The Russian Navy has been ‘largely neutralised’ by Ukrainian coastal defences in its ability to control a swathe of the Black Sea, say the British Ministry of Defence in an intelligence update.
The update states:
- On 17 June 2022, Ukrainian forces claimed their first successful use of Western-donated Harpoon anti-ship missiles to engage Russian maritime forces.
- The target of the attack was almost certainly the Russian naval tug Spasatel Vasily Bekh, which was delivering weapons and personnel to Snake Island in the north-western Black Sea.
- The destruction of the Russian vessel on a resupply mission demonstrates the difficulty Russia faces when attempting to support their forces occupying Snake Island.
This is the latest in a series of Russian vessels, including the cruiser Moskva, to be damaged or destroyed by Ukraine during the conflict. - Ukrainian coastal defence capability has largely neutralised Russia’s ability to establish sea control and project maritime force in the north-western Black Sea.
This has undermined the viability of Russia’s original operational design for the invasion, which involved holding the Odesa region at risk from the sea.
Maksym Marchenko, head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, said this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.
“This morning, our Navy struck the Black Sea Fleet’s support vessel Vasily Bekh, equipped with a Tor air defense missile system. It later emerged that it had sunk,” he said in a video address.
The vessel was understood to be carrying supplies and soldiers to strengthen the Russian presence on the occupied Snake Island.
Many will remember imagery emerging showing the aftermath of a Ukrainian missile strike on a Russian warship.
The images show the ship billowing smoke and low in the water. The vessel is also seen listing to port with damage on its left side.
With a crew of 510, Moskva was the most powerful warship in the Black Sea region.
The more Russian ships at the bottom of the Black Sea, the better place the world will be.
So cruel!
They’ll be lonely there, might as well give them some VVS jets and VDV troops for company.
As I’ve said before; a goldmine for future marine archaeologists. ‘spect they’ll be very grateful.
Russian seems to be creating more artificial reefs for sea-life to colonise than any other nation 😏
Ah, so it was a “special maritime operation” all along!
Green Agenda🙄
And the fish
its all down the hatch mate
sad
Still at least they’ll have a tug
No they won’t…
the Ukrainians are sinking their tugs too! 🤣
Yet again it highlights the folly of not upgrading the RN’s Harpoon inventory to keep it in service until FC/ASW arrives. It isn’t perfect but still seems to be effective against its most likely adversary.
I would have to agree with that. A low cost option as a part of a Hi-Lo mix – the upgrade kits are available fixed price so it is not a risky way of doing things. I really do think that we need a big pile of cheap(ish) missiles Harpoon/Cruise for these kind of events and then fewer very high end missiles that the opposition know they cannot defeat to shift the balance decisively. All of which can go into a Mk41 VLS or be canister launched as they are ATM. OK Harpoon upgrade might be stand alone rather than… Read more »
Cheap and numerous over eyewateringly expensive and solo. Distributed on cheap and numerous platforms to boot.
Yes we should not retire Harpoon until we get a replacement. I recall seeing Warship life at sea with the Type 23 frigate facing off against the Russian ship. The Russian was fully stocked with SSMs the T23 had a medium calibre gun…. This situation should have never happened. The RN/MoD/politicians have been negligent gambling with sailors lives to uphold expedient polices…. We should put Harpoon back onto our ships T23 and T45, we should have kits for all 12 T23s and 5 T45s. We should buy a SSM for the P8s it is already cleared for Harpoon. As has… Read more »
We retire all our military equipment too early my son was on Torbay when it was retired everyone. From the captain to the dockyard cat agreed that the boat was good for another five years service at least it’s the same thing over and over again ark royal went five years before it’s true out of service date it was clear that it could have taken on much of oceans task’s I myself was on Antrim when it was sold to Chile , who refitted it sand had ten years that the RN could have had
More quality for CIWS Always worth it
….and learn the lesson that there is going to be at the very least 2 coming in the other way if a RN vessel is under attack that will need dealing with. Probably 6 if going for an aircraft carrier. Please can we arm our carriers more robustly and not just rely on escorts.
