ]Telegram channel
Telegram Messenger is a globally accessible freemium, cross-platform, encrypted, cloud-based and centralized instant messaging (IM) service. The application also provides optional end-to-end encrypted chats, popularly known as secret chat and ...
associated with the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group
The Wagner Group (russian: Группа Вагнера, Gruppa Vagnera), also known as PMC Wagner ( «Вагнер», ChVK «Vagner»; ), is a Russian paramilitary organization. It is variously described as a private military company (PMC), a ...
, posted the following: "According to unconfirmed reports, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the cruiser Moskva, sank." And, according to their "preliminary information, was indeed attacked by the Neptune anti-ship missiles from the coastline between Odesa and Nikolaev. Also, the forces of the ship were diverted to counter the Bayraktar TB-2 UAV. The blow fell on the port side, as a result of which the ship took a strong roll. After the threat of detonation of ammunition, the crew of about 500 people was evacuated."[Telegram post by Reverse Side of the Medal]
: (edited 02:59, 14 April 2022 EST: russian: По неподтвержденным данным, флагман Черноморского флота крейсер «Москва» – затонул. ... По нашей предварительной информации, флагман Черноморского флота России крейсер «Москва» действительно был атакован ПКР «Нептун» с береговой линии между Одессой и Николаевым. Также силы корабля были отвлечены на противодействие БПЛА «Bayraktar TB-2». Удар пришёлся по левому борту, в результате чего корабль принял сильный крен. После угрозы детонации боекомплекта, экипаж порядка ~500 человек был эвакуирован.
At 10:59, 14 April 2022 EST the Lithuanian defense minister, Arvydas Anušauskas
Arvydas Anušauskas (born 29 September 1963) is a Lithuanian politician and historian. He focuses on the history of the interwar Lithuanian secret services, KGB actions in Lithuania, and Soviet repressions in Lithuania. As a member of the Homela ...
, reported on Facebook that an SOS signal was sent at 01:05, the cruiser rolled onto its side at 01:14, and the electricity went out half an hour later. "From 2 a.m., a Turkish ship evacuated 54 sailors from the cruiser, and at about 3 a.m., Turkey and Romania reported that the ship was completely sunk." According to the Albanian website ''Politiko'', a Turkish official denied to BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
that a Turkish ship rescued any Russian crew.
In the afternoon of 14 April, US Defense Department spokesman Kirby confirmed the ship had sunk but said they were unable to confirm what caused the ship to sink, although the Ukrainian account was "certainly plausible."[ Speculating about the cause of the explosion, he stated: "Certainly, it could have been damage from some external force, like a missile or an attack of some kind, a torpedo or something like that ... but it could also be something that happens inside the skin of the ship – an engineering fire, a fuel fire. You just don't know."][
]
Missile strike
On 15 April, a senior US Defense official said that ''Moskva'' had been hit by two Neptune missiles; he also stated that the ship was about south of Odesa when she was struck and that the cruiser continued onward under her own power before sinking on 14 April. The official also said intelligence appraisals indicated there were casualties at the time of the strike, but he did not know how many. The Ukrainian missiles were apparently fired from a land-based launcher near Odesa while ''Moskva'' was located offshore.
On 5 May, a US official said that the US gave "a range of intelligence" to assist in the sinking of the ''Moskva''. However, the decision to strike was purely a Ukrainian one. There was a US Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft in the area before the sinking. The P-8A from Italy was patrolling within its radar range over the Black Sea and the US, when asked, did identify the ship as the ''Moskva'' as part of intelligence sharing to help Ukraine defend against attack from Russian ships. The US Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby stated: "There was no provision of targeting information by any United States Navy P-8 flying in these air policing missions."
''Moskva'' was equipped with a triple-tiered air defense that could have provided an adequate chance of intercepting the incoming Neptune missiles, with 3–4 minutes of radar detection warning. There was no record that the crew had activated these systems, including the S-300F and OSA surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
s, chaff
Chaff (; ) is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material (such as scaly parts of flowers or finely chopped straw). Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it. In agri ...
or decoys, electronic jamming, or the last-ditch AK-630
The AK-630 is a Soviet and Russian fully automatic naval, rotary cannon, close-in weapon system. The "630" designation refers to the weapon's six gun barrels and their 30 mm caliber.
