Drowning in a sinking flagship is a terrible way to die: Good riddance Moskva

Russian flagship Moskva loss cannot be understated. This is Ukraine's Midway and a catastrophe of historic proportions for Russia.

"This is a huge deal"....💙💛🌻

Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia

Echo opinion report published in Reddit, by"Gorperly": 

In fact, the Moskva was a flagship (the admiral's ship), a guided missile cruiser that was a linchpin in Russian dominance of the Black Sea. As the heart of a task force of Kalibr carriers, it protected them from air and sea attack while they lobbed cruise missiles at Ukrainian positions and civilians all along the coast. Now that it's at the bottom of the sea and with Turkey blocking passage, Russia has nothing to replace it with. This is a huge relief to Ukrainian war effort, and the start of a new chapter. All the smaller Russian ships are now far easier to hit not just with Neptuns but also with aircraft.

It's also notable that the Ukrainians apparently distracted the Moskva with a Bayraktar*, then guided the Neptuns in. Bayraktar is proving invaluable as a spotter that guides in artillery or cruise missiles. If Ukrainians could get the Moskva, all the Kalibr-carriers will either bug out or risk being sunk in the same manner if they dare stay in Kalibr range. With Russia almost out of Kalibrs anyway, this means a huge immediate relief to Ukrainian forces and civilians.

The sinking as described sounds catastrophic, and it's very likely that there were few to no survivors. The ship took two cruise missile hits, rolled over, and detonated. All this took place in stormy choppy seas with 6ft / 2m swells. At night. For laymen, even evacuating an upright ship in calm seas during the day is a harrowing operation that takes hours.

If there are any survivors, they don't have much to look forward to, along many other Black Sea sailors including former Kalibr lobbers. Putin has been sending "useless" Black Sea sailors into combat as infantry replacements, WWII style. Russian replacement and recruitment situation is increasingly dire, and desperate measures are common. We are seeing infantry pulled out of Syria and immediately thrown into combat in Ukraine. We can expect any survivors to be cannon fodder at Azovstal within the week.

Last but not least the horrible public relations hit will be enormous. Rumblings on Russian social media are already starting, many panicky. The ship was the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet. This is a HUGE deal. When Ukrainians scuttled their own flagship early in the war, Russian media celebrated with front-page articles for days. The Ukrainian flagship is only partially submerged in a city still controlled by Ukraine, while the Russian flagship is at the bottom of the sea.

The morale hit to the Russian armed forces will be enormous.


*A medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight.