<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US Navy is trying to retire all of its guided-missile cruisers by 2027.</li><li>US cruisers are specialized for air defense and are among the best-armed naval ships in service.</li></ul><p>In April, the US Navy presented an <a href="https://news.usni.org/2022/04/21/navy-plans-for-all-22-ticonderoga-cruisers-to-exit-fleet-in-5-years" target="_top">ambitious plan</a> to decommission all 22 of its Ticonderoga-class cruisers by 2027.</p><p>The move is not surprising. The Navy has tried to rid itself of its cruisers for years, but Congress has consistently rejected its proposals, largely out of concern that decommissioning them would take away a much-needed weapon as China's naval force continues to grow.</p><p>With the retirement of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2005/12/21/navys-last-2-battleships-to-be-decommissioned/bfe01ca7-abbf-4ab1-954a-fa6f0d47696a/" target="_top">the last battleships</a> nearly 20 years ago, cruisers are the largest surface combatants — a category that generally doesn't include aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships — in service.</p><p>Cruisers remain among the best armed and most powerful ships in the few navies that employ them, and decommissioning the Ticonderogas would take the US out of that small and very well-armed club.</p><h2>The Ticonderoga-class</h2><div type="image" title="uss cowpens ticonderoga" height="2329" width="3500" msid="92182095" hostid="261"></div><p>Twenty-seven Ticonderoga-class cruisers were built between 1980 and 1994. They have an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-faces-another-fight-to-get-rid-of-its-cruisers-2021-8" target="_top">extensive</a> service history, with high-profile operations all over the world. The 567-foot ships displace about 10,000 tons, and they are the US Navy's most heavily armed surface combatants.</p><p>Two Mk 41 Vertical Launching Systems, each with 61 cells, can carry up to 122 missiles. Two Mk-141 missile launchers can carry up to eight more missiles. Ticonderogas are also equipped with two Mark 45 5-inch guns, two <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/phalanx-close-in-weapon-system-navy-ships-last-missiles-defense-2021-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Phalanx close-in weapon systems</a>, and two triple-tubed Mark 32 torpedo tubes.</p><p>They can be armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, Evolved Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles, and vertical-launch anti-submarine missiles, as well as anti-satellite and anti-ballistic missiles.</p><div type="image" title="Navy cruiser Vicksburg aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt Strait of Gibraltar" height="1147" width="1530" msid="92182097" hostid="261"></div><p>Their large and diverse arsenal allows Ticonderogas to fill multiple rules, including air-defense, anti-ship anti-submarine warfare, and land-attack strikes. They primarily serve as air-defense escorts in carrier strike groups, as they have the most robust air-defense capability in the surface fleet.</p><p>They were also the first ships to be equipped with the <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/39508/how-the-aegis-combat-system-is-evolving-to-dominate-naval-warfare-of-the-future" target="_top">Aegis Combat System</a>, which uses computers and radars to track hostile forces and guide friendly fire toward incoming threats.</p><p>Because of the Ticonderogas' status and armament, their stand-alone deployments are usually meant to convey a message, as with USS Port Royal's <a href="https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2022-05-11/taiwan-strait-us-navy-cruiser-uss-port-royal-china-military-5964347.html" target="_top">transit</a> of the Taiwan Strait in May.</p><h2>The Kirovs and Slavas</h2><div type="image" title="Soviet navy Kirov battlecruiser" height="1139" width="1519" msid="92182099" hostid="261"></div><p>The Russian Navy fields two types of cruisers. The most well-known and feared are the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/soviet-nuclear-powered-cruisers-led-us-to-bring-back-battleships-2021-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kirov-class</a>, four of which were built between 1974 and 1998.</p><p>Classified as "battlecruisers" because of their heavy armament, the Kirovs are 827 feet long and displace about 28,000 tons. Their nuclear propulsion gives them range limited only by the crew's endurance and their supplies.</p><p>Designed to destroy American carrier groups, their primary armament are 20 P-700 supersonic anti-ship missiles, each capable of carrying a 1,600-pound high-explosive warhead or a nuclear one. Kirovs also carry 136 surface-to-air missiles and six close-in weapon systems, as well as one double-barreled 130mm gun, 10 torpedo tubes, and two anti-submarine rocket launchers.</p><p>Only two Kirov-class battlecruisers, Pyotr Velikiy and Admiral Nakhimov, remain in service. Pyotr Velikiy is the flagship of the powerful Northern Fleet, while Admiral Nakhimov has been undergoing modernization since 1999, though Russian officials <u><a href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2022/02/russias-sevmash-shipyard-says-it-will-deliver-admiral-nakhimov-in-2022/" target="_top">say</a></u> it will delivered this year.</p><div type="image" title="Russian missile cruiser Moskva in the Mediterranean Sea" height="4000" width="5333" msid="92182101" hostid="261"></div><p>Nakhimov's upgrades will allow it to fire Kalibr and Onyx cruise missiles and new anti-submarine weapons, and carry Pantsir-M air-defense systems. Russian officials also claim Nakhimov will be armed with Zircon hypersonic missiles in the future.</p><p>In 1976, the Soviets laid down the first of three Slava-class guided-missile cruisers.</p><p>At 611 feet long and displacing about 11,000 tons, the Slavas are armed with 16 P-500 cruise missiles in eight distinctive dual launchers on either side of the ship. Each P-500 can carry a 2,000-pound conventional warhead or a nuclear one. Some Slavas have reportedly been armed with more modern P-1000 anti-ship missiles.</p><p>Slava-class cruisers also carry 96 surface-to-air missiles, a twin-barreled 130mm gun, six close-in weapon systems, two anti-submarine rocket launchers, and 10 torpedo tubes.</p><p>Only two Slava-class cruisers, Marshal Ustinov and Varyag, remain in active service. Marshal Ustinov is assigned to the Northern Fleet and Varyag is the Pacific Fleet flagship. Moskva, the lead ship of the class, was the Black Sea Fleet flagship until <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-ships-head-south-as-flagship-moskva-battles-extensive-fire-2022-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it was sunk by Ukrainian anti-ship missiles</a> in April.</p><h2>The 'destroyers'</h2><div type="image" title="China Type 055 destroyer Nanchang" height="1334" width="2000" msid="92182103" hostid="261"></div><p>Two countries field warships they designate as destroyers but the US and naval experts classify as cruisers because of their size, displacement, and armament.</p><p>China's <a href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2022/01/bigger-than-a-u-s-navy-aegis-cruiser-china-is-building-more-type-055s/" target="_top">Type 055</a>, known as the Renhai-class, is the most notable. The <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">International</keyword> Institute for Strategic Studies think tank has <a href="https://twitter.com/iiss_org/status/1232624353549922305?lang=de" target="_top">said</a> it "may be the most capable multi-role surface combatant currently at sea."</p><p>At 590 feet long and displacing over 12,000 tons, Type 055s are armed with 112 VLS cells capable of launching surface-to-air missiles, anti-submarine missiles, anti-ship missiles, and land-attack cruise missiles. They also carry a 130mm gun and a close-in weapons system.</p><p>China <a href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2022/04/china-test-fires-new-yj-21-hypersonic-missile/" target="_top">tested</a> a hypersonic missile aboard a <keyword id="14185707" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="type-055" source="Orion">Type 055</keyword> earlier this year, and in the future the ships may be <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3101244/will-china-upgrade-its-destroyers-carrier-killer-missiles" target="_top">armed</a> with anti-ship ballistic missiles <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-aircraft-carriers-arent-little-teacups-their-captains-say-2022-4" target="_top">designed to kill carriers</a>.</p><p>Type 055s are equipped with Type-346A active electronically scanned array radars, a more modern and accurate radar than the passive phased-array radar aboard Ticonderoga-class ships.</p><div type="image" title="South Korea destroyer Sejong the Great" height="845" width="1933" msid="92182104" hostid="261"></div><p>Eight Type 055s have been built and launched since 2014. At least five <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3175233/chinas-navy-puts-2-more-advanced-type-055-destroyers-service" target="_top">have been </a><a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3175233/chinas-navy-puts-2-more-advanced-type-055-destroyers-service" target="_top">commissioned</a> and two more are believed to be under construction. Their deployment is already seen as a <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3174157/china-gathers-most-powerful-destroyers-us-carrier-group-holds" target="_top">show of strength</a> — they have been spotted near <a href="https://news.usni.org/2022/05/03/chinese-carrier-liaoning-strike-group-steaming-near-japan-says-mod" target="_top">Japan</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-coast-guard-shadowed-chinese-warships-near-alaska-2021-9" target="_top">Alaska</a> — and they may be a central part of China's <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2022/05/chinas-next-generation-nuclear-carrier-floating-into-view/" target="_top">future carrier battlegroups</a>.</p><p>South Korea's <keyword id="14185708" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sejong-the-great-class" source="Orion">Sejong the Great-class</keyword> destroyers are also classified by others as cruisers. Three are in active service, each 544 feet long and displacing over 10,600 tons.</p><p>Each Sejong the Great-class ship has 128 VLS cells and 16 anti-ship missile launchers in four quad mounts. They are Aegis-equipped and provide early warning of incoming ballistic missiles.</p><p>South Korea <a href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2021/10/south-korea-new-kdx-iii-batch-ii-destroyer/" target="_top">plan</a><a href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2021/10/south-korea-new-kdx-iii-batch-ii-destroyer/" target="_top">s</a><a href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2021/10/south-korea-new-kdx-iii-batch-ii-destroyer/" target="_top"> to buil</a><a href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2021/10/south-korea-new-kdx-iii-batch-ii-destroyer/" target="_top">d</a> three more Sejong the Great-class ships that will have only 88 VLS cells but will be equipped with SM-6 missiles that Seoul <a href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2022/04/south-korea-to-acquire-sm-6-missiles-for-kdx-iii-batch-ii-destroyers/" target="_top">plans to buy</a>, allowing them to intercept ballistic missiles.</p><h2>'Divest to invest'</h2><div type="image" title="Navy guided-missile cruiser Vicksburg" height="1429" width="2000" msid="92182108" hostid="261"></div><p>The US Navy wants to shed the Ticonderogas — including USS Vicksburg, which is in the middle of <a href="https://news.usni.org/2022/04/21/navy-plans-for-all-22-ticonderoga-cruisers-to-exit-fleet-in-5-years" target="_top">a $200 million refit</a> — as part of a broader <a href="https://seapowermagazine.org/navy-fleet-would-shrink-further-under-2023-ship-decommissioning-plan/" target="_top">"divest to invest"</a> strategy to free up resources for <a href="https://news.usni.org/2022/01/12/navy-unveils-next-generation-ddgx-warship-concept-with-hypersonic-missiles-lasers" target="_top">newer</a> and more advanced vessels.</p><p>While lawmakers and others worry that doing so will leave Navy shorthanded against China, Navy officials argue the cruisers, all of which are over 30 years old, are approaching the ends of their service lives, have outdated electronics, and will cost too much to maintain or refit. Some are even <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2022/03/09/navy-offers-a-new-argument-for-decommissioning-cruisers-theyre-not-safe/" target="_top">unsafe to operate</a>, Navy officials say.</p><p>"They're eating us alive in terms of our ability to get maintenance back on track," Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, said in March. "We are paying tens of millions of dollars beyond what we expected to because of growth work and new work on ships that are beyond their service life."</p><p>The Navy proposed retiring five cruisers in 2023. In budget documents released this month, the House Armed Services Committee would only allow four retirements and block that of USS Vicksburg, which is one of the youngest of the five on the chopping block, a committee aide told reporters.</p><p>The 2023 budget is yet to be finalized, but the documents released this month also direct the Navy to submit a report on the costs of modernizing and extending the service lives of its other cruisers, suggesting <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-faces-another-fight-to-get-rid-of-its-cruisers-2021-8" target="_top">the </a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-faces-another-fight-to-get-rid-of-its-cruisers-2021-8" target="_top">divestment</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-faces-another-fight-to-get-rid-of-its-cruisers-2021-8" target="_top"> battle</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-faces-another-fight-to-get-rid-of-its-cruisers-2021-8" target="_top"> will only continue</a>.</p>