Amen! For the Carriers add Sea Ceptor (minimal FOD), and add 40MM cannons with Bofors 3P (Pre-fragmented, Programmable, Proximity- fused) ammo. We have the spots already there as we didn’t put in 30mm, so 2 of each + integration.
Sea Ceptor on the Carrier would be a relatively inexpensive upgrade of great value. We need to add 4x40mm (like the ones on T31). Also replace 3 Phalanx with 4 Sea Ram units. This would give the carrier a short to medium range missile, a short range missile, and then a 40mm CIWS.
And where are the trackers going to go on the upper deck? Firing arcs for guns? Tracker transmission arcs? Ops room consoles to control all of this? Cabling from trackers to consoles to mounts. Power supply. Ships services. Software integration into CMS. Mutual interference checks if the tracker is a radar tracker. Operators and maintainers. Ammunition resupply routes. Ammo storage lockers deep and at the mounts.
All of a sudden its not inexpensive…its exorbitantly expensive and will take a carrier out of use whilst its being implemented and trialled.
Which is why it won’t happen, it needed to be designed in from the early stages, even as just an option.
The USN has escort ships designed to give that protection.
It is doable but at great expense in both time and money. Its not something the RN is going to want to spend its budget on.
See above it would not cost as much as you may think.
There is no point is saving a bit of money if you loose a very expensive carrier. With only a small number of escorts we need to protect the carrier and upgrading its defensive would be very cost effective.
Most of it has been planned in… we have already planned in 4 30mm guns with trackers that were never installed. There is already spots for 4 Phalanx mounts on each carrier, these could just be replaced by Sea RAM mounts. The carriers already have the same radar as the T23 that uses Sea Ceptor. There is plenty of room on the carrier for som canister launchers for Sea Ceptor needing a minimum of fuss.
So no we do not need an expensive redesign it is almost in place already.
The trackers have already been designed in, along with the arcs. The 30mm we never installed had both arcs and trackers. All I suggest is installing 40mm instead of 30mm.Likewise phalanx already have positions for 4 mounts. We would only need to swap Phalanx for Sea RAM or a RAM mount cued by the ships radar picture. Sea Sabre can be cued by any 3D radar. In fact the 997 on the T23 is the same as the one on the carrier. We would only need to find a couple of spots for some Sea Ceptor missile. So what I… Read more »
Would it be feasible to have the VLS in say standard ISO sized containers kept below decks and then wheeled out onto the main deck and lashed down and connected to power and data feeds, perhaps near an existing AD point?
A better short term solution would be just to buy extra Shy Sabre truck launchers as used by the army and just park them on the deck.
A more long term solution would be to add a VLS pod perhaps on the bow next to the ski jump. After all the French carrier has VLS using ASTER 15. Sea Ceptor is a better option as it is soft launch and does not generate much smoke.
One now Russian asset in the NW Black Sea that Ukraine is having difficulty neutralizing is Snake Island. I have posted the following in the SN opinion thread and thought it may be relevant here as well. Further to the attack on Snake Island yesterday this is the Russian MoD release that I put here without comment. Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine (June 21, 2022) On June 20, at about 05.00 AM, the Kiev regime attempted to capture Snake Island. The plan of the operation composed by the Kiev regime supposed… Read more »
One now Russian asset in the NW Black Sea that Ukraine is having difficulty neutralizing is Snake Island.
Proof, if further proof were not needed, that ‘John’ is a less than slick Russian disinformation, disruption effort. The grammar is like g**gle translate at its worse.
I apologize for not inserting a couple of commas in that sentence. It was clearly in your eyes a grammatical crime of the first order. It is now 60 years this month since I sat and passed O level English so my grammar is a wee bit rusty but to have it described as “like g**gle translate at its worse” is a bit harsh.
