Cruiser Moskva, Flagship of Black Sea Fleet, Severely Damaged, Afire, Abandoned, Possibly Sunk

“Moskva” (“Moscow”) (ex-“Slava”, which means “Glory”) is the lead ship of the Project 1164 Atlant class of guided missile cruisers in the Russian Navy. The Project 1164 Atlant class was developed as “Aircraft carriers killer”. This warship was used in the 2008 Russia-Georgia War. The Black Sea. Sevastopol bay. This photo was taken from a boat. Photo by George Chernilevsky

I have seen several reports that the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the 39 year old cruiser Moskva, was so severely damaged that the crew had abandoned ship. This was reportedly confirmed by the Russians according to a report from the US Naval Institute News Service.

There are also reports the ship capsized. Confirmation should come quickly. Ukraine claims they targeted the ship and struck it with two anti-ship cruise missiles. Secondary explosions followed.

8 thoughts on “Cruiser Moskva, Flagship of Black Sea Fleet, Severely Damaged, Afire, Abandoned, Possibly Sunk

  1. Russian state media has confirmed it has sunk. Russians are saying it was an accident, while the Ukrainian say it caught fire after getting struck by two anti-ship missiles. I don’t know what is worse… Being so undisciplined to have an ordnance accident at sea that sinks the ship, or being so undisciplined that a missile strikes ignites on board ordnance.

  2. Looks like only a small number of sailers were rescued, perhaps 15-20 out of a crew size of over 500.

    The earlier story of 50 crewmen being rescued by a Turkish merchant ship has been debunked.

      • Well you have two choices. Either they all succumbed or the vast majority were rescued. There are pictures out there of a muster of Russian sailors being spoken to by Nikolai Yevmenov, CinC of the Russian navy. It all depends on your politics I suppose as to what you believe.

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