The Forgotten Naval War: Why Ukraine Absolutely Needs A Submarine “I’m Back, Baby”: Arnold Schwarzenegger Will Soon Have His Own Series On Netflix

The attack on Snake Island on the second day of the war. The sinking of the Russian flagship Moskva in the Black Sea on April 14. The attack of Ukrainian naval drones on the Sevastopol naval base at the end of September: The naval war in the Black Sea in 2022 produced several memorable moments.

Now, in the spring of 2023, naval warfare has completely disappeared from the news columns. Wrong: US naval analyst HI Sutton has noted increased Russian naval activity around Crimea since the end of January, with significant consequences for the course of the war.

A number of submarines and warships have returned to the Russian naval base in Novorossiysk after it was temporarily evacuated due to threats from Ukrainian long-range weapons. At the same time, the Russian Black Sea Fleet upgraded the small port of Feodosiya in Crimea by deploying Buyan-M corvettes armed with Kalibr cruise missiles there.

These play a crucial role in the missile strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure, as the Russian warships can fire their guided missiles from the enemy’s sphere of influence on the high seas.

Naval analyst Sutton blames the shutdown of Elon Musk’s Starlink communications system on Russia’s newfound confidence in its naval efforts, which sparked terror among Putin’s general staff.

German Brigadier General Christian Freuding also describes the recent attack by a Russian naval drone on the Ukrainian Satoka Bridge south of Odessa as an “interesting technical individual observation”. The Chief of the Special Staff of Ukraine in the German Ministry of Defense does not comment on whether this can be interpreted as a new tactical expansion of Russian offensive capabilities.

German super submarine on Melnyk’s wish list

Growing Russian naval capabilities also explain dramatic appeals for help from Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk. On February 10, he wrote on social media about one of the “worst missile strikes ever” against Ukrainian civilians and asked for the prompt delivery of warships and submarines.

In an interview a few days ago, the former ambassador in Berlin expressed his confidence that there will be “a breakthrough” in the supply of German frigates, corvettes and submarines this year.

Melnyk has a particular eye for the modern German Type 212-A submarines. The entire Russian Black Sea Fleet could be contained with “just a single boat” of this class, which is extremely quiet and difficult to locate. According to his own statements, Melnyk drove a U-212A in Eckenförde in 2008 and was correspondingly enthusiastic about his performance.

But the German naval expert Sebastian Bruns considers the transfer of one of a total of six German submarines of this type unrealistic. As he recently told the editorial network Germany, NATO could never do without the special capabilities of German submarines. In addition, the years of training required make it simply unthinkable that a German crew would go to Odessa to “hand over the key” to Ukraine.

German submarine expert Johannes Peters doubles down in the “mirror”: In addition to the points mentioned, it is very unlikely that Turkish President Erdogan would tolerate such a submarine delivery through the Bosphorus.

The naval experts agree that it is more promising for Ukraine to aim for the delivery of smaller combat ships to make up for the previous losses.

Also hitherto unnoticed, the small Ukrainian navy has suffered serious casualties since the Russian attack. According to oryxspioenkop.com’s credible statistics, 25 warships have been lost so far; 8 of them were sunk by the Russians, 16 captured in the early days and 1 badly damaged.

At the very beginning of the Russian attack, the Ukrainians sank their flagship, the large frigate “Hetman Zahaidachnyi”, in the port of Mikolayev itself, so that it would not fall into enemy hands. Among the units sunk since then is the US-supplied patrol boat P190 Slovyansk. (aargauerzeitung.ch)