The US Navy's plan to ditch its cruisers will leave it out of a small and well-armed club

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Ukraine modified an anti-ship cruise missile for land-attack missions.</li><li>The Neptune missile, which was used to sink the Russian ship Moskva, is now hunting down air defense systems.</li></ul><p>Ukraine is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-missile-attack-naval-base-helps-make-crimea-untenable-russia-2023-9">turning up the pressure</a> on Russian forces in Crimea and seems to be hunting S-400 air-defense systems with an anti-ship cruise missile reworked for land-attack missions.</p><p>A modified Neptune anti-ship missile <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-ukraine-destroys-russian-s-400-rare-loss-prized-weapon-2023-8">struck and destroyed an S-400</a> Triumf near Olenivka in western Crimea on August 23, <a href="https://breakingdefense.com/2023/09/what-an-s-400-kill-and-a-spec-ops-raid-reveal-about-ukraines-ability-to-hit-russia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Ukrainian <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukraine-now-using-land-attack-neptune-anti-ship-missile-variant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">officials</a>, and damaged the launcher and the surface-to-air missiles, and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-14/ukraine-says-it-hits-russian-missile-outpost-in-western-crimea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per</a> <a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ukraine-destroys-russian-air-defence-083306512.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">multiple</a> <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-09-14-23/h_7826a2577b7d5ee9b5b7fad7d8698a0b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-destroyed-russian-air-defense-system-with-cruise-missiles-report-2023-9">another S-400 was taken out</a> in an attack involving the cruise missile, as well as drones, on Thursday in Yevpatoriya, which is also located in the western part of Crimea.</p>  <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1xfeyf35NMc?si=RrBbMHdJwkP44qC3" frameborder="0"></iframe>  <p>The R-360 Neptune is a subsonic cruise missile that was initially built by Ukraine to counter adversary naval assets. In April 2022, just a couple of months after Russia's invasion, Ukraine <a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/post/16061" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sank</a> the Project 1164 Slava-class cruiser and Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva with a pair of the ground-launched missiles. Russia claims the ship was lost to fire.</p><p>A senior Ukrainian official hinted earlier this year that the Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed following its 2014 invasion and Ukraine has vowed to liberate, could serve as a testbed for new weapons.</p><p>Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov <a href="https://x.com/OleksiyDanilov/status/1646813816062111744?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in April that "Crimea is the territory of Ukraine, and we will test and use there any weapons not prohibited by international laws that will help liberate our territories."</p><p>In a separate interview, he indicated that tests of "new types" of weapons were possible.</p><div type="image" title="Photo from a test of the Neptune Missile Complex in 2020." height="1080" width="1620" msid="103672850" hostid="261"></div><p>Around that time, a Ukrainian defense official <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukraine-situation-report-official-hints-at-new-weapons-to-be-unleashed-on-crimea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The War Zone that "Ukraine is working to modify Neptune missile to strike land targets." They noted that "a new guiding/homing system is required, but Ukrainians are working on that."</p><p>"Once we get that, the Neptunes can hit targets 360 km (about 225 miles) away," the official told the defense publication. "We are pretty close."</p><p>That official <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukraine-now-using-land-attack-neptune-anti-ship-missile-variant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The War Zone in August that Ukraine developed a guidance system that uses GPS to send the missile to a pre-determined location and then uses a passive infrared image seeker to find a target matching a preset image.</p><p>It's a design that makes it much harder for Russian defenders to jam or detect, and is one of the longest range weapons in Ukraine's arsenal.</p><div type="image" title="A test of a Neptune missile in April 2020." height="1080" width="1620" msid="103672852" hostid="261"></div><p>This valuable domestic capability offers a ground-launched alternative to the air-launched <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-storm-shadow-effective-long-range-missile-but-russia-adapts-2023-7">Storm Shadow</a>/SCALP-EG cruise missiles provided by the UK and France for strikes on targets roughly 150 miles away. The Ukrainians have long sought the US military's Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), but Washington's been reluctant to send these weapons.</p><p>And while the Russian armed forces <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kinzhal-killing-patriot-detection-russia-gunning-for-system-losses-2023-5#:~:text=Ukraine's%20Patriots%20aren't%20hard,best%20weapons%20%E2%80%94%20Putin's%20prized%20Kinzhals&amp;text=Ukraine's%20Patriots%20aren't%20hard%20to%20find%2C%20and%20Russia%20appears,not%20going%20very%20well%2C%20though.">attempted to take out</a> Ukraine's Western-provided Patriot batteries with its advanced Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile but was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/patriot-kill-shot-impressive-russian-kinzhal-hypersonic-ballistic-missile-experts-2023-5">unsuccessful</a>, Kyiv's forces are apparently finding success with the Neptune at eliminating Russian S-400s.</p><p>The successor to the earlier S-300s, the S-400 Triumf, known to NATO as SA-21 Growlers, is a long-range, road-mobile surface-to-air missile system able to effectively engage a wider variety of aircraft and incoming ballistic targets at greater range. This Russian system is considered to be among the world's most advanced air-defense weapons.</p><p>But in the past three weeks, Russia has reportedly lost two of the systems to missile strikes, raising questions about its capabilities, especially considering that air defense systems tend to have a better chance of intercepting an threat when the system is targeted.</p><div type="image" title="Smoke rises from the shipyard that was reportedly hit by Ukrainian missile attack in Sevastopol" height="2010" width="3596" msid="103672854" hostid="261"></div><p>The missile strikes on Russian air defenses come amid Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive in the eastern and southern part of the country, regular Ukrainian attacks on Moscow and Russian aviation assets like bombers and airlift planes at bases inside Russian territory, and attacks and even raids in and around occupied Crimea.</p><p>Retired general Ben Hodges, who previously served as the commander of US Army Europe, said on social media that Ukraine has "a very sophisticated approach" and that the "Ukrainian General Staff is running rings around the Russian General Staff."</p>