The system is mounted in an enclosed automatic turret and dir ...
close-in weapon system
A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of ...
s. Tayfun Ozberk, a Turkey correspondent for ''Defense News
''Defense News'' is a website and newspaper about the politics, business, and technology of national security published by Sightline Media Group. Founded in 1986, ''Defense News'' serves an audience of senior military, government, and industry de ...
'', suggested that the ship's radars either failed to detect the incoming Neptune missiles or that the defenses were not ready to engage the detected threat, implying a lack of crew training for such emergency scenarios.
The operation to sink ''Moskva'' may have been assisted by the use of at least one Bayraktar TB2
The Bayraktar TB2 is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations. It is manufactured by the Turkish company Baykar Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş ...
drone (UCAV
An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, colloquially shortened as drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance ...
), which seems to have observed the event and may have played other roles in the ship's sinking. The Telegram post by the Wagner Group[ and a Ukrainian official said the drone "diverted" or "distracted" the crew, but David Hambling, a technology journalist writing in '']Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'', considered this unlikely, since the ship's anti-drone and anti-missile defenses were provided by two different systems: the long-range SA-N-6 Grumble (S-300F) missiles against the drone and the multibarreled AK-630 cannons against the Neptune missiles.[
Several reports were consistent with Bayraktar drones being in the same area as the ship. Arda Mevlutoglu, a defense industry analyst, stated that a Bayraktar TB2 ground-control station was seen in Odesa on 10 April.][ A video released by the Russian military on 12 April showed a missile being launched from the Russian frigate Admiral Essen and stated it destroyed a Bayraktar drone near the Crimean coast.][ A Ukrainian video "shot from the air with a ]night vision scope
A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD), night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The devi ...
,"[ claimed to show ''Moskva'' burning in the distance, and could have been made by a Bayraktar drone flying in the area.][
Analysts stated the Bayraktar drone may also have provided targeting information.][ Can Kasapoglu, the director of security and defense studies at a Turkish think tank, the Center for the Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), said: "Reports that Turkish TB2 drones were involved in the attack either as a distraction for Moskva or as location spotter of Moskva are both quite possible."][ Mevlutoglu mentioned that Rear Admiral ]Oleksiy Neizhpapa
Oleksiy Leonidovych Neizhpapa ( uk, Олексій Леонідович Неїжпапа; born 9 October 1975) is a Ukrainian vice admiral. He is Commander of the Naval Forces of the Ukrainian Navy
The Military Naval Forces of the Armed Forces ...
, commander of the Ukrainian naval forces, had in the past suggested that TB2 drones would be used with Neptune launchers for target reconnaissance.[ Mevlutoglu also said the main radar system on ''Moskva'' was out of date, designed to detect aircraft and cruise missiles. The TB2, with a lower radar cross-section and flight speed, may have been missed by the ship's radar.][
The aviation journalist Valius Venckunas reported: "According to ]Arkady Babchenko
Arkady Arkadyevich Babchenko (russian: Аркадий Аркадьевич Бабченко; born 18 March 1977) is a Russian print and television journalist. From 1995, Babchenko served in the communication corps in the North Caucasus while par ...
, a Russian military journalist and an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, a Ukrainian Bayraktar disabled Moskva’s radar station, rendering it unable to detect and intercept incoming missiles. However, Babchenko has not provided the source of such information."
Danish military analyst Anders Puck Nielsen makes a case that operator fatigue could have been a significant factor. With such systems active, the cruiser was expected to survive several strikes from Neptune missiles ( warhead each) due to her large displacement; one salvo combat model
The salvo combat model provides a mathematical representation of anti-ship missile battles between modern warships. It was developed by Wayne Hughes at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and published in 1995. The salvo ...
scenario suggests that Ukraine would have needed to launch at least eleven Neptune missiles simultaneously; ''Moskva'' could have defeated six of them, with the remaining five getting through her defenses and striking the ship, causing just enough hull damage to sink her. However, this assumes that ship munitions were not detonated by the impact, so poor damage control, using conscript
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
s instead of mid-grade professionals, and insufficient compartmentation have been suggested as contributing reasons to why the cruiser sank.
