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The last time a cruise ship was put out of action in the middle of a war was in 1982, when the British submarine HMS Conqueror sank the Argentine cruiser ARA Belgrano during the Falklands War.
323 Argentine sailors died.
Now it has happened again, but in the context of the war in Ukraine: the guided missile cruiser Moskva, Russia's flagship in the Black Sea, was evacuated after an explosion in its ammunition depots and floats, empty, after the damage .
Russian Navy evacuates a flagship in the Black Sea.
Ukraine claims it attacked it with a missile
The Russian Ministry of Defense, quoted by the state agencies TASS and RIA Novosti, reported that a fire broke out in the Moskva, after which the explosion and the evacuation of its crew occurred.
The ship was seriously damaged and the causes of the fire are being investigated, the report said.
But Maxim Marchenko, the regional administrator for Odessa state, said in a Telegram post that Ukrainian forces had used Neptune cruise missiles to attack Moskva.
The Russian navy's Moskva guided missile cruiser sails in the Bosphorus, on its way to the Mediterranean Sea, in Istanbul, on June 18, 2021. (Credit: Yoruk Isik/Reuters)
Meanwhile, Ukraine's Southern Operational Command said Thursday that the Moskva had begun to sink after being hit by Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles.
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The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday, however, that the Moskva "is still afloat" and that measures were being taken to tow it to port.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told CNN's Brianna Keilar that "there was an explosion" on the Moskva, but the United States cannot say at this time if the ship was hit by a missile.
What kind of ship is the Moskva and why is it important?
It is a 186-meter-long cruiser, with a displacement of 11,490 tons and a crew of 500 men, armed with a full range of anti-ship missiles —including the P-500 Bazalt— and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as torpedoes and cannons. .
She is the pride of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
Of Soviet design and construction, it was put into the water or launched in 1983 under the name Slava, renamed Moskva – after the Moskva River that runs through Moscow, the Russian capital – in 1995 and refitted in 1998.
The Moskva is the pride of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
In the photo, pro-Russian supporters wave flags as they welcome the cruise ship in Sevastopol on August 23, 2008. (Credit: VASILY BATANOV/AFP via Getty Images)
Moskva has two sister ships in service, Marshal Ustinov and Varyag, while a fourth — Ukraine-owned Ukrayina — was launched in 1990 but never completed, according to Naval-Technology.com.
Cruisers are warships of larger dimensions and capabilities than destroyers, with a greater presence in the world's navies, but below aircraft carriers.
Since her refit, the Moskva has remained active.
In 2008 she was deployed to the Black Sea during the Russia-Georgia war, and in 2014 she participated in the blockade of Ukrainian ships during the Russian annexation of Crimea, one of the antecedents of the current conflict.
While in 2016 he participated in a support mission for Russian forces in Syria, being deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, Reuters notes.
A blow to the Russian army
Analysts point out that it is a serious blow to the Russian army and national pride, in a context of setbacks in the invasion of Ukraine launched in February, whatever the reason for the fire that caused the explosion.
Carl Schuster, a retired US Navy captain and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center, told CNN that "just the loss of a ballistic missile submarine or the Kutznetsov (the Russia's only aircraft carrier) would inflict a more serious blow on Russian morale and the reputation of the navy among the Russian public".
Cuban police officers stand guard as the Moskva cruise ship docks in Havana port, on August 3, 2013. (Credit: ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP via Getty Images)
For Alessio Patalano, professor of war and strategy at King's College London, "ships are large floating pieces of national territory, and when you lose one, a flagship no less, the political and symbolic message —in addition to the military loss— It stands out precisely for that."
If the reports of the Ukrainian attack are confirmed, it would also be the first military use of the Neptune missile, developed by Ukraine from the Soviet KH-35 cruise missile.
Such a success could change the behavior of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
The Moskva was also involved in the Snake Island incident earlier in the war, when the Russians approached the Ukrainian garrison on the island, also known as Zmiinyi Island, according to Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
A Russian officer said at the time: "This is a military warship. This is a Russian military ship. I suggest you lay down your arms and surrender to avoid unnecessary bloodshed and casualties. Otherwise you will be bombed."
And a Ukrainian soldier replied: "Russian warship, go to sh*t."
In addition, the Moskva is the second warship damaged during the war, after Ukraine said in late March that a missile attack had destroyed the Orsk, a Russian landing ship, in the port of Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov.
With information from Brad Lendon.
ShipWar in Ukraine