Kyiv “Regime” ??
Do you think they’re a regime John?
Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine …
That’s all the answer ‘John’ will cough up Daniele.
I reported what the Russian MoD said and said specifically “without comment”.
All you do is attack the messenger. No comment on the content then?
You continually blow smoke into the eyes of anyone who challenges you the stream of Moscow Central propaganda you have been posting since the invasion in February.
From this your readers have determined you support this invasion, its conduct and objectives. Is that an accurate characterisation of your position? You have had numerous invitations to respond.
Give yourself a break, you need it. “Without comment” why? do you not want to put your opinion forward and have the balls to back it up, or are you currently content to regurgitate Russian state propoganda? And any condemnation of your Nazi heros Poop tins illegal invasion of Ukraine yet? Do you think he is ill, do you want to see him leave the position of Russian head shed?
unquestionably
Ah, so you think they are a ‘regime’ in Kiev then?
Ah you comment on A Moores post, which does seem to be a new poster, with 7 comments, all supporting Russia or anti NATO….FFS make more of an effort you saddos.
Russian MoD words not mine and of course not, it is an elected Government but following its actions, where it has now legally banned the largest opposition party and seized its assets, it looks to be acting more like a dictatorship than a democratic government. But then you guys already knew that as you, like me, follow the news.
Just in case you didn’t there is a write up on it here https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-bans-main-opposition-party-seizes-all-its-assets
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Hedge
So? They are, as it says in your link, news aggregators. They may put a right wing spin but they are not known to be liars.
Are you disputing that the Ministry of Justice in Kiev did not act as they reported? Or are you just having a go at me the messenger?
It is nothing new through two world wars any person from an axis nation that could be a threat to the war effort was treated the same, before my time but I believe during the Falklands war Argentinean citizens and companies were placed into special measures (can someone a bit older confirm this please ). As far as trying to imply that this is a crackdown by a dictatorship I trust you understand Ukraine are in a state of total war against the Russian invaders, whilst we are on the subject of dictatorships inside Russia any dissent or public protest… Read more »
Just like you, nope, you are told what to say, we make an educated and free opion on such matters. And would you like to see Putin leave the job of top Nazi? Any condemnation of his illegal invasion of Ukraine?
This report is not credible… some of the M777 shells alone should have got through, let alone all the other stuff. Even if this was true and the Russians have an invincible defence, as they cannot result their SAMs it is only a matter of time now before the defences on the island are destroyed. It will give the Russians a taste of their own medicine.
Plus after the amount of lies the Russians have put out, I would not trust anything they say. These are the people who told us they would not invade Ukraine!
Just read a report from the Ukrainian side saying it successfully hit Russian targets on Snake island with rocket artillery (no air attacks by planes etc). The also claim to have destroyed 3 oil rigs held by the Russians.
This report appears much more believable to me. It is only a matter of time before the island is back under its rightful government.
The very sane oil and gas rigs that were originally Ukrainian. They got usurped when Russia annexed Crimea.
Yes they are in fact gas rigs and have been turned into military platforms for sea control and intelligence gathering. So they were valid targets.
Russian Defence Ministry…… that noted bastion of truth, integrity and honesty. Said no-one ever. We can file most of that report in the same bin of bullshit that we filed your report that the Moskva was safely afloat and tied up in Sevastapol.
How are the jailed Russian anti war protesters doing? Have they been released from jail yet? Speaking of regimes, is opposition to Putins rule permitted yet or do opposing political figures still face imprisonment and murder? Use your special Internet research tools and your 60 year old English O level to help you.
Read this morning and saw the sat photos that a number of AAW assets and buildings on the island got flattened last night by MLRS systems and Arty.
There is no need to capture it and the reports of an actual troop assault are obviously fake as are the no damage reports. The Ukr are happy to interdict it from long range using standoff weapons. The place is now a target magnet for Ukr long range systems.
Can you put up a link please?