Images and video of the sinking ship
By 18 April, two images and a short 3-second video clip were circulating on social media showing ''Moskva'' after the fire broke out and prior to the final sinking. The images show the ship listing to port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
in daylight and calm sea, with signs of extensive fire damage around the central superstructure in addition to the presence of holes at the waterline, and most of her life raft
A lifeboat or liferaft is a small, rigid or inflatable boat carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard a ship. Lifeboat drills are required by law on larger commercial ships. Rafts (raft, liferafts) are also used. In t ...
s missing, indicating that some of the crew had evacuated by this point. According to CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
, "a large Russian rescue tug can be seen dousing the warship with water on the far side."[
File:Moskva Sinking.jpg, A purported image of ''Moskva'' on fire and listing following the incident, alt=A large warship lists heavily to her port side. Smoke billows from her bridge toward the photographer, who is at the rail of another vessel; the arm of someone else on that vessel is visible in the foreground.
File:Project 1164 Moskva 2012 G2.jpg, ''Moskva'' moored in ]Sevastopol Bay
Sevastopol Bay ( uk, Севастопольська бухта; russian: Севастопольская бухта) is a city harbor that includes a series of smaller bays carved out its shores. The bay of Sevastopol splits the city of Sevastopo ...
in 2012
The source or author of the video or images is unknown. ''The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' reported the images were first posted to the web via Telegram
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
on a channel linked to Russian security agencies. Analysts who were independently consulted by ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' and CNN confirmed that the images appear to show ''Moskva''.[ ''The Guardian'' quoted Yörük Işık, a journalist and expert ship spotter, as saying: "I believe the video is real. What we see shape, size. It is the ''Moskva''."] ''The Guardian'' also reported: "He şıksaid he believed at least one of the photographs was taken from a Project 22870 rescue tugship, of which Russia is believed to have two in the Black Sea."
A senior US defense official said the images could not be independently verified, "but the images themselves comport with what we had assessed to be the damage done to the ship."[ Carl Schuster, former director of operations at the ]US Pacific Command
United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific region.
Formerly known as United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) since its inception in 1947, t ...
's Joint Intelligence Operations Center, stated: "Assuming the photo is not faked in some way or photo-shopped, it looks like the missile(s) hit forward, which is not unexpected. Anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs) tend to go for the center of the radar return, which typically is the forward section of the superstructure."[ Chris Parry, a former rear admiral, wrote to ''The Guardian'': "It seems that one–two missiles entered the ship just below after the pair of Vulcan anti-ship missiles ... This would have caused massive internal damage and looks to have punctured the two missiles ... which would have drained down propellant fuel that further intensified the fire within the ship by spreading horizontally along the decks and through the damaged bulkheads."] Naval experts consulted by the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
considered damage to be consistent with a missile attack but disagreed with each other about the plausibility of other causes. The video does not show the storm stated in Russian reports.
Casualties
Lithuania's defense minister Arvydas Anušauskas said on 14 April that a distress signal
A distress signal, also known as a distress call, is an internationally recognized means for obtaining help. Distress signals are communicated by transmitting radio signals, displaying a visually observable item or illumination, or making a soun ...
had been sent from ''Moskva'' that day, and a Turkish ship responded, evacuating 54 personnel from the cruiser at 2 am, before she sank at 3 am. According to him, there were 485 crew on board, of whom 66 were officers. It was not known how many had survived.
Ukrainian sources reported on 15 April that some of ''Moskva''s crew were killed, including First Rank Captain Anton Kuprin (age 43), the ship's commanding officer, at the time of the explosion. On 15 April, a senior US official said the government also believed there had been casualties. At a US Department of Defense briefing on 18 April, a senior defense official revealed they had also seen lifeboats in the water with sailors in them but did not have an accurate count. The independent Russian newspaper ''Novaya Gazeta
''Novaya Gazeta'' ( rus, Новая газета, t=New Gazette, p=ˈnovəjə ɡɐˈzʲetə) is an independent Russian newspaper known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs. It is published in Mo ...
