Lessons Learned in Sinking the Moskva

Naval Warfare Doctrine lessons learned from the sinking of the Russian Cruiser Moskva in the Black Sea.

In April 2022, the Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, sank following an engagement with Ukrainian forces. Ukraine reported striking the Moskva with two domestically developed R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles while it was approximately 60 nautical miles off the coast of Odessa in the Black Sea. The Neptune missile, designed to evade radar and strike targets up to 280 kilometers away, successfully bypassed the ship’s defenses.

After the reported missile impact, the Moskva was severely damaged, and despite Russian attempts to stabilize and tow the ship to port, it ultimately sank. The incident marked one of the most high-profile losses of a naval asset in recent history and highlighted the evolving role of long-range anti-ship missiles in coastal defense strategies.

#subbrief #subs #navy

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[Leprechaunproduction]

Lesson #1: Don't let water fill your ship. This is detrimental to the ship's ability to carry out its tasks and may void your warranty.

[enoughothis]

The Moskva's last readiness report is a horror show. Basically nothing worked, the emergency equipment was locked away to stop the crew from stealing it, the engines were all but inoperable due to being run so long and the worst part despite all that the report was still signed off as "acceptable" by the Admiral. Russia is losing a naval war to a country that doesn't really have a navy.

[jasonaris]

Reminds me of the Sheffield in the Falklands (part of the advanced air defence screen but its main air search radar was shut down to allow satcom transmissions which I suspect were not critical - they never saw the Exocet until it was seconds away as a result)

[edwardloomis]

The USS Cole is one counterpoint. USS Samuel B. Robert's survival after a Persian Gulf mine strike seems like another. Cole is a destroyer, Sammy B. was a smaller frigate, but she survived because her crew didn't quit fighting for her survival. U.S. naval history and tradition play a part: "Don't give up the ship."

[tonyennis]

3:20 There are other more fundamental mistakes:
1. The fire suppression gear was locked away because of rampant theft.
2. Moskva was not properly maintained. The very systems that should have protected him (it's Russian, so - him!) were offline. Had the Moskva been maintained the Neptunes never would have scored hits.

[tinkertailor]

Or the Falklands. 1980's tech was probably the Moskva standard to be honest.

[skvUSA]

Like most USSR ships, Moskva was designed for suicide missions. The buoyancy was sacrificed to put as many weapons as possible.

Moskva single damage control post was located at the center of the ship, between two engine rooms, the point where missiles would aim. That actually exactly where Moskava was hit. So, no damage control and no power.

The huge single compartment accommodated 48 S-300, if flooded it would make impossible to right the ship. The 1/4 of upper desk houses 16 huge ASMs.

The rumorse are that the S-300 radar was never fully operational and can be used for several hrs a day only before requiring maintains.. From the pictures, it is clear that all defense systems were never engaged.

[noobepro_]

I think you should make a video series for this kind of events, maybe like the sinking of belgrano or other ships

[Saffi____]

The only lesson I really learnt from this incident is to not send a warship, that hasn't been properly cared for and cannot defend itself, into a warzone.

I believe that the files of the ships evaluation report before it was sent out it is mentioned that most of her equipment weren't working including most of her defensive weapons and damage control, her engines were in dire need of replacing which also made her have to move slower, her radar had to be shut off, and numerous other issues including fire extinguishers having to be locked away due to theft and doors having to kept open. So it really does seem that with all these issues two Neptune missiles could destroy a large warship.

It seems thag many of Russia's older ships, including destroyers, cruisers, and their aircraft carrier are really not cared for, the best ones are their new frigates, new corvettes, and sub fleet. Unlike the USSR, Russia currently doesn't have much of a reason to keep an ocean going fleet with large warships. So focus is placed on newer warships while the older ones are given leftovers based on necessity and mainly only exist for their looks not actual power. Though after Moskva they likely changed this a bit and are keeping them in better condition. It's sad, as I am a big fan of all Navy ships and to see these ships in such a state pains me, but I guess it's understandable.

LazerPig's (despite his flaws and clear biases) video on the Moskva does have the evaluation reports including both translated and not translated versions so do check it out as I may have gotten a few things wrong.

[rickbase]

The Moskva was not sunk by asymmetric warfare. Anti-ship cruise missiles have been around since the 1960s. It's telling that this powerful cruiser armed with multi-layered air defense, could not defeat subsonic cruise missiles which, the naval variant of the S-300 should have been able to handle. The Aegis combat system used by USN cruisers and destroyers was designed to detect and destroy this kind of threat and has been proven in the Red Sea. I'm not saying the Russian air defense system on Moskva sucks. I'm guessing there was a major readiness issue.

[aydincakiroglu]

British intelligence reported that most of the air defence systems are not working in Moskva, and also poor training lead the sinking of it.

[PhilippeDoyleGray]

While this incident is significant, the more significant naval incident is how the New Zealand Navy managed to sink a good proportion of its fleet, recently, without any enemy combatant in the entire Pacific Ocean…

[stevenreddy]

I’d say the Stark is a better comparison in this scenario than the Cole.

[wealthelife]

Perhaps another lesson is "don't attack a peaceful neighbour that actually built a lot of your naval vessels" ?

[tomtrenter]

Cole, Stark and Roberts all suffered worse damage than Moskva and all were saved by the bravery of their crews and the level of training and competence the US Navy insists on. I was in the USCG (1972-77) and we were just as fanatical about damage control as the we had more damn exercises at odd times than I care to remember starting in boot camp and when I got on board my cutter. One time in port the cutter moored behind us called our quarterdeck and informed us they had a fire in their JP5 pump room. They weren't asking for assistance but would we please standby. Word went out on my cutter "standby rescue and assistance personnel" Almost before I could hang up the microphone folks were scrambling to the quarter deck pulling on their equipment as they ran. Most of our crew (180 people) with the exception of the watch standers were on the fantail inside of a few minutes. CGC Gallatins crew fought the fire successfully by themselves. Russia always pays a high price for their stoopidity and it never seems to change. I was a sonar tech and have always watched the Russian subs all these years with great they always seem to be loosing boats or have fires and the fire fighting equipment suffocates the crew. It's always for some really idiotic reason too. I think their surface fleet is even worse when it comes to safety, their technical competence is lacking also. Like you said in the case of Moskva they weren't rotating and radiating while they were exposed in range of anti ship missiles

[josephwarra]

"Very advanced russian naval technology, surface ships that can transform into submersibles. You go, Ivan!" -- MR

[hithere]

Happy Halloween, Aaron. I hope you've gotten another fluffy friend but also where can a person get a large print or a high resolution file of that painting at 5:50? That's freaking awesome.

[nunya]

Rather than comparing to the Cole, a comparison with the Stark might be more revealing. I think many of the same conclusions might be reached, but the difference in ship and crew performance where indeed stark, no pun intended.

[tomriley]

I think other factors - maintian your ships and your crews. Do damage control drills and fire fighting drills. Build your ships with compartmentalistion. Having lots of diffierent air defence systems can make it complex to activate the right ones at the right time rather than integrated sensor and weapons systems. I also understand that there may have been drones around so having fire directors that can only deal with a couple of targets at once in a certain direction may also have been a factor.

[stephenrickstrew]

Thanks for this one .. these ships were carrier sailors nightmares .