THE FLAGSHIP LOSS OF THE “SEA STATE”
The military fleet of russia has been defining the imperial ambitions of its rulers for 300 years. Before renaming the tsardom of muscovy to the russian empire, Peter I understood the impossibility of expanding the Russian empire without a military fleet. The following statement is attributed to him: “A ruler that has but an army has one hand, but he who has a navy has both.”
At the end of the 18th century, thanks to its fleet, the russian empire defeated Turkey and overtook the entire coast of the Sea of Azov. It also gained part of the Black Sea from the Southern Bug and the Dniester.
The russian empire took hold of Crimea and established ports in Sevastopol and Kherson. The squadron under Admiral Ushakov took the fortress on the island of Corfu in the Mediterranean Sea and landed on the Italian coast.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the russian fleet powerfully represented the empire in the Black, Caspian, Baltic, Okhotsk, and White seas.
Slowness in technical and economic development and serfdom caused the lagging of the russian empire fleet behind European. For example, russian sailboats were inferior to steamships. Sevastopol was surrendered, and due to the Treaty of Paris, russia lost the right to have a Black Sea flotilla.
At the beginning of the 20th century, during the russian-Japanese war, the russian pacific squadron was defeated by the Japanese fleet. The Baltic Fleet squadron sent across three oceans to help was also completely destroyed around Tsushima Island in the Korea Strait.
The russian fleet became a victim of the primitive tactics of medieval Japanese pirates, which were used in battle by Japanese admirals.
Further attempts by the russian Empire to be among the world maritime leaders before the October Revolution were ineffective due to technological backwardness, insufficient financial resources, and dependency on imports. After the revolution, shipbuilding declined, so the soviet union entered the Second World War with primarily old ships from the First World War.
During the Cold War, attempts to catch up with the US stimulated the USSR to build missile boats and cruisers and even one aircraft carrier, “Tbilisi,” later renamed to “Admiral Kuznetsov,” known as “kuzya.”
However, the world’s largest nuclear-powered submarines and icebreakers were also built, which provided a tactical advantage given the fight for the Arctic space. In addition, there were more than a thousand units of naval ships guarding the state borders of the USSR.
After the collapse of the USSR, not only did russia inherit all soviet ships but also received the best examples of equipment from the Black Sea Fleet, which was supposed to belong to Ukraine. In particular, soviet ships such as the “Moskva,” “Varyag,” and “Marshal Ustinov” missile cruisers which are still among the elite of the russian navy.
Over the last 20 years, the russian military-industrial complex has built several combat surface ships: 2 frigates for $450 million, 3 frigates for $430 million, 7 corvettes for $250 million, 2 large amphibious ships for $160 million, e.i. a total of $4.3 billion.
At the same time, several of putin’s richest oligarchs spent $4.2 billion on their yachts. Meanwhile, soldiers of the occupying army loot and steal toilets, washing machines, and women’s underwear.
Therefore, in today’s world, it is impossible to achieve global superiority without superiority at sea. Without a high-quality modern fleet, putin’s claims of world leadership are useless.
Thus, the “fire with detonation” on the flagship of the russian navy is a humiliation and disgrace to putin’s entire economic and military policy, as well as the destruction of a large amphibious assault ship in Berdyansk.
If, at the beginning of the war, the enemy had complete dominance at sea, now, given our partners’ future supply of anti-ship missiles, this is only a temporary advantage. Moreover, the Ukrainian military proved that “russian ships” not only can be sent in a known direction but also destroyed.
