How the Ukrainians Defeated the Russian Black Sea Fleet Without a Navy?
Since Russia began its invasion in 2022, Ukraine has successfully fended off its opponents on many fronts. Still, the most surprising success has occurred in a theater where few expected Ukraine to win: the Black Sea.
In 2022, military analysts agreed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s forces could crush Ukrainian forces in the air, on the ground, and at sea. With massive financial aid and weapons pouring in from the United States and the West, Ukraine fought Russia until it was frozen to the ground. At sea, the Ukrainians have had more success, launching a revolution in weapons and tactics that offers lessons and warnings to global navies.
When the invasion of Moscow began, Ukraine’s only warship was a Soviet-era frigate that had to be scuttled in the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv to prevent it from falling into Russian hands. At sea, the Russian Navy fired ballistic missiles at Ukrainian cities, provided protection for military aircraft, blockaded Ukrainian ports, and prepared to launch an amphibious assault on Odesa, Ukraine’s largest port.
But by deploying a host of new tactics and weapons in the Black Sea naval battle, the Ukrainians were able to destroy 26 Russian ships since the war began and force Russia’s powerful Black Sea Fleet to flee hundreds of miles to safer ports. This historic success teaches how weaker nations can use innovative thinking and new technologies to defeat more powerful adversaries.
First Victory: The Sinking of the Moskva
The Black Sea Fleet’s flagship guided missile cruiser, the Moskva, has played a key role in Russia’s naval campaign against Ukraine since the invasion began in late February 2022. Perhaps its most famous move came in February 2022, when it seized the strategic Ukrainian naval base known as “Snake Island”—with its defenders reportedly responding to Russian calls for surrender by saying, “Russian warships, go to hell.”
The ship’s onboard defenses and its ability to operate more than 60 miles from the Ukrainian coast have made the Moskva, Russia’s third-largest active warship, virtually immune to attack.
But around 1 a.m. on April 14, 2022, the Ukrainians found the Moskva through a combination of radar and intelligence shared by the United States. The stranded missile battery then fired two Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship missiles, igniting their munitions and destroying the Moskva. It was the first loss of a Russian flagship since the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and the largest warship sunk in combat since World War II.
Over the next few days, the Russian Navy’s smaller craft withdrew 20 miles farther from the Ukrainian coast than they had originally been. The move severely limited their effectiveness and ended Russia’s plans for an amphibious assault on Odessa.
Throughout 2022, Ukraine used more missiles to blast advanced Russian air defenses in Crimea and damage two other Russian ships. These victories and the Ukrainians’ subsequent recapture of Snake Island opened up the western Black Sea route for Ukraine to deliver vital grain to world markets.
But Russia’s hopes of making its navy safer at sea were dashed when the Ukrainians began pursuing Russian ships with another new naval weapon: naval drones. A look at the effectiveness of Ukrainian naval drones against Russian forces.
Drone Attacks at Sea
Beginning in the spring of 2022, with little outside help, the Ukrainians began designing and building the world’s first combat-deployed maritime drone, called the Magura-V5. The explosives-laden vehicle was designed to accomplish what many thought was impossible: travel long distances over rough seas, undetected by radar, and drop 500 to 700 pounds of explosives on distant targets.
The first test of the drone was a nighttime attack on the naval base at Sevastopol, Crimea, Russia’s seat of Black Sea power. At 4 a.m. on October 19, 2022, six to eight Magura-class remote-controlled naval drones entered the harbor and damaged the Admiral Makarov frigate, the new flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and a minesweeper. One naval operations analyst described the first-ever naval drone attack on a naval base as a “turning point in maritime strategy.”
After this victory, the Ukrainians began deploying drones on a larger scale. Cameras on remote-controlled ships sent images of the attacks to various ships in the Black Sea Fleet, including tugboats, patrol ships, attack ships, cruisers, fishing boats, minesweepers, and landing craft.
In a typical attack, several remote-controlled drones attacked and sank the missile cruiser Ivanovitch. Dramatic drone footage released by Ukraine’s Secret 13th Group shows the crew of the stricken ship firing into the water as the drones headed for their target. The video ends abruptly as each bomb-laden drone hits the hull and explodes.
Tactical Retreat, but No Safe Harbor
Waves of drone attacks, combined with cruise missile strikes supplied to Ukraine by Britain and France, sank or damaged 26 Russian ships. These losses ultimately forced the Russians to withdraw most of their fleet from Sevastopol in October 2023.
But they were wrong if the Russians thought their withdrawal port in faraway Novorossiysk was safe. Inspired by the success of the Majora drone, the Ukrainians developed long-range maritime drones called Seababies and Mamais. These more advanced drones traversed the Black Sea for about 500 miles to attack Russian ships around the new base.
The Seababy drone was also used to lay mines that sank four ships. Attack the strategic Kerch Bridge connecting Russia to Crimea and carry rocket launchers to fire missiles at Russian land and sea targets.
The success of the Ukrainian Navy’s drones is not only a misscause for celebration in Ukraine but also demonstrates the potential for new ideas and equipment to reshape naval warfare and the balance of military power at sea.