Ukraine appears to be hunting Russia's formidable S-400 air defense systems in Crimea with modified Neptune anti-ship missiles

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword> surprised the world by sinking Russian missile cruiser <keyword id="13621610" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="moskva" source="Orion">Moskva</keyword> in the Black Sea this spring.</li><li>The attack showed how modern warships are susceptible to well-planned attacks with modern weapons.</li></ul><p>In late April, Ukraine surprised <keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword> and the world by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-ships-head-south-as-flagship-moskva-battles-extensive-fire-2022-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sinking Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva</a> with what one official <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/14/russia-moskva-ship-ukraine-black-sea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> were two well-placed anti-ship missiles.</p><p>Russia's navy has mostly dominated the waters around Ukraine during the war, so Ukraine sinking the Moskva — the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/surprising-russian-navy-losses-against-ukraine-century-after-tsushima-2022-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet</a> — was unexpected and highlighted the potency of anti-ship missiles even against well-defended ships.</p><p>The way Moskva was sunk is also a reminder of the deadly lessons learned in another major war 40 years ago.</p><h2>The Moskva</h2><div type="image" title="Russian missile cruiser Moskva in the Mediterranean Sea" height="4000" width="5333" msid="92710668" hostid="261" sizebytes="810208"></div><p>A Slava-class guided-missile cruiser, the Moskva was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-cruisers-compared-to-russia-china-korea-cruisers-2022-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">designed to take out US aircraft carriers</a> and was outfitted with the weapons to do so.</p><p>It could carry 16 P-500 anti-ship missiles, 104 S-300F anti-aircraft missiles, 40 9K33 air-defense missiles, two 130mm cannons, anti-submarine mortars, torpedoes, and six <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/phalanx-close-in-weapon-system-navy-ships-last-missiles-defense-2021-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">close-in weapon systems</a>. Because of its armament and size — more than 600 feet long and displacing over 11,000 tons — Moskva would difficult to sink.</p><p>On the night of April 13, the Ukrainian military launched two Neptune anti-ship missiles that flew about 50 feet above the water on their way to Moskva. As they neared the warship, they dropped to just above the surface to avoid the ship's missile defenses.</p><p>The Ukrainians had to aim their Neptunes very well, but after their impact, cascading explosions fueled by Moskva's munitions, as well as what was likely its crew's poor training and leadership, helped doom the Russian ship.</p><div type="image" title="Bayraktar TB2 drone" height="3381" width="4508" msid="92710669" hostid="261" sizebytes="1420364"></div><p>Ukraine's military reportedly used a Bayraktar TB2 drone to track Moskva's movements and to distract its crew and sensors from the incoming missiles. The Moskva's sinking is in many regards a reflection of a new age in naval warfare, as the use of a drone to track and distract a large enemy surface ship, making it more vulnerable to attack, is a first.</p><p>Since the Moskva was sunk, Russia's navy has largely lost its freedom of movement along Ukraine's coast. Kyiv says its anti-ship missiles have wreaked havoc on Russian warships, sinking 14 small and large vessels as of June.</p><p>Surface combatants are by no means obsolete. Aircraft carriers, destroyers, cruisers, and frigates are still highly useful and can fill many roles, ranging from force projection and deterrence to long-range attack and area defense.</p><p>But new weapons on display in Ukraine add to the threats that have long challenged surface ships' ability to survive in modern warfare, as illustrated in the naval clashes of the <keyword id="11894875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="falklands-war" source="Orion">Falklands War</keyword>.</p><h2>ARA General Belgrano and <keyword id="14386301" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="hms-sheffield" source="Orion">HMS Sheffield</keyword></h2><div type="image" title="Argentina navy General Belgrano Falklands War" height="1314" width="2000" msid="92710670" hostid="261" sizebytes="126242"></div><p>Two incidents during the Falklands War in 1982 highlighted the enduring danger that surface ships faced from air and undersea threats.</p><p>On May 2, 1982, after days of hunting, British nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror launched three Mark 8 torpedoes at Argentine light cruiser ARA General Belgrano. Within minutes, the Argentine warship was sinking, taking 323 of its 1,100 crew with it.</p><p>Belgrano was only the second surface warship to be sunk by a submarine since World War II, and it showed the danger that subs pose to surface combatants.</p><p>Days later, Argentina struck back. On May 4, Argentine jets attacked HMS Sheffield, a Type 42 guided-missile destroyer, launching two <a href="https://missilethreat.csis.org/missile/exocet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AM39 Exocet</a> anti-ship cruise missiles and scoring one hit.</p><p>Residual fuel from missile triggered a blaze in the ship, eventually igniting Sheffield's fuel tank and destroying most of the forward part of the vessel. The destroyer sank on May 10, as it was being towed by another British ship. Of the 268 crew, 20 were killed and dozens more injured.</p><div type="image" title="British Royal Navy HMS Sheffield Falklands War" height="1358" width="2000" msid="92710671" hostid="261" sizebytes="179152"></div><p>HMS Sheffield was one of four ships that the British would lose to Argentine air attacks. Argentine aircraft struck three Royal Navy vessels with Exocets, sinking each and killing 46 British sailors.</p><p>Guided missiles were <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nazi-attack-on-warships-introduced-world-to-precision-guided-weapons-2021-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first used to sink ships during World War II</a>, and the Falklands War showed the enduring danger they posed, even to advanced warships. Following the war, the US Navy tested Exocets against its own defenses, which downed all but one of the dozen missiles fired at US ships, according to John Lehman, the secretary of the Navy at the time.</p><p>"The cruise missile is nothing new for naval forces. It's clear the Russians either never learned the lessons, more probably, or forgot them all, because almost every lesson that came out of World War II and subsequent wars was ignored in the Moskva," Lehman <a href="https://www.csis.org/events/falklands-40" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> at a think-tank audience in April.</p><p>"The worry is that US and Western and NATO navies have forgotten what they should be remembering in training and in equipment and in materiel and in ship design. All of those things are important in naval warfare," Lehman said.</p><p><em>Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate.</em></p>

