2023-09-19 18:07:00
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Published images show success of Ukrainian airstrike on important Russian Navy shipyard. Russian submarine was heavily damaged.
Sevastopol – The pictures are clear: They show a gaping hole in the hull of a Russian submarine, which… Ukrainian rocket attack on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the occupied port city was damaged last week. A special commando team Ukrainian army marked the targets behind enemy lines, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Kyiv with this. Three of the ten cruise missiles fired found their target. The submarine “Rostov-on-Don” and the landing ship “Minsk”, which were in dry dock at the shipyard, were particularly damaged.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said the attack involved 10 missiles and three unmanned surface vehicles or drones, seven of which were shot down. The missiles used are said to have been air-launched Storm Shadow and/or SCALP-EG standoff missiles, which can be fired from Su-24 Fencer fighter jets of the Ukrainian Air Force.
Ukrainian Air Force hit penetrates submarine’s hull
The published photos of the submarine show the extent of the attack. The submarine was hit twice, reports the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), which published the images. The first hit is at the top of the bow of the submarine. The second hit was on the starboard side of the boat in the area behind the wheelhouse.
CIT showed the footage to an independent Norwegian naval analyst, Thord Are Iversen. The online newspaper reported that he came to the conclusion that both hits had penetrated the submarine’s robust hull Ukrainska Pravda. According to the expert, the torpedo and accommodation rooms must have been damaged, possibly also the auxiliary rooms and batteries behind them. It is difficult to judge from the pictures how badly the other departments have burned out. This depended on whether the hatches between the individual compartments of the submarine were closed or not.
U-Boot „Rostow am Don“ beim Stapellauf in St. Petersburg © imago stock&people
Experts and British intelligence do not believe the Russian submarine will be used once more
According to the assessment of Experts | With such damage, the submarine will probably no longer be able to be used in the active fleet until the end of the war. For possible repairs, the submarine would have to be transported to the Admiralty shipyards in St. Petersburg, which in itself would be a major logistical undertaking. The port of Novorossiysk, located further east on the coast of mainland Russia, does not have the necessary facilities to thoroughly maintain the submarine. There are floating docks elsewhere in Crimea, but these are also unable to carry out major repair work, the online magazine reports „The Warzone“.
Hit probably caused millions of dollars in damage
According to the CIT, repairs on this scale are uneconomical and it would be easier to build a new ship of the same class. This is also reported by the British secret service. Any attempt to bring the submarine back into service would likely take many years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. This seriously calls into question the official Russian narrative that the submarine will be repaired and operational once more. The loss of the Rostov-on-Don is the loss of one of the Black Sea Fleet’s four submarines that played an important role in the Ukrainian War and in the expansion of Russian power in the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean.
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Blocked dry dock might complicate Russian Navy fleet maintenance
In addition, the damaged submarine and the landing ship that were hit are now blocking the shipyard’s infrastructure. According to British intelligence, there is a realistic possibility that the complex task of removing the wreckage from the dry docks will put them out of action for many months. This presents the Black Sea Fleet with a major challenge in maintaining fleet maintenance. (PaPel)
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