Saturday dawn events will be closed the fog War. The information is incomplete and does not allow to accurately describe the course of events. Everything points to the fact that the Ukrainians did not do any major damage, but they did it themselves true It was significant that they launched such a large and bold attack on Sevastopol. From the fragmentary information emerges a picture of an operation that is conceptually older, but more modern in terms of the weapons used.
Hunting Russian ships
According to an official statement by the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainians used seven sea and eight aerial drones in the operation. All of them were to attack the ships and naval base at Sevastopol on Saturday morning. The reports of the townspeople and the many records they made confirm this. About bell The first explosion was heard at five o’clock in the morning, and even after sunrise one could see the unknown man. fire Explosions in the military area near the port and on the roadside.
The Ukrainian military has not officially acknowledged the operation or provided any information about it. However, recordings made by naval drones quickly surfaced in Ukrainian media. Journalists could not get them except from the military. At the beginning of the first entry, you can see an attack on a parade Russian frigate of the Admiral Grigorovich class. The ship’s shape leaves no room for doubt. The recording was done in infrared so you can see it clearly. It is speculated that the Sevastopol may have been hit on the wayside while entering or leaving the shipyard. The record shows no opposition from the Russians. Maybe they didn’t notice the little Ukrainian drone. Unfortunately, the effect of the attack cannot be minimized from the log. The video stops when the drone is close to the side of the warship.
The next part of the video shows footage of the Sevastopol roadside and the back of a ship or ship that is hard to identify. Then you can see the interior of the site, the arches and the built ships. Many Russian ships docked in Sevastopol in a characteristic way. Recent frames show the approaching side of some of the ships, which were apparently targeted. The effect of the attack cannot be estimated.
The Russians officially admitted that the attack damaged an old Ivan Golubian mine. Its side can be seen in the second part of the video. In addition, the floating dam in the Yuzhnaya Bay should also be damaged. It is one of the arms of the main Sevastopol Bay. Among other things, submarines are stationed in it and are surrounded by a dam. As a former Russian sailor living in Sevastopol tweeted, it is the only structure in the bay. This meant that Ukrainian motorboats reached the center of the base and tried to attack the most valuable units of the Black Sea Fleet. New Warszawianka class submarines. Currently, they are mainly used to launch Kalibr cruise missiles in Ukraine.
A second video released by the Ukrainians shows the motorboats in action during the day. Maybe also on the road to Sevastopol. They appear to be under fire from a circling Mi-8 helicopter and possibly some ship’s gun, judging by the size of one of the water columns. The target was again an Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate, judged by a silhouette sometimes visible on the horizon. You can see the ship from both sides in two different shots, so the movie could have been stitched together from shots taken by two motorboats, hitting both sides. Alternatively, despite the fire, one hovered long enough that it was able to circle the ship or approach the other. Again, it is impossible to estimate the effects of the attack. The video does not show any approach to the warship.
According to pro-Ukrainian sources, one of the Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates was severely damaged, but not in danger of sinking. In addition, many units should be slightly damaged. However, there is no real evidence for this. There may be some leaks from Russia over time.
Mostly the destruction of one of the motorboats
Simplicity and sophistication of additions
Not surprisingly, there aren’t many spectacular shipwrecks. Although the Ukrainians use modern technologies in their operation, such attacks are difficult to execute. And this is not the first time. In September, a small remote-controlled boat was found on the shore near Sevastopol with no sign. A few meters long, plastic, drive jet ski, head with cameras, antenna for communications and an unspecified amount of explosives with a contact detonator in the bow may have been deployed. Often a find has suffered some kind of failure or ran out of fuel before reaching its destination and was washed ashore by the waves.
Footage of Saturday’s attack shows elements of remote-controlled boats that appear to be similar to those discovered in September. Everything points to the fact that the Ukrainians have developed small and relatively simple remote control boats for sabotage attacks. How they get to Sevastopol and how they are controlled is a mystery. If they were to launch from the Ukrainian-controlled coast, they would have to travel nearly 300 kilometers from the Odessa region. This is a considerable distance for such small motorboats. Alternatively, they could be released from some of the larger civilian units used by the Ukrainians. However, it is hard to imagine that the Russians will miss it and not act against it. While it cannot be ruled out, the Russian military has already sprung a negative surprise in action several times. The control mechanism also remains a mystery. Records show that they are clearly remote controlled. So they have technology that allows them to communicate with an operator far away, or the Ukrainians have some camouflaged operators in and around Sevastopol. Fitting an effective over-the-horizon communication system on such a small boat would be quite an achievement. Placement of appropriate number of operators in Sewastpolou.
Once on the water, small Ukrainian boats are difficult to detect and attack. They stick out of the water and are maneuverable. The water flowing through them should cool them well, and also limits their infrared visibility. Small dimensions and plastic construction make radar detection difficult.
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The difficult struggle of the Black Sea Fleet with a state without a navy
The technology used to build Ukrainian boats is a combination of simplicity and sophistication. However, the concept of their use is not new. It was successfully introduced into the history of naval warfare by the Italians during World War II. They were small motorboats of the MT series capable of traveling at a speed of 33 knots (about 60 km/h) with a load of 330 kilograms of explosives. Large ships took them to the destination area. They were then guided by a man whose task was to direct the motor boat to the target, accelerate it and jump out. They are never suicide devices. The only major success of MT motorboats was their premiere in 1940. They severely damaged the British heavy cruiser HMS York in Souda Gulf, Crete. After that, there were no successes, which shows how complicated it is to use such a weapon. Boats often do not reach the action area. If they had already arrived, the starmen had trouble finding the target in the dark, and even if they did, a skilled and prepared enemy had no trouble destroying them. Success requires surprise and delight, which is hard to achieve in a war where things usually go wrong. Therefore, countries with real navies are unlikely to invest in equipment that is ineffective and difficult to use. Instead, it is done by insurgent and terrorist movements, but on a smaller scale and without spectacular success.
The potential effectiveness of such attacks was recalled in 2000 by al-Qaeda, which attacked the US destroyer USS Cole. The terrorists committed suicide by using a motorboat packed with explosives. At the time of the attack, the American ship was anchored off the road in the port of Aden. The crew was surprised and paid a high price for it. The explosion tore a hole several meters long in the side of the ship killing 17 sailors. The destroyer sustained severe damage but returned to service after repairs. Since then, the navies of most countries have taken coastal defense and the risks posed by small motorboats very seriously. The attack on USS Cole was not repeated.
The Ukrainian attack on Sevastopol shows that the Russian army is not doing its job up to its standards. The threat posed by these types of motorboats is well known. A month ago, they received a more telling warning off the coast in the form of a Ukrainian boat. Despite this, the Ukrainians penetrated the interior of the Sevastopol base with their small motorboats and went to the side of the precious ship. The Russians may have been lucky, however, as the attack did no spectacular damage. However, the fact that it was implemented was another blow to the prestige of the Russian Navy, which could not defend its most important base in the Black Sea. Fighting a country with almost no navy.