The sinking of Russia's Black Sea Fleet flagship highlights deadly lessons learned in another war 40 years ago

<ul class="summary-list"><li>About 15,000 Russian troops have died in the invasion of <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword>, per <keyword id="11897975" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uk" source="Orion">UK</keyword>'s defense secretary.</li><li>Roughly the same number of Soviet soldiers died during the nine-year <keyword id="11904994" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="war" source="Orion">war</keyword> in <keyword id="11892774" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="afghanistan" source="Orion">Afghanistan</keyword>.</li></ul><p>In nearly nine weeks, <keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword> lost as many troops during its invasion of Ukraine as it did in the nine years of the Soviet War in Afghanistan.</p><p>"It is our assessment that approximately 15,000 Russian personnel have been killed during their offensive," Ben Wallace, UK's Secretary of State for Defense said in a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/defence-secretary-statement-to-the-house-of-commons-on-ukraine-25-april-2022">statement</a> released by the British embassy in Washington on Monday. He also estimated that approximately a quarter of the battalion tactical groups were "not combat effective."</p><p>The Soviet War in Afghanistan lasted from 1979 to 1989. Many <a href="https://faculty.washington.edu/aseem/afganwar.pdf">scholars</a> <a href="https://www.history.com/news/1979-soviet-invasion-afghanistan">partially attributed</a> the Soviet Union's 1991 collapse to the military failure in the war. About 14,500 Soviet soldiers died then — along with 90,000 Mujahideen soldiers, 18,000 Afghan soldiers, and approximately one million civilians, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/08/the-soviet-war-in-afghanistan-1979-1989/100786/">The Atlantic reported in 2014</a>.</p><p>Wallace similarly pointed to a "failure of the Russian Ministry of Defence command and control at all levels."</p><p>He also singled out Russia's equipment losses, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-sank-russias-cruiser-moskva-with-2-missiles-Pentagon-2022-4">including the Moskva warship,</a> which sank on April 14 after a Ukrainian missile attack.</p><p>"Last week Russia admitted that the Slava-class cruiser Moskva has sunk – the second key naval asset that they have lost since invading – significantly weakening their ability to bring their maritime assets to bear from the Black Sea," he said in his remarks, delivered to the House of Commons on Ukraine.</p><p>"Russia has so far failed in nearly every one of its objectives," he added.</p><p>Since Vladimir Putin waged war on Ukraine on February 24, at least 2,665 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, according to the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2022/04/ukraine-civilian-casualty-update-25-april-2022">Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights</a> on Monday, which says the actual number is likely much higher.</p><p>The UK Secretary of State for Defence also estimated that more than 2,000 Russian armored vehicles were totaled or seized, including "at least 530 tanks, 530 Armoured Personnel Carriers and 560 Infantry Fighting Vehicles." They estimate that the country has also lost at least 60 helicopters and fighter jets. </p><p>Wallace said Ukraine has "endured indiscriminate bombardment, war crimes, and overwhelming military aggression."</p><p>"But they have stood firm, galvanized the <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">international</keyword> community, and beaten back the army of Russia in the North and the North-East," he added.</p>

Russian troops in Ukraine have suffered as many deaths as the entire 9-year Afghan war that contributed to the USSR's collapse