Europe'' reported some 40 sailors had been killed at the time of the sinking. According to an eyewitness, there were some 200 injured sailors in a hospital in Crimea.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said soon after the sinking that the crew had been evacuated, and initially did not report any casualties; however, some relatives of sailors have been told that their family member was "missing". On 16 April, Russia released a video allegedly showing a meeting in Sevastopol
Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...
with around 100 sailors of ''Moskva'', along with Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolay Yevmenov, who said that the sailors would continue their service in the Navy. According to independent Russian online newspaper '' The Insider'', out of a complement of 500 to 700 crewmen, about 100 sailors, and notably the First Rank Captain of the ship Anton Kuprin, are visible in the video. ''Naval News'' reported that the Russian Defense Ministry video showed around 240 people survived, about half the crew.[, 17 April 2022.] The Ukrainian edition of Radio Liberty
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
, however, says that it is impossible to verify the authenticity of the video.
On 22 April, the Russian Defense Ministry released a statement confirming that one sailor from ''Moskva'' was killed and 27 were missing, while 396 crew members were rescued. Family members of crew serving aboard the ''Moskva'' allege that the number of missing sailors could be higher and that they have received no official information regarding their fate. At least 17 of the missing crew members were later declared dead by a court in Sevastopol.
Impact
''Moskva'' is the largest Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
or Russian warship to be sunk in action since World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, when German aircraft bombed the Soviet battleship ''Marat
Marat may refer to:
People
*Marat (given name)
*Marat (surname)
**Jean-Paul Marat (1743-1793), French political theorist, physician and scientist
Arts, entertainment, and media
*''Marat/Sade'', a 1963 play by Peter Weiss
* ''Marat/Sade'' (fil ...
'', and the first loss of a Russian flagship in wartime since the 1905 sinking of the battleship '' Knyaz Suvorov'' during the Battle of Tsushima
The Battle of Tsushima (Japanese:対馬沖海戦, Tsushimaoki''-Kaisen'', russian: Цусимское сражение, ''Tsusimskoye srazheniye''), also known as the Battle of Tsushima Strait and the Naval Battle of Sea of Japan (Japanese: 日 ...
in the Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
. The last time a warship of comparable size was sunk was during the Falklands War
The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...
in 1982, when the Argentine Navy
The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...
cruiser ARA ''General Belgrano'' was sunk by the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
submarine . If Ukrainian claims are true, ''Moskva'' might be the largest warship ever disabled or destroyed by a missile, according to Carl Schuster, a retired US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
captain and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command
United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific region.
Formerly known as United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) since its inception in 1947, t ...
's Joint Intelligence Center.
The loss of ''Moskva'' is considered significant and humiliating to Russian president
The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
, but "more about psychological damage than material damage" according to Mykola Bielieskov from Ukraine's National Institute for Strategic Studies. He said that it would not completely lift Russia's naval blockade on Ukraine, but showed that Ukraine could employ sophisticated weaponry effectively. The Institute for the Study of War
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is a United States–based think tank founded in 2007 by Kimberly Kagan, providing research and analysis regarding issues of defense and foreign affairs. It has produced reports on the Syrian War, the War ...
reached similar conclusions and said the loss of the ship may force Russia "to either deploy additional air and point-defense assets to the Black Sea battlegroup or withdraw vessels from positions near the Ukrainian coast." Russia moved 5 other warships further away from the Ukrainian coast.
''Moskva'' was the only warship in Russia's Black Sea Fleet with the S-300F missile system for long-range air defense. She did not herself fire missiles at land targets in Ukraine, but she provided anti-aircraft support to vessels that did, and her sinking prompted Russian ships, now less protected, to move further offshore. Retired US Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
Samuel J. Cox, director of the Naval History and Heritage Command
The Naval History and Heritage Command, formerly the Naval Historical Center, is an Echelon II command responsible for the preservation, analysis, and dissemination of U.S. naval history and heritage located at the historic Washington Navy Yard. ...
, told ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' that with the loss of the ship, in the newspaper's words, "any amphibious assault on Ukraine would be much more dangerous for Russia, with its landing and amphibious ships much more vulnerable to attacks."
