Russian warship ‘seriously damaged’ by explosion – military

The entire crew of the missile cruiser ‘Moskva’ was evacuated after an ammunition explosion caused by a fire, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a brief statement on Wednesday night, as quoted by multiple Russian news agencies, including RIA, TASS and Interfax.

The cruiser suffered “serious damage,” the Russian military reportedly said, adding that the cause of the fire was under investigation. The Defense Ministry, however, has yet to confirm the incident on its official website, or share further details.

The Atlant-class missile cruiser, launched in 1979, is armed with 16 anti-ship missiles and many more air defense missiles, torpedoes and guns. It is part of the Black Sea Fleet, and has been engaged in operations off the coast of Ukraine since February.

Ukrainian officials on Wednesday evening claimed that a battery of their Neptune anti-ship missiles hidden in Odessa had successfully struck the Moskva twice, setting the cruiser ablaze. Among those making the claim were Maksim Marchenko, head of the military administration in Odessa, and Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Interior Ministry in Kiev.

They did not provide any evidence for their claims, however. One Ukrainian Telegram channel reportedly posted – then deleted – a photo of an Iranian vessel that caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Oman last year.

READ MORE: Turkey suspects conspiracy behind Black Sea mines

The alleged strike against Moskva comes just a day after Ukraine released a postage stamp depicting the – fictional – “Snake Island” incident in which 13 Ukrainian soldiers supposedly cursed out that very ship before heroically dying. In reality, 82 servicemen surrendered to the Russian Navy without a fight, and there was no proof the alleged exchange ever took place.

Ukraine also claimed to have destroyed Vasily Bykov, another ship involved in the taking of Snake Island. Ukrainian media announced on March 7 that a volley of artillery rockets hit and sank the Bykov, after two speedboats baited into a trap – only for the ship to show up in Sevastopol on March 16, unharmed.

https://www.rt.com/russia/553838-russia-cruiser-blast-black-sea/

Jim Stone adds –

Russia keeps insisting the Moskva was not hit by missiles

Update: This may only be gameplay, there is a rumor getting started that the Brits did it. Thus far it is pure rumor. Let me define Rumor: Rumor is what you post when you want to be first with a story, but don’t want to be hung when it turns out to be B.S. My gut is telling me this rumor is probably legit, and probably why that American sub showed up in Gibraltar. That sub would have been starting it’s journey before the brits did anything, knowing about it ahead of time.

Russia keeps claiming that for some reason they can’t figure out, ammunition on the ship exploded “due to a fire”. If the Brits did not do this (new rumor says they did, but if they did not) – Remember Deep Water Horizon that had the hole scorched in the helipad? You know – the one that made it pretty clear space based weapons were used to start it on fire? If that could be done to an oil platform, why would it be impossible for someone to start a fire right in the ammo storage area with the same type of weapon? I figured that is what it probably was that caused this. There’s no way to know because Russia is not releasing photos, all they are saying is that they evacuated and it is under tow and that it was not taken out by missiles.