The Russian cruiser Moskva was the first ship of its kind sunk in the middle of the conflict since General Belgrano in the Falklands War

The sinking of the Mosvka, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was a severe setback for Russia, which claims that its loss was due to an accidental fire that caused the detonation of its ammunition, while Ukraine claims it was hit by two missiles.

In any case, the sinking of this missile carrier deprived Russia of the vessel with the greatest firing capacity on the Black Sea and constitutes its greatest material loss so far as its invasion of Ukraine. Its value is estimated at 750 million dollars.

The last time a ship of this size was lost in a war conflict was the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, which was torpedoed and sunk by the British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror on May 2, 1982, during the Malvinas War. Unlike Moskva, General Belgrano was attacked outside the exclusion area, which was a circumference of 200 nautical miles established by the British with a center on the islands of the South Atlantic.

General Belgrano and Moskva were of similar size, each about 600 feet (more than 180 meters) long and dislodged nearly 12,000 tons, although the 1,093 crew aboard General Belgrano was more than twice the size of the Moskva crew, estimated at around 500.

Asked by The Economist, Alessio Patalano, naval expert from King's College London, stressed that Mosvka's “is one of the most severe naval losses since the Malvinas War”.

The characteristics of the Moskva

Its armament included 16 Vulkan anti-ship missiles and 64 S-300F anti-aircraft anti-aircraft missiles on eight shuttles, as well as artillery, torpedoes and depth charges. In addition, it was equipped with a Ka-27 anti-submarine helicopter.

With 186.5 meters long, 20.8 meters wide and a displacement of 11,490 tons, the ship, which had a maximum speed of 30 knots, was launched in 1979 and four years later entered service in the Soviet Navy under the name Slava (glory).

On board it, in 1989, the then Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev, traveled to Malta to meet with his American counterpart George Bush Sr.

In 1996, already integrated into the Russian Navy, it was renamed Moskva and its record includes support missions in the Russo-Georgian war of 2008 and the Russian military contingent deployed in Syria.

The missile cruiser participated in the capture of the small Ukrainian island Zmiiniy (from the snakes) in the Black Sea on February 24, the day when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

“Russian warship, go to hell! was the response that Moskva received to its demand for surrender from the garrison of the Ukrainian border guard Roman Gribov, who together with 12 comrades was captured prisoner.

More than a month later the Ukrainian border guards, who several days after their capture were considered dead, were exchanged for Russian prisoners. By then, the phrase spoken by Gribov had already become a motto throughout Ukraine.

Two days before the collapse of Moskva, Ukrainian Post issued a postage stamp commemorating the border guard's response to the demand for surrender. The image of the seal, which was presented by Grybov, shows a soldier standing with an automatic rifle who, with his right hand, shows a “comb” to a warship, representing the Moskva, from the ground.

“Sleep in peace, great ship,” Mikhail Razvozhayev, governor of the Crimean port of Sevastopol, where the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet was based, wrote on his Telegram account. He added that the “most important” thing is that the crew was evacuated.

“For Sevastopol, the cruise ship was a real symbol. And of course we all feel pain today,” said the governor.

The sinking of Belgrano

On April 30, 1982, the United States abandoned mediation between Argentina and Great Britain and decided to provide military assistance to its historic ally. Before public communication, NATO had already delivered missiles, fuel, ammunition and intelligence materials to the British logistics base on Ascension Island, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. On that day, the British air and naval blockade began, the total exclusion zone over the islands. All ships circulating without authorization would be considered hostile and susceptible to attack. That day, too, the electronic emissions of British ships were detected by radarists with the mobile countermeasure team in Puerto Argentino. The next day Puerto Argentino was bombed.

In his book The Invisible War, Marcelo Larraquy revealed the follow-up on the cruiser General Belgrano before the impact, and how was the position of the survivors 'rafts detected after almost a day of searching.

On Sunday morning, May 2, the British War Cabinet met in Chequers, Margaret Thatcher's official farmhouse, on the outskirts of London. It had to be decided whether to order the attack on the cruiser outside the exclusion zone. It was debated what their real threat to the Task Force was. If I could break it down but not sink it. If only Belgrano should be hit and not the destroyers who escorted him, to allow the search for survivors.

The decision was made before lunch. An attempt was made to give the attack a defensive purpose: despite its remoteness from the area of operations, the cruiser Belgrano, along with the 25 de Mayo aircraft carrier, could carry out a clamping action on the British fleet, and they had to neutralize that threat. Then the greatest sacrifice of lives of the Falklands War was given way.

On the afternoon of May 2, the Conqueror was already 2000 meters away from Belgrano. The cruiser did not count on sonar to detect submarines. Without warning, after thirty hours and 400 miles of tracking, they attacked the ship, which was heading southwest, 60 kilometers outside the exclusion zone, where there was no British unit that could perceive their threat.

The Conqueror fired three Mark-8 torpedoes. The first two hit Belgrano, and the third hit one of the destroyers that accompanied him, Hipólito Bouchard, but in this target it did not explode. I'd do it a hundred meters away. They felt the detonation. It was a stroke that made the destroyer move.

From the Bouchard they tried to communicate with the Belgrano, but no circuit worked. They presumed that he had been attacked and then decided to disperse; so did the other destroyer, the Piedrabuena.

After the impacts, the Conqueror moved 15 kilometers away and through the periscope watched the Belgrano lean to port. Within an hour the U.S.-built cruise ship, which had emerged unscathed from the bombs of the Pearl Harbor attack, sank into the sea.

The first impact of the torpedoes killed two hundred seventy-four crew members instantly. Shortly after, a storm was unloaded on the survivors who had jumped into the rafts.

The ARA General Belgrano was purchased from the United States Navy in 1951 when it was the Brooklyn-class USS Phoenix (CL-46). Until now, it was the only ship sunk by a nuclear submarine in times of war. This name had previously been used by Argentina for an armored cruiser of its decommissioning in 1947.

Among its general characteristics, it was 180 meters long and 18.5 meters wide. Its original armament included six 152 mm/47 cal guns, eight 127 mm/25 cal guns and eight 12.7 mm machine guns. Its speed was 32 ½ knots.

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