In June 2022, Russian ''Vasily Bykov'' class corvettes were spotted fitted with ground-based Tor-M1/2 anti-air missile systems on deck, with analysts speculating that the arrangement was to compensate for the loss of seaborne air defense following the loss of the ''Moskva''. Also in June, some of Russia's many gas platform
An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...
s were attacked due to decreased area protection, about halfway between Crimea and occupied Snake Island. By August, the Russian Navy's ability to control the Black Sea had decreased as Odesa was no longer threatened from sea. However, the Russian Navy maintained ability to protect the export of products from Russia's interior.
While two sister ships of ''Moskva'' were deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean
Eastern Mediterranean is a loose definition of the eastern approximate half, or third, of the Mediterranean Sea, often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea.
It typically embraces all of that sea's coastal zones, referring to communi ...
as of February 2022, Turkey has for the duration of the war closed the Turkish Straits to belligerent warships whose home port is not in the Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
, following the Montreux Convention
The (Montreux) Convention regarding the Regime of the Straits, often known simply as the Montreux Convention, is an international agreement governing the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits in Turkey. Signed on 20 July 1936 at the Montreux Palace ...
. Thus, Russia cannot send ships to replace the lost ''Moskva'' from its other fleet bases without violating Turkish sovereignty.
In 2020, the archpriest
The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogous ...
of the Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
Sevastopol District said that a fragment of the True Cross
The True Cross is the cross upon which Jesus was said to have been crucified, particularly as an object of religious veneration. There are no early accounts that the apostles or early Christians preserved the physical cross themselves, althoug ...
would be kept in ''Moskva''s chapel. The True Cross is the cross on which believers say Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
was crucified
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...
and a very rare relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
important to many Christians. There was speculation after her sinking that the relic may have gone down with the ship.
Aftermath
United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan
Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan (born November 28, 1976) is an American political advisor who currently serves as the National Security Advisor (United States), United States National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden. He was previously Director o ...
said that the sinking of ''Moskva'' "is a big blow to Russia", with Moscow split between a narrative of incompetence and one of having been attacked. Sasaki Takahiro, guest professor on Russian security policy at Hiroshima University
is a Japanese national university located in Higashihiroshima and Hiroshima, Japan. Established in 1929, it was chartered as a university in 1949 following the merge of a number of national educational institutions.
History
Under the Nationa ...
, stated in ''The Asahi Shimbun
is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition and ...
'' that the sinking of ''Moskva'' is compared with that of ''Yamato
was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a name for the whole of Japan.
Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial House of Japan.
Japanese his ...
'', the battleship of Imperial Japan. US Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said that ''Moskva''s main mission was air defense for the Russian forces in the Black Sea and that her sinking "will have an impact on that capability, certainly in the near term".
According to an analysis by ''Forbes Ukraine
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' on 14 April 2022, the sinking of ''Moskva'' is the most costly single loss for the Russian military in the war to date, and the ship would cost around US$750 million to replace.
Although Russia did not confirm that Ukrainian missiles had hit the ship, Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
reported that in the morning of 15 April, Russia launched an apparent retaliatory missile strike against the missile factory Luch Design Bureau
Luch Design Bureau ( uk, Державне Київське конструкторське бюро «Луч»), located in Kyiv, Ukraine, is a major Ukrainian developer of components for the defense industry.
The company is in close co-operation w ...
in Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
, where the Neptune missiles allegedly used in the attack were designed and manufactured.
The sinking of ''Moskva'' came two days after Ukrposhta
JSC Ukrainian Postal Service or Ukrposhta ( uk, Укрпошта) is the national postal service of Ukraine. It is a public company with 100% state ownership due to its strategic importance. In 1999–2015 it was a unitary enterprise of the gov ...
released one million "Russian warship, go fuck yourself" stamps, which show a soldier giving the finger
In Western culture, "the finger", or the middle finger (as in giving someone the (middle) finger, the bird or flipping someone off) is an obscene hand gesture. The gesture communicates moderate to extreme contempt, and is roughly equivalent i ...
to ''Moskva''. The sinking boosted sales of the stamp in Ukraine. Some people in Ukraine queued for more than two hours to get the stamp. The sinking of ''Moskva'' likely boosted the morale of many Ukrainians and negatively affected morale of the invading Russian forces. Oleksiy Neizhpapa, the commander of Ukrainian naval forces, was promoted as a reward for the sinking of ''Moskva.''