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukrainian-strikes-on-russian-occupied-snake-island-confirmed-in-satellite-imagery
Does that make you sad?
He has, have you thanked him or are you now trying to come up with some shite that will debunk it, using your now famous “random sadddos on twitter or YouTube to back up your noncence? Oh dear johnskie sad, johnskie not doing a very good job of trolling, johnskie is failing to make Nazi Russia the innocent party here, oh dear, how sad never mind!
Found it. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10940985/Ukraine-deals-significant-blow-Putins-Black-Sea-forces-pounding-Snake-Island-garrison.html
I am not surprised the Russians were fibbing. The bigger the claims they make the more it is likely to be a Putin lie. I think for political reasons the Ukrainians will retake the island after they have finished restroying the Russian forces.
Thats twice you have posted that shite.
Then why aren’t they able to ship out the much needed grain??
That’s a tough call
Basically because the Ukrainians salted the sea with hundreds of mines to prevent a Russian invasion, some of which broke their moorings drifting down the west side of the Black Sea. How many are lose is unknown and whether the Ukrainian Navy knows where the still tethered mines are is also unknown. As a consequence no insurer will cover any merchant ship sailing through those minefields or possibly even the western Black Sea. So there is an impasse, until those mines get cleared no ships, including grain carriers, are leaving. The grain will have to, and is, leaving by different… Read more »
The link is to a photo of a typical mine beached on a beach near Odessa. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FV1nEJLXoAEs5Hq?format=jpg&name=small
Ah a picture, of a beach, with some sea and a sea mine! Wow, is that a picture you had to use your special sources from twitter or YouTube (fucking hilarious sources you use to justify your shite) or was it the nasty, western backed propaganda msm? And any condemnation of Putins illegal invasion of Ukraine yet?
So you imply (as usual) it’s all Ukraines fault there is no grain! FFS you are so full it Putins shit! Do you think it’s wrong therefore for the Ukrainians to have laid sea mines in preparation of its defences against a Russian Nazi invasion by a barbaric uneducated army who rape and murder and torture and loot, led by a nonce megalomaniac very old mentally ill twat?
Is there a bit of a lesson to be learned here in terms of ships being close to land based defences? Am thinking about the waters around Taiwan.
O/T but it looks like the Ukrainians used a Kamikaze drone to strike the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery, in #Rostov Oblast, Russia; causing damage and a fire.
Although the precise type is unclear, it appears to be based on the UA PD-1 or PD-2 series of reconnaissance UAVs. The area is around 150km from the front line.
Edit: updated info
Good.
A good news story, excellent! Already used the MSM (remember that acronym that no one ever used but you and the other 2 trolls who got caught out) to read! Surely you must have a much better source on twitter or YouTube (hilariously sad OSINT) claiming something else, or maybe RT, the Nazi channel!
That revelation obviously means there are no impediments to the Ukraine export of grain?.MOD supposed intelligenge reports are nothing but simplistic propaganda aimed at the gullible.
I wouldn’t describe the intel reports so brutally but we need to remember that the MoD is part of our Government and as such it is unlikely to issue any statement that conflicts with the UK’s strategic objectives. As I said above there are real and serious impediments to exporting Ukraine’s grain by ship. The problem is that ships are the only real way to export very large quantities.
Ah a “new” contributor to the site, who happens to be very anti NATO and Johnskie happens to read all his posts and backs them up! Another Kayaker maybe? Come on my sad little Nazi make more of a less obvious effort than using another troll type contributor. He isn’t real, very much like you. Now, any condemnation of Putins illegal invasion of Ukraine yet?
Yaaaaawn I see you are new, very few posts, all anti west and anti NATO, and closely replied posts by johnskie! FFS you trolls are utter shite, an embarrassment to trolling!
I don’t suppose you would like clarify your position on the illegal invasion of Ukraine would you?
I’d like to see similar policies adopted by the u.k to defend our shores and base’s like Gibraltar