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword>'s navy has taken high-profile losses against a outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian adversary.</li><li>The losses themselves are not catastrophic for Russia's navy but they are blows to Russian prestige.</li></ul><p>Since Russia launched its attack on <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword> in late February, the <keyword id="12320048" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russian-navy" source="Orion">Russian navy</keyword> has <a href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2022/05/russian-navys-5-significant-losses-in-the-ukraine-war-so-far/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suffered</a> high-profile losses against a heavily outnumbered and outgunned adversary.</p><p>The Russians <a href="https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-equipment.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have lost</a> at least five <a href="https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1521026579555569670?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1521026579555569670%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.navalnews.com%2Fnaval-news%2F2022%2F05%2Fwatch-ukrainian-tb2-striking-two-russian-raptor-assault-boats%2F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Raptor-class</a> patrol boats, one <a href="https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44904/russian-landing-ship-destroyed-in-massive-explosion-in-captured-ukrainian-port-city" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tapir-class</a> landing ship, one <a href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2022/05/russian-serna-class-lcu-becomes-the-new-victim-of-tb2-drone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Serna-class</a> landing craft, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-ships-head-south-as-flagship-moskva-battles-extensive-fire-2022-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most notably the Moskva</a>, a Slava-class guided-missile cruiser that was also the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet.</p><p>The losses themselves are not catastrophic for the Russian navy and are unlikely to alter the course of the war or the balance of power in the Black Sea, but they are blows to Russian prestige and come a little over a century after another <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/russia-and-west-moskva%E2%80%99s-sinking-truly-historic-201881" target="_blank" rel="noopener">historic debacle</a> for Russia: the <keyword id="14100772" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="battle-of-tsushima" source="Orion">Battle of Tsushima</keyword>, the last time a Russian navy flagship <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Frussias-sunken-warship-moskva-recalls-great-world-war-ii-naval-battles-11650021090" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was sunk</a> in combat.</p><p>Fought in the waters between Korea and southern <keyword id="6355311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="japan" source="Orion">Japan</keyword> by ships of the Japanese and Russian empires on May 27 and 28 in 1905, the battle cemented Japan's rise as an equal to Western powers and had a lasting impact on both Japan and Russia.</p><h2>Competing empires</h2><div type="image" title="Japan navy ships Russo-Japanese war" height="1029" width="2000" msid="91972518" hostid="261"></div><p>Tensions between the Japanese and Russian empires had been building since Japan's overwhelming victory in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895.</p><p>Japan, equipped with an organized, modern army, was pursuing ambitions in Korea and China that brought it dangerously close to Russian interests, especially in Manchuria and Korea.</p><p>Of particular importance to the Russians was Port Arthur, now Dalian, a Chinese port that was leased to Russia and was its only warm-water Pacific port. Port Arthur became the headquarters of Russia's Pacific Fleet and there were plans to connect it to Russia via the Trans-Siberian Railway.</p><p>Negotiations between Japan and Russia over the future of the region went nowhere, and so, on February 8, 1904, the Imperial Japanese Navy <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/russias-pearl-harbor-the-battle-port-arthur-17260" target="_top">attacked</a> the main part of the Russian Pacific Fleet at Port Arthur, formally declaring war hours later.</p><div type="image" title="Russia navy ships Port Arthur Russo-Japanese war" height="1500" width="2000" msid="91972519" hostid="261"></div><p>Japan gained a naval advantage relatively quickly. It fought off an <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-the-Yellow-Sea-1904" target="_top">attempt</a> by the main part of the Russian Pacific Fleet to break the blockade of Port Arthur and largely defeated Russia's Vladivostok-based squadrons at Chemulpo Bay and Ulsan — victories that allowed Japan to effectively dominate the Pacific.</p><p>Unwilling to concede defeat, and with Japanese ground forces beginning a <a href="https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2018/12/13/baiting-the-russian-bear-the-siege-of-port-arthur/" target="_top">siege of Port Arthur itself</a>, Russia's Tsar Nicholas II ordered the creation of the 2nd Pacific Squadron, which was to be made up of ships from the Baltic Fleet.</p><p>Commanded by Vice Adm. Zinovy Rozhestvensky, the 2nd Pacific Squadron was composed of some 40 ships, including 11 <a href="https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/dreadnought.html" target="_top">pre-dreadnought battleships</a>, nine cruisers, and nine destroyers.</p><p>Sailing from the Baltic in October 1904, they were supposed to relieve the Pacific Fleet at Port Arthur, destroy any Japanese ships they encountered, and cut the supply lines between Japan and mainland Asia.</p><h2>Russia's doomed fleet</h2><div type="image" title="Russia navy battleship Knyaz Suvorov" height="1400" width="1866" msid="91972520" hostid="261"></div><p>Russia's navy had been modernized in during the latter half of the 1800s, but while the 2nd Pacific Squadron appeared strong on paper, it was not a first-rate naval force. Some of the warships were new and untested, but many were old and bordered on obsolete. Others were little more than auxiliary ships with guns mounted on them.</p><p>Russian Navy leadership was also of low quality. Many of its officers came from wealthy and connected families who simply bought their commissions. The rank-and-file sailors were not much more professional, as many of them were inexperienced conscripts.</p><p>These issues were on full display during the seven-month, 18,000-mile journey to the Pacific.</p><p>While in the North Sea near England, the fleet opened fire on British fishing trawlers, somehow thinking they were Japanese torpedo boats. Two fishermen were killed, one was injured, and one trawler was sunk with four more damaged. In the chaos, some of the Russian ships even fired on each other, causing casualties and damage.</p><div type="image" title="Russia navy battleship Borodino" height="1500" width="2000" msid="91972521" hostid="261"></div><p>Diplomatic maneuvering managed to prevent the British from joining the war on the side of Japan, but the Russian fleet's troubles were only beginning.</p><p>Most of the fleet sailed around Africa rather than through the Suez Canal. The longer journey took a toll on the crews, who had never experienced such a different climate or such a long time at sea. The ships themselves were also under considerable strain. During gunnery practice with a mock target towed by a cruiser, the only thing the fleet hit was the cruiser.</p><p>With no allies, the Russians couldn't dock in friendly ports, and so they had to take on more coal while at sea. Conditions on the ships deteriorated, and a number of sailors died of disease and respiratory issues.</p><p>By the time the fleet was in Madagascar in January, Port Arthur had fallen. Their mission was then changed: They were to meet the remnants of Russia's Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok before engaging the Japanese in a decisive battle.</p><h2>Slaughter at Tsushima</h2><div type="image" title="Japanese navy ships Tsushima" height="782" width="1200" msid="91972522" hostid="261"></div><p>When the Russian ships finally reached the Tsushima Strait on the night of May 26, 1905, Rozhestvensky attempted to slip through unnoticed. Unfortunately for him, one of his ships had been spotted by a patrolling Japanese vessel.</p><p>Even more unfortunate, the Russian ship mistakenly believed the Japanese vessel was a lost Russian ship and signaled that more Russian ships were nearby.</p><p>With the location of his enemy confirmed, Japanese Adm. Tōgō Heihachirō's Combined Fleet, which included four modern battleships, over 20 cruisers, 21 destroyers, and 43 torpedo boats, set out to meet them.</p><p>On the morning of May 27, the fleets made contact. Before the firing began, Tōgō hoisted a signal flag that conveyed a predetermined message to his fleet: "the Empire's fate depends on the result of this battle, let every man do his utmost duty."</p><div type="image" title="Russia navy cruiser Oleg" height="1342" width="1897" msid="91972523" hostid="261"></div><p>The ensuing battle was a slaughter. In addition to better training, discipline, and experience, the Japanese were equipped with modern armor-piercing rounds that tore the Russian ships apart.</p><p>By the end of the day, four Russian battleships were sunk. Imperator Aleksandr III sank with its entire crew of over 700, while Borodino sank with all but one of its more than 800 crew members.</p><p>The flagship, Knyaz Suvorov, sank with all but 20 officers, while about half of Oslyabya's crew went down with the ship. A number of cruisers and destroyers were sunk as well.</p><p>As night fell, the survivors attempted to make it to Vladivostok under cover of darkness. Tōgō's destroyers hunted them down, picking off two more battleships and several other warships. By the following afternoon, most of the survivors surrendered.</p><h2>Lost prestige</h2><div type="image" title="Heihashima Togo Japan Tokyo" height="1341" width="2000" msid="91972524" hostid="261"></div><p>Russian losses were immense, 21 ships sunk or scuttled and seven captured. Only three ships reached Vladivostok, though six others made it to neutral ports in China, the Philippines, and Madagascar.</p><p>Over 4,000 Russian sailors were killed and almost 6,000 were captured. The Japanese lost only three torpedo boats with just 117 killed and about 500 wounded — including a young Isoroku Yamamoto, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/operation-vengeance-us-kills-pearl-harbor-planner-isoroku-yamamoto-2018-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mastermind of the attack on Pearl Harbor</a>, who lost two fingers in the battle.</p><p>The Russian navy's prestige never recovered from Tsushima. Unable to be rebuilt to the same grand scale, it saw little major action in World War I. The Soviet Navy also only saw limited action in World War II and never truly proved itself during the Cold War, though Soviet submarines were a constant concern for NATO navies.</p><p>Today, the Russian navy <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-navy-betting-big-on-new-smaller-warships-with-missiles-2021-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">boasts a smaller, more modern fleet</a> that is focused on green-water operations rather than high-seas campaigns, but its surprising losses against Ukraine show it has yet to regain the dominance lost a century ago.</p>

The Russian navy's surprising losses against Ukraine are reminders of another humiliating defeat 117 years ago

