Before undertaking a count of Russian naval ships lost, it would be pertinent to go back to the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the ships lost by both parties then. The Russians scuttled two of their own vessels in order to block ships of the Ukrainian Navy during their Crimean campaign. They also captured about 75 % of Ukrainian naval ships. Most of these vessels were captured during the operations to capture Sevastopol. In all, about 100 ships were captured by the Russians, off which approximately 35 were returned after the operations.
However, the story in 2022 and thereafter has been quite different. Ukraine had barely a Navy when the war started in March 2022.
Almost as soon as the war started the Ukrainians managed to draw blood. Five Raptor Class patrol boats were claimed to have been hit between 22 March and 22 May 2022. However, one of the boats apparently survived.
On 24 March 2022 the Russians lost Saratov. Saratov was a fairly big Alligator-class amphibious landing warship of the Black Sea Fleet. The Ukrainians claim to have hit the ship when it was at Berdiansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast with a Soviet Tochka-U short-range ballistic missile. The ship could carry 400 personnel and 20 tanks.
The Russians suffered a major blow when on 13 April 2022, Moskva was badly damaged, and later sank. The Ukrainians claimed it as a hit by their Neptune class missile. Moskva was the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet’s Flag Ship. Moskva was used for providing air cover to ships when the war began. It was also used for operations to capture Snake Island by the Russians.
The Ukrainians have also lost a large number of their ships. They have utilised MAGURA (Maritime Autonomous Guard Unmanned Robotic Apparatus) (MAGURA) V5 USVs (Unmanned Surface Vessels) for a lot of their attacks. MAGURA has a range of 800km and can cruise at 40km per hour, reaching a maximum speed of 75km. Ukraine uses these USVs for reconnaissance and surveillance also. They are comparatively far cheaper.
The Ukrainians also claim to have sunk the Landing Ship Novecherkassk when in the Feodosia dock in 23 December 2023. An air launched cruise missile is supposed to have been used.
As of now, Russia, as per some estimates, has already lost most of its Black Sea Fleet of 80 ships. At least, 25 Russian ships are supposed to have been sunk, while another 15 have gone for major repairs.
The losses to the Russian Black Sea Fleet led to the reopening of the sea route through the Black Sea for the Ukrainians. The export of grains was restarted by the Ukrainians, much to the relief of Europe. Ukraine is often called as the grain bowl of Europe and a lot of EU countries bank on Ukrainian grain for their sustenance.
Brig SK Chatterji (Retd)
