https://apnews.com/article/russia-u...tonia-8ccaa918f813a844321187ed116ff091Russian military’s damaged Black Sea flagship sinks It is time to update this famous song, "Sink the Bismark" with a new song for the brave Ukrainians
To put this in perspective for the people who have not been following the news: This is the biggest military ship sunk in any conflict since WWII. This ship was the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. This ship was the third largest frontline combat ship in the Russian Navy by size, at 12,500 tons displacement. Also, one of the only three Slava class ships Russia had. This was ALSO the ship that was told "go fuck yourself" off of Snake Island on day one of the war. Which is now commemorated on a stamp.
Yes, larger than Belgrano. ARA General Belgrano (C-4) was an Argentine Navy light cruiser in service from 1951 until 1982. Originally commissioned by the U.S. as USS Phoenix, she saw action in the Pacific theatre of World War II before being sold by the United States to Argentina. ARA General Belgrano ARA General Belgrano underway Renamed ARA General Belgrano (C-4) Namesake Manuel Belgrano Fate Torpedoed and sunk on 2 May 1982 Badge General characteristics Class and type Brooklyn-class light cruiser Displacement 9,575 tons (empty) 12,242 (full load) Length 608.3 ft (185.4 m) Beam 61.8 ft (18.8 m) Draft 19.5 ft (5.9 m) Speed 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph) Complement 1,138 officers and men She was sunk on 2 May 1982 during the Falklands War by the Royal Navy submarine Conqueror with the loss of 323 lives. Losses from General Belgrano totalled just under half of Argentine military deaths in the war. She is the only ship to have been sunk during military operations by a nuclear-powered submarine and the second sunk in action by any type of submarine since World War II
It's a major loss for Russia, and calls into question whether their missile defense systems work as designed.
There are lots of human frailities at play. A couple of months back an errant 7 ton jet propelled drone flew some 600km's over 2 neighbouring countries from Ukraine and exploded on ground after running out of fuel, was not intercepted by armed forces. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022...likely-flying-from-ukraine-crashes-in-croatia
Either the Ukrainians got really lucky distracting the Russians with their drone, or there was a major design and/or operational failure in the Russian's defense systems. Eitherway, very well played by Ukraine (i.e. don't f**k with these guys)..