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In early November, US Navy ships, including the Sixth Fleet's flagships, returned to the <keyword id="12547341" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="black-sea" source="Orion">Black Sea</keyword>.</li><li>The visit is a sign of the US's increasing focus on the region, where NATO forces are spending more time.</li></ul><p>On November 12, the flagship of the US Navy's Sixth Fleet, USS Mount Whitney, and Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Porter arrived at the Black Sea port of Constanta in <keyword id="12547343" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="romania" source="Orion">Romania</keyword> after visiting Batumi, <keyword id="11931393" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="georgia" source="Orion">Georgia</keyword>.</p><p>The US warships were operating with NATO allies and partners in the Black Sea, <a href="https://www.eucom.mil/pressrelease/41730/us-sixth-fleet-naval-striking-support-forces-nato-staffs-begin-operations-in-the-mediterra">according to the US European Command</a>, and their deployment followed soon after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited the region.</p><p><keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword> was incensed by that activity.</p><p>In a meeting with Russian military leadership, President Vladimir Putin seemed to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-will-react-attempts-break-strategic-parity-putin-2021-11-01/">threaten</a> the US warships, saying Russian forces "can catch a glimpse" of USS Mount Whitney "through binoculars or through the crosshairs of matching defense systems."</p><p>Putin's comments come amid heightened tensions between Russia and NATO. Seven years after Russia's <a href="https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/11/would-russia-go-to-war-to-stop-ukraine-from-joining-nato/">seizure</a> of <keyword id="12547342" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crimea" source="Orion">Crimea</keyword> and with <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/11/09/poland-belarus-putin-behind-migrant-crisis-at-border-says-polish-pm-morawiecki">tensions simmering</a> elsewhere in Eastern Europe, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-video-of-us-military-aircraft-intercept-over-black-sea-2020-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Black Sea remains a hotspot</a> — and it may heat up.</p><h2>Transcontinental nexus</h2><div type="image" title="Black Sea" height="839" width="1428" msid="87747681" hostid="261"></div><p>The Black Sea is in a strategic location, connecting the Caucasus with Europe along Russia's southwestern flank. It contains some of Russia's only warm-water ports and provides Russia access to the Mediterranean and the waters beyond.</p><p>The sea features prominently in Russian defense and security architecture because supremacy there is seen as vital for Russian security and for supporting power projection far from Russian shores. It also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-nato-russian-militaries-increasingly-active-in-black-sea-2020-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allows Moscow to challenge NATO</a>.</p><p>The region "is the locus of the Kremlin's tests against alliance credibility and resolve, which have escalated over the last two decades in the conventional and nonconventional domain," Alina Polyakova, president of the Center for European Policy Analysis, a think-tank, <a href="https://cepa.org/black-sea-security-reviving-us-policy-toward-the-region/">said</a> in October at a Senate hearing.</p><p>Those tests include close encounters with NATO forces at sea and in the air as well as attacks on <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword> and Georgia, which <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraine-holds-military-drills-with-us-forces-nato-allies-2021-09-20/">are NATO partners</a> seeking full membership.</p><p>NATO has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-nato-russian-militaries-increasingly-active-in-black-sea-2020-8">stepped up its presence in the Black Sea</a> — as shown by Austin's visit and the Sixth Fleet's exercises — but limitations of geography and <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">international</keyword> law mean countering Russia there is not a straightforward effort.</p><h2>A Russian lake</h2><div type="image" title="Putin Visits Warship Black Sea Russia" height="2329" width="3500" msid="87747682" hostid="261"></div><p>After the Soviet collapse, Russia's Black Sea Fleet fell into obsolescence.</p><p>With Russia's 2008 military reforms and its 2011-2020 State Armament Program, <a href="https://www.cna.org/research/IOP-2019-U-020190-Final">the Black Sea Fleet became a lighter, more agile force</a> able to operate in near-shore areas and surrounding waters.</p><p>The fleet's main elements are three Admiral Grigorovich-class guided-missile frigates built after the 2014 Crimean crisis, two Krivak-class guided-missile frigates, <a href="https://www.kchf.ru/eng/ship/today.htm">and its flagship, Slava-class guided-missile cruiser Moskva.</a> It also includes six new Improved Kilo-class diesel-electric attack submarines and an older Kilo-class sub.</p><p>Those ships are supported by a host of smaller and auxiliary vessels, including six guided-missile corvettes and five missile boats, underlining the fleet's littoral capabilities.</p><p>The fleet is complemented by the newly formed 22nd Army Corps, one air-defense and two aviation divisions based in Crimea, and one air-defense division based in Rostov-on-Don.</p><p>Moscow is also enhancing its anti-access/area-denial capabilities in the Black Sea, <a href="https://jamestown.org/program/crimea-the-expanding-military-capabilities-of-russias-area-denial-zone-in-the-black-sea/">particularly around Crimea,</a> to protect its warships and hold off rival forces. Adding to the fleet's ability to strike at distance are 108 Kalibr <a href="https://missilethreat.csis.org/missile/ss-n-30a/">sea-launched cruise missiles</a>, which have a maximum range of approximately 1,200 miles.</p><p>NATO's Black Sea members and partners are at a military disadvantage when compared to Russia.</p><div type="image" title="Navy destroyer Porter Oak Hill Black Sea" height="1786" width="2500" msid="87747683" hostid="261"></div><p>Romania has a navy of three frigates, seven corvettes, a handful of auxiliary boats, and an old Kilo-class submarine. <keyword id="12174573" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="bulgaria" source="Orion">Bulgaria</keyword> does not fare much better, with four frigates, three corvettes, and a few support ships, most of them minesweepers.</p><p>Turkey has a sizable and capable navy, but its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-sanctions-nato-ally-turkey-over-russian-missile-defense-2020-12?op=1">warming relationship</a> with Russia <a href="https://www.insider.com/us-nuclear-weapons-incirlik-turkey-question-nato-proxy-war-2018-1">and its estrangement with NATO</a> have raised doubts about its commitment to the alliance.</p><p>Ukraine is rebuilding its naval force after the loss of Crimea, and Georgia, the smallest Black Sea state, has only a coast guard.</p><p>In a clash with Russia, those countries would likely seek outside help, but there are limits on what outside countries can do.</p><p><a href="https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/LON/Volume%20173/v173.pdf">The Montreux Convention of 1936</a> restricts what kind of ships and how many ships non-Black Sea countries can send into the sea. It also limits their stay to 21 days, and Turkey must be given advanced warning of any transit into or out of the sea.</p><p>Those limits benefit Russia and hinder what the US can do. Only three of the US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are allowed to be in the Black Sea at one time. But an Arleigh Burke is a powerful platform. Each can carry <a href="https://www.naval-technology.com/projects/burke/">56 Tomahawk missiles</a>, which have roughly the same range as the Kalibr.</p><p>While two Arleigh Burkes could match the Black Sea Fleet's Kalibr complement, Russia watches their movements closely.</p><h2>Adapting to a new landscape</h2><div type="image" title="USS Mount Whitney in Batumi Georgia on Black Sea" height="1335" width="2000" msid="87747685" hostid="261"></div><p>Black Sea states, on their own and with NATO, are working to improve their ability to counter Russia, navigating the region's geographic and political constraints to do so.</p><p>Romania <a href="https://www.eucom.mil/pressrelease/41296/aegis-ashore-romania-supporting-european-missile-defense-for-5-years-and-counting">already hosts a land-based Aegis ballistic-defense missile system</a>, and it's <a href="https://www.stripes.com/theaters/europe/air-force-wants-to-turn-soviet-era-base-in-romania-into-nato-black-sea-hub-1.636877" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expanding</a> other facilities to host more NATO troops. Bulgaria is <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/2373954/us-bulgaria-chart-10-year-road-map-for-military-cooperation/">working with the US</a> to expand its military capabilities. Ukraine has taken a number of steps <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-modernizing-military-to-make-war-more-costly-for-moscow-2021-6">to modernize and expand its own military</a>.</p><p>In the weeks since Austin's visit, officials <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/feindef/2021/11/04/romania-ukraine-say-more-troops-needed-on-the-black-sea/">in the region</a> and <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2021/11/05/send-ukraine-us-troops-weapons-key-republicans-tell-biden/">US lawmakers</a> have urged the Biden administration to do more to support countries there, including additional weapons sales and troop deployments. Others have advocated developing <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/11/12/us-actions-ukraine-backfiring-risk-of-russian-invasion-grows-analysts-say.html">a clearer strategy</a> for the region as a deterrent.</p><p>USS Mount Whitney <a href="https://twitter.com/USNavyEurope/status/1460116044954144773">began</a> sailing out of the Black Sea on November 15, and USS Porter <a href="https://twitter.com/USNavyEurope/status/1460482932968144896" target="_blank" rel="noopener">followed</a> it out on November 16. Such deployments often <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-united-states-black-sea/31550090.html">raise Russian ire</a>, but the US shows no sign of backing off, saying its presence there demonstrates "continued commitment to collective defense of the European region and reinforces the strength of the NATO alliance."</p><p><em>Constantine Atlamazoglou works on transatlantic and European security. He holds a master's degree on security studies and European affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.</em></p>