Russian TV media only discussed the story briefly, while news articles described out-of-date fire-suppression systems and said that the sinking would not have an effect on the war. However, film director and former State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
member Vladimir Bortko
Vladimir Vladimirovich Bortko (russian: Владимир Владимирович Бортко; born 7 May 1946) is a Russian film director, screenwriter, producer and politician. He was a member of the State Duma between 2011 and 2021, and was aw ...
, described by the BBC as "clearly emotional", said (as a guest on a talk show) the fate of ''Moskva'' was grounds for war. On 18 April, Russia-1
Russia-1 (russian: Россия-1) is a state-owned Russian television channel, first aired on 14 February 1956 as Programme Two in the Soviet Union. It was relaunched as RTR on 13 May 1991, and is known today as Russia-1. It is the flagship ch ...
state TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov criticised the Russian navy over the sinking; Russian commentator Sergei Markov, a strong Kremlin supporter, told the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
's ''The World at One
''The World at One'', or ''WATO'' ("what-oh") for short, is BBC Radio 4's long-running lunchtime news and current affairs programme, produced by BBC News, which is currently broadcast from 13:00 to 13:45 from Monday to Friday. The programme de ...
'' that the cruiser had been struck by missiles shipped from Norway, and that her electronic defenses had been neutralised by the US. The Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda
''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (russian: link=no, Комсомольская правда; lit. "Komsomol Truth") is a daily Russian tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper, founded on 13 March 1925.
History and profile
During the Soviet era, ...
speculated that the ship had been hit by a Norwegian AGM-119 Penguin missile.
A Ukraine-based publication and two defense analysts wrote in the aftermath that ''Moskva'' had the capability to carry nuclear warheads
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission, fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion, fusion reactions (Thermonuclear weapon, thermonu ...
and that she may have been carrying two nuclear warheads at the time of her sinking. They called for neighboring nations to launch an investigation into the possibility of a nuclear accident
A nuclear and radiation accident is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "an event that has led to significant consequences to people, the environment or the facility. Examples include lethal effects to individuals, lar ...
. There is a slight chance that the cruiser was carrying nuclear warheads for her P-500/P-1000 anti-ship missiles, but there is no evidence indicating that she was doing so. A senior U.S. defense official stated there were no nuclear weapons on the ship when she sank.
Ukraine declared the wreck of ''Moskva'' as having "underwater cultural heritage". It is being advertised as a dive wreck as it is only off the coast from Odesa and the water is only 45–50 metres deep. The wreck "can be admired without much diving".
The Russian navy was reported to have sent the salvage ship with the submersible onboard to the wreck, as part of an eight-ship convoy. Worldwide, ''Kommuna'' is the oldest active-duty navy ship still in service, at 110 years old and inherited from the Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a ...
. Due to the size of ''Moskva'' and that she sank in one piece, bringing her to the surface is thought to be impractical. The aim is likely to recover encryption material, weapons, bodies, and other sensitive material that foreign powers might be interested in. ''Kommuna'' is based with the Black Sea Fleet and sails from Sevastopol. Her presence at the wreck site would expose her to attack by Ukrainian forces. On 24 May, Ukrainian sources claimed that Russia had spent the previous two weeks removing bodies and classified equipment from the wreck of the ''Moskva''. According to Ukraine, five to seven ships were involved.
On 30 June, Russia retreated from Snake Island, the island that ''Moskva'' had attacked together with ''Vasily Bykov''. The Ukrainian military set foot on Snake Island on 4 July and raised the Ukrainian flag over it.
On 4 November, a Sevastopol court declared 17 of the missing sailors of the Moskva dead.
References
{{2022 shipwrecks
April 2022 events in Ukraine
April 2022 events in Russia
Maritime incidents in 2022
Military history of the Black Sea
Naval magazine explosions
Russo-Ukrainian War
Shipwrecks of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Southern Ukraine campaign
Naval history of Russia