The Russian warship Novocherkassk was hit in its home port in Crimea in an attack by Ukraine. It’s not the first time.
Moscow/Feodosiya – A drone attack from Ukraine hit the Russian warship “Novocherkassk” in the port city of Feodosiya in Crimea on Tuesday night. The commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, even spoke on Telegram about the sinking of the landing ship. However, this information has not yet been independently verified. Moscow confirmed the attack. However, there was no information about the extent of the damage to the ship. According to authorities, one person died and two others were injured. The complete sinking of the “Novocherkassk” would be a further humiliation for Moscow – the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the “Moskva”, was destroyed in 2022.
“Novocherkassk” sunk in Crimea? Ukraine’s warship has already been damaged once
Shortly after the outbreak of war, on March 24, 2022, the “Novocherkassk” was damaged in a Ukrainian missile attack on the Project 1171 ship “Saratov” in the port of Berdyansk. The Russian commander of the Sevastopol naval base confirmed at the time that crew members were killed in the incident. According to information from Moscow, in the current attack a year and a half later, two Ukrainian fighter jets that attacked the “Novocherkassk” were destroyed by Russian air defense.
| Surname: | Novocherkassk |
| Construction year: | 1987 |
| NATO designation: | Ropucha class |
| Type: | Landing ships |
| Crew: | 87 men |
Attack on Crimea: “Novocherkassk” had space for 18 tanks, trucks and hundreds of soldiers
The “Novocherkassk” belongs to the so-called Ropucha class, the Soviet designation is Project 775. It is one of a group of landing ships, 28 of which were built in Poland for the Soviet Navy in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The ships were designed primarily for beach landings and can carry a cargo of 500 tons. The “Novocherkassk” has bow and stern access for loading and unloading vehicles.
The ship has space for ten Russian main battle tanks and 340 soldiers or 12 BTR transport tanks and 340 soldiers or an additional three main battle tanks. In addition, three 2S9 Nona-S airborne tanks and four military trucks can be accommodated on the 630 square meter vehicle deck, which extends the entire length of the hull. It is currently unclear whether the military vehicles were actually on board.
The following video shows an exit of the ship “Novocherkassk” near the Turkish coast:
“Novocherkassk” with light armament – landing ship destroyed in Crimea by Ukraine
With the profile of a landing ship, a look at the armament of the “Novocherkassk” also shows a relatively low impact power – in complete contrast to US warships such as the USS Carney, whose armament gives the warship a decisive advantage. In the case of the Russian landing ship, this armament is on board:
- Artillery 57 mm AK-725 (2200 rounds)
- 122 mm MS-73 Grad-M launcher (320 rounds)
- 2 × 4x starter for Strela-3 (short-range surface-to-air missile)
Most recently, Ukraine reported damage to several Russian Black Sea Fleet ships in Crimea in October. A “Bujan” missile ship and the “Pawel Derzhavin” patrol ship were said to have been attacked by Ukrainian naval drones with new “experimental weapons,” Ukrainian media said. The target was also the submarine “Alrossa”. The Moscow-appointed governor of the port city, Michael Razwoshayev, claimed on Telegram that the background of the explosion noises were exercises against underwater sabotage teams.
By the way: A Russian super submarine was recently smuggled through the Baltic Sea. The federal police had still seen the convoy. (Jacob Koch)