US warships went on another mission to a European hotspot, and Putin says they're in Russia's 'crosshairs'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>US Navy <keyword id="413144" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Aircraft-carriers">aircraft carriers</keyword> have been a dominant force on the world's oceans for decades.</li><li>But <keyword id="6358826" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Russia">Russia</keyword> and <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>, seen as the US's two main rivals in the years to come, are working hard new new weapons that could threaten that dominance.</li></ul><p>In August, China <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-aircraft-carrier-killer-missiles-reportedly-hit-ship-in-test-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched two ballistic missiles</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-aircraft-carrier-killer-missiles-reportedly-hit-ship-in-test-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a> that, according to a Chinese military expert, hit a moving target ship in the South China Sea thousands of miles from their launch sites.</p><p>If true, the test - which came a month after the US <a href="https://news.usni.org/2020/07/17/two-u-s-carriers-return-to-south-china-sea-after-state-dept-formally-rejects-chinese-claims" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deployed</a> two carrier strike groups to the region and a day after a US U-2 spy plane <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3098885/us-spy-plane-enters-no-fly-zone-during-chinese-live-fire-naval" target="_blank" rel="noopener">observed</a> a Chinese navy live-fire drill - is the first known demonstration of China's long-range anti-ship ballistic missiles against a moving target.</p><p>"We are doing this because of their provocation," Wang Xiangsui, a former Chinese colonel and professor at Beijing's Beihang University, reportedly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-aircraft-carrier-killer-missiles-reportedly-hit-ship-in-test-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in reference to the deployments, calling the test "a warning to the US."</p><p>Not to be outdone, the Russian navy <a href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2020/12/video-russias-admiral-gorshkov-frigate-in-another-tsirkon-missile-test/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conducted</a> its third test launch of the <a href="https://missiledefenseadvocacy.org/missile-threat-and-proliferation/todays-missile-threat/russia/3m22-zircon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zircon hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile</a> in the White Sea in December. Launched from a frigate, the missile reached a speed of Mach 8 before hitting a "coastal target" more than 200 miles away.</p><p>The tests are just the latest indication that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-us-navy-aircraft-carriers-supercarriers-to-ford-class-2020-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American aircraft carriers</a>, long viewed as kings of the seas, may soon face a real threat to their existence.</p><h2>High-priority targets</h2><div type="image" title="aircraft carrier" height="1293" width="2048" msid="80205314" hostid="261"></div><p>America's carriers have always been among the biggest targets for rivals. While the Soviets publicly lambasted carriers as "the oppressor of national liberation movements," they recognized them as a dominant weapon platform.</p><p>This was especially the case after they realized US carrier air wings included <a href="https://fas.org/blogs/security/2016/02/nuclear-weapons-at-sea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">aircraft carrying nuclear payloads</a>.</p><p>Declassified CIA documents reveal that by the 1980s, the Soviets rarely criticized carriers in internal discussions and even <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000500708.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">praised</a> them for providing "high combat stability." One <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0003230237.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document</a> from 1979 stated that carriers would be "the highest priority in anti-ship attacks" in potential war scenarios, with amphibious assault ships probably close behind.</p><p>Plans to deal with carriers were <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0005512849.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">based</a> almost entirely on anti-ship cruise missiles fired from submarines, bombers, and surface ships - <a href="https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1247&amp;context=nwc-reviewview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ideally all at once</a>. To that end, the Soviet navy emphasized cruise missile technology and missile-carrying capacity on all of its vessels - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/soviet-union-aircraft-carriers-are-still-influencing-other-navies-2020-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">even on its own aircraft carriers</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Russia Soviet Minsk aircraft carrier" height="889" width="2000" msid="80205315" hostid="261"></div><p>Soviet navy Tu-16, Tu-95, and Tu-22 bombers were the primary aerial delivery systems. Cruisers of the Kynda, Kresta, Slava, and nuclear-powered Kirov classes were the primary surface delivery platforms.</p><p>A host of nuclear-powered and diesel-electric submarines, like the Oscar II- and Juliett-class, would fire those missiles from underwater and on the surface.</p><p>But even this may not have been enough. US carrier defenses and air wings were deemed so strong by the Soviets that as many as 100 bombers would be sent to attack one carrier, with losses expected to be as high as 50%. Soviet pilots weren't even given detailed flight paths for their return.</p><p>It was also feared that the missiles could be shot down or intercepted, so the Soviets concluded that many had to be armed with nuclear warheads.</p><h2>Waning carrier dominance</h2><div type="image" title="Navy aircraft carrier USS Nimitz" height="1560" width="2500" msid="80205316" hostid="261"></div><p>With the Cold War over and the Soviet Union gone, American carrier dominance seemed more than assured. Those carriers have played key roles in conflicts the US has been involved in since the 1990s.</p><p>But the post-Cold War order is slowly being challenged - mainly by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-military-is-improving-but-us-has-more-combat-experience-2020-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China's meteoric rise in military power</a>, which has implications for the carrier's dominance.</p><p>American carriers are among Beijing's biggest concerns. Their presence helped deter an invasion of Taiwan in the 1950s, and in <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2054141/how-snub-one-china-policy-almost-led-beijing-and-us-war" target="_top">1996</a> two carrier battlegroups embarrassed China by operating freely around Taiwan during a period of heightened tensions, forcing Beijing to recognize US military power.</p><p>Since then, China has invested heavily in anti-carrier capabilities. It first bought a slew of weapons from Russia, including Su-30MKK multirole fighters, 12 Kilo-class attack submarines, and four Sovremenny-class guided-missile destroyers.</p><div type="image" title="China military DF-26 ballistic missile Tiananmen Gate" height="938" width="1400" msid="80205317" hostid="261"></div><p>But missiles have been China's main focus. It has amassed one of the world's <a href="https://missilethreat.csis.org/country/china/" target="_top">largest and most advanced missile arsenals</a>, 95% of which falls outside the limits of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which prohibited the US and Russia from having missiles with ranges between 310 miles and 3,100 miles. The US recently <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/INFtreaty" target="_top">withdrew</a> from the treaty, and China was never party to it.</p><p>The two missiles tested in August were variants of the <keyword id="10574571" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="df-21">DF-21</keyword> and DF-26, which have ranges up to 1,300 and 2,400 miles respectively.</p><p>Flying higher, faster, and farther than Soviet cruise missiles, China's anti-ship ballistic missiles could overwhelm the anti-missile defenses of a carrier and its escorts, and force the carrier to stay far enough away to render its air wing useless.</p><p>A US Defense Department <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2020/Sep/01/2002488689/-1/-1/1/2020-DOD-CHINA-MILITARY-POWER-REPORT-FINAL.PDF" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> released this year stated that China's missile development was one area in which Beijing has "achieved parity with - or even exceeded - the United States."</p><h2>New threats</h2><div type="image" title="Russia navy frigate Zircon hypersonic missile SS-N-33" height="1250" width="2000" msid="80205318" hostid="261"></div><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hypersonic-weapons-us-china-russia-arms-race-2018-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hypersonic missiles</a> are another serious threat.</p><p>Able to fly at speeds over Mach 5 (over 3,800 mph), hypersonic missiles are too fast for anti-missile defenses to respond effectively. They can also change direction mid-flight, making it virtually impossible to intercept them.</p><p>China has two hypersonic weapons in service: the <a href="https://missilethreat.csis.org/missile/df-17/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DF-17</a>, and the <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/kill-carrier-df-100-anti-ship-missile-crucial-chinas-pacific-plans-162081" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DF-100</a>. Russia has a number of hypersonic weapons in development, with the <keyword id="1259228" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="zircon">Zircon</keyword> the most promising. Russian officials have <a href="https://tass.com/defense/1097309" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> they hope to be able to arm all new ships in the Russian navy with hypersonic weapons.</p><p>British officials have already <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/russia-builds-unstoppable-4600mph-missile-10098362" target="_blank" rel="noopener">voiced concern</a> about the threat that Russian hypersonic weapons could pose to their carrier.</p><p>"Hypersonic missiles are virtually unstoppable," a senior British naval source <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/russia-builds-unstoppable-4600mph-missile-10098362" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Daily Mirror</a>. "With no method of protecting themselves against missiles like the Zircon the carrier would have to stay out of range, hundreds of miles out at sea."</p><p>"Its planes would be useless and the whole basis of a carrier task force would be redundant," the source said.</p><p>The true capabilities of Russia's and China's new anti-carrier weapons are still unknown, but recent tests prove that US Navy carriers may not enjoy unquestioned dominance for much longer.</p>

US aircraft carriers still rule the seas, but Russia and China both have plans to change that

