happy 3rd Π½Π° Ρ…ΡƒΠΉ day.

today marks another anniversary of the sinking of the terrorist state of russia's naval pride, the #moskva.

in the late hours of april 13 2022, at least two ukrainian neptun missiles hit the cruiser, a ship designed to provide air defence to other vessels. 🧡

how can a ship [of that size] be sunk by a threat it's been specifically designed against? details are disputed but all theories have some things in common:

intel, artifice and fortune.

_1_ intel

key is obviously to find the target. most plausibly cloud-penetrating sat imagery yielded the ship's position [1]. back then, the americans were so kind to share such info with the brave ukrainians. an unknown source recalls the defenders to not have any time to lose with the intel.

kthxbye - beautiful.

_2_ artifice

dealing damage to a target by means it can well defend itself against is not an easy task. to make anti-ship missiles hit, they have to get through long range air defense (an entire sa-10 system), SHORAD (osa launchers) and close-in defense (ciws, ak-630).

what's known is that ukr had a tb2 bayraktar drone in the vicinity. some sources say[2] it was used to 'distract' air defence from the incoming neptunes.

this might've well been the intention but the multi-layered defence suggests otherwise. on the other hand, a stormy night's rough sea might have cluttered the vessel's radar image and concealed the approaching ASMs [smth i as a long-time radar operator don't find too unlikely].
renowned analyst and danish navy officer @anderspuck [3] assumes untrained / fatigued staff to have played a key role in the ship's defeat. poor compartmentation management might have ultimately caused its sinking.

_3_ fortune

to this day, it's known that two neptuns hit their target. it is unlikely their warheads would've dealt enough damage that sealed the fate of the moskva.
apparently one of the ordnance hit a beefy spot, smth like an ammunition storage. else the vessel would've stayed afloat and been towed to a safe place.
but for some beautiful reason it started listing, rough seas hindered a swift rescue. it's unclear how many orcs lost their lives.

ukraine has since listed the location as an "underwater cultural heritage" inviting divers to visit the wreck site. a trolling chef's kiss to the invaders.

slava ukraini. #fckptn

Satellite Image Pinpoints Russian Cruiser Moskva As She Burned - Naval News

Analysis of radar satellite imagery has revealed the location of the Moskva soon after she was reportedly hit by 2 missiles. The Russian Navy cruiser was the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet and is a symbolic as well as naval loss for Russia.

Naval News