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5328706569beddf02c1118bc-1200-600/black-sea-fleet-1.jpg?maxX=800" border="0" alt="Black Sea Fleet " width="800" /><p class="source"><span>Stringer . / Reuters</span></p></div><p></p></div>Russia's Black Sea Fleet, based out of the Crimean capital city of Sevastopol, is not Russia's largest or strongest naval fleet. Almost all of the Fleet was commissioned before the Soviet Union fell, and the country <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/blocked-sunken-russian-ships-ukraines-navy-stays-defiant-131009479.html;_ylt=A0LEVzLZ9xxTy0EAYaJXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzamh2YjAyBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1ZJUDM2NV8x">willingly sank</a> some of its own ships to blockade the Ukrainian Navy last week.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, it is celebrated in Russia. Both the Black Sea Fleet and Sevastopol were founded by Russian Prince Potemkin on May 13, 1783. The Fleet defeated the Ottoman Empire, fought in both World Wars, and later established Soviet authority in the area.</p>
<p>Today, it still plays its role in projecting Russian power into the Mediterranean and the Caucasus. It was used in Russia's 2008 war with Georgia and is used to protect important shipping routes.</p>
<p>Below are some of the ships Russia has based out of Sevastopol.</p>
<h4><em>Moskva</em>, a conventionally powered warship, is the only <em>Slava-</em>class guided missile cruiser in the fleet.<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5326fbc469beddc10a27429b-1200-667/project_1164_moskva_2009_g1.jpg" border="0" alt="Black Sea Fleet Moskva Guided Missile Cruiser " width="800" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Project_1164_Moskva_2009_G1.jpg">upload.wikimedia.org</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></h4>
<h4><em>Kerch, </em>a missile cruiser, is the only <em>Kara-</em>class vessel in both the Black Sea Fleet and the entirety of the Russian navy. She is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2019.</h4>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5326fc506bb3f78e5bbdf855-1200-546/project_1134b_kerch_2009_g1.jpg" border="0" alt="Kerch Black Sea Fleet Kara-class missile cruiser " /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Project_1134B_Kerch_2009_G1.jpg">upload.wikimedia.org</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h4><em>Smetlevy </em>is the only <em>Kashin</em>-class missile guided destroyer in the Black Sea Fleet. It took part in the 2008 war with Georgia and was deployed off the coast of Syria in 2013.</h4>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5326fc8e69bedd2116274298-800-425/smetlivyy2007sevastopol.jpg" border="0" alt="Smetlivy Black Sea Fleet Guided Missile Destroyer" width="800" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Smetlivyy2007Sevastopol.jpg">upload.wikimedia.org</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<h4><em>Ladnyy </em>is one of two <em>Krivak-</em>class missile frigates currently deployed with the Black Sea Fleet.</h4>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53271e1a69bedd530f27429c-1200-924/ladnyy-black-sea-fleet-guided-missile-frigate.jpg" border="0" alt="Ladnyy Black Sea Fleet Guided Missile Frigate " width="800" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C_019.jpg">upload.wikimedia.org</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<h4><em>Alroso </em>B-871 is a diesel-electric Soviet Kilo-class submarine. It appears to be the sole vessel in the Black Sea Fleet's 247th Independent Submarine Division.</h4>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5326fc0e69beddc30a2742a0-1200-800/ab_podlodka.jpg" border="0" alt="Black Sea Fleet Diesel Attack Submarine Alrosa B-871" width="800" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Ab_podlodka.jpg">upload.wikimedia.org</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<h4><em>Orsk </em>is an <em>Alligator </em>class landing ship in the 197th Assault Ship Brigade. There are two other <em>Alligator </em>class ships in the fleet - the <em>Saratov </em>and the <em>Nikolay Filchenkov. </em></h4>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5326feb5eab8eaeb22a06142-1200-858/rtx19etb.jpg" border="0" alt="Russia Black Sea Fleet Orsk Landsing Ship" width="800" /><p class="source"><span>Stringer . / Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Russia's Large Landing Ship "Orsk" is pictured moored at the home base of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean port of Sevastopol February 24, 2014. </p></div><p></p></div></p>
<h4><em>Caesar Kunikov </em>is also a landing ship of the <em>Ropucha I-</em>class. There are also <em>Novocherkassk </em>and <em>Yamal</em>, <em>Ropucha I-</em>class landers, and <em>Azov, </em>a <em>Ropucha II</em>-class lander.</h4>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5326fd0fecad043478a6d9e9-1200-924/tsezar_kunikov_in_the_red_sea_(2003).jpg" border="0" alt="Ceaser Kunikov Black Sea Fleet Landing Ship" width="800" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Tsezar_Kunikov_in_the_Red_Sea_%282003%29.jpg">upload.wikimedia.org</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<h4>The Black Sea Fleet also contains six <em>Natya I-</em>class minesweepers. All the ships date from the 1970s. There are also two <em>Sonya-</em>class minesweepers and one <em>Gorya</em>-class seagoing minesweeper in the fleet.</h4>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/532720dbeab8ea0f22a0614a-1200-924/ivangolubets2005sevastopol.jpg" border="0" alt="Black Sea Fleet Natya I" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/IvanGolubets2005Sevastopol.jpg">upload.wikimedia.org</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h4><em>Bora </em>is one of two <em>Dergach</em>-class guided missile corvettes in the fleet. There are also reportedly two <em>Nanuchka III-</em>class guided missile corvettes. Both classes of ship are armed with anti-ship missiles.</h4>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5327220269bedd6e2027429d-800-600/bora-black-sea-fleet.jpg" border="0" alt="Bora Black Sea Fleet" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Bora_Class_Missile_Corvette_Samum.jpg">upload.wikimedia.org</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h4>The <em>R-44 </em>is a <em>Matka Mod-</em>class ship. This class of ship are light hydrofoils that are equipped with missiles.</h4>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/532722d8eab8eaec29a06143-1200-706/caspian_mrk_702.jpg" border="0" alt="Matka Class Black Sea Fleet" width="800" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Caspian_MRK_702.jpg">upload.wikimedia.org</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<h4>There are five <em>Tarantul-</em>class missile ships in the Black Sea Fleet. Pictured below is the sole <em>Tarantul-II</em> in the fleet. The other four ships are <em>Tarantul-IIIs, </em>which have upgraded engines and armaments.</h4>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5327239eecad04be05a6d9e1-1200-924/orp_metalowiec_in_gdynia.jpg" border="0" alt="Tarantul Black Sea Fleet" width="800" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/ORP_Metalowiec_in_Gdynia.JPG">upload.wikimedia.org</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<h4>There are three <em>Grisha</em> <em>III</em>-class anti-submarine corvettes in the Black Sea Fleet. Alongside them are two <em>Grisha I</em>-class anti-submarine corvette and a <em>Mukha-</em>class anti-submarine corvette.</h4>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/532725d7eab8eaf638a06156-1200-800/project_1124m_suzdalets_2009_g1.jpg" border="0" alt="Grisha Class Black Sea Fleet" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Project_1124M_Suzdalets_2009_G1.jpg">upload.wikimedia.org</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h4>Here is a graphical comparison of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy.</h4>
<h4><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/532870e76bb3f71a6e4c1623-1200-1334/ru_ukr_navies.png" border="0" alt="Russian and Ukrainian Navys" width="800" /><p class="source"><span>cigeography.blogspot.fr/2014/03/russian-black-sea-fleet-and-ukrainian.html</span></p></div><p></p></div></h4>

You Searched For "slava class cruiser" and got 8 results

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Russian troops in Ukraine have suffered as many deaths as the entire 9-year Afghan war that contributed to the USSR's collapse

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The Russian navy's surprising losses against Ukraine are reminders of another humiliating defeat 117 years ago

Benjamin Brimelow

US warships went on another mission to a European hotspot, and Putin says they're in Russia's 'crosshairs'

Constantine Atlamazoglou

US aircraft carriers still rule the seas, but Russia and China both have plans to change that

Benjamin Brimelow

Here Are The Ships In Russia's Legendary Black Sea Fleet

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