Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, much of the fighting
has been conducted on land and in the air, but in many ways, the Black Sea is one of the core
reasons for the war itself. While there has been little ship-to-ship fighting, the Russian Black
Sea Fleet was tasked with a critical role in the Russian offensive while the Ukrainian Navy,
small by comparison, until recently has struggled to challenge its neighbor directly. In this video,
we will talk about the overall situation in the Black Sea and how the ongoing war possibly changed
the balance of power for decades to come. Today we can also help you get a grip on
geopolitics, or specifically the geo part, with a brilliant look at the board on which the game
takes place. It’s Earth, miniaturized and put on display in your home by our sponsor Mova Globes.
These globes rotate seemingly of their own accord,
with no power source. That’s because they absorb solar energy from the room’s ambient
light to power a magnetic rotation system hidden inside, meaning you get a dynamic,
rotating globe with no fuss whatsoever. If it seems a little too good, that’s just because
it’s newly developed technology with an ultra low friction motor, and something called Micro-volume
fluid levitation. Basically Mova Globes just work on their own, and look good doing it.
As you’ve probably noticed it doesn’t actually need to be a
globe of earth - they have plenty of other planets to choose from,
and even a few things that aren’t planets, with over 40 designs in all.
Whatever you choose, Mova Globes make for a great decoration,
and a cool gift for the person who has everything.
Get ten percent off a six or eight point five inch Mova Globe by using
our code KINGSANDGENERALS at movaglobes.com
The Russian Black Sea Fleet is based in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol and
has responsibility for the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the Mediterranean Sea although access
to the Mediterranean from the Black Sea for any Russian naval ships is currently prohibited by the
terms of the 1936 Montreux Convention which Turkey is currently enforcing. We will note
that passage of Russian warships which are already part of the Black Sea Fleet from the Mediterranean
to the Black Sea is permitted as they are considered to be returning to their home port.
This condition prevents ships from being transferred from other Russian fleets to
augment naval strength in the Black Sea region. The Black Sea Fleet’s offensive power, since the
sinking of the cruiser Moskva by the Ukrainians on 14 April 2022, is centered on five Guided missile
Frigates; two of them Soviet-era Krivak-class ships commissioned in the 1980s and three Krivak-V
class ships, each commissioned in the last ten years. These newer frigates are built around their
ability to carry and launch Kaliber and Oniks cruise missiles. Since the loss of the Moskva,
the Fregat M2M Air Search Radars have also been used to track and monitor air traffic in the
combat areas in the south of Ukraine. The other offensive arm of the Fleet is the three Improved
Kilo-class and one Kilo-class diesel Attack submarines currently active with the fleet.
There are seven Kilo or Improved Kilo-class boats registered to the Black Sea Fleet but two
are in a maintenance cycle while one is currently deployed in the Mediterranean, basing itself from
Tarsus in Syria. These submarines are equipped with Kaliber and Oniks cruise missiles and
represent a strategic deterrence in the region. The Black Sea Fleet also supports a series of
Alligator and Ropucha I and II class Assault ships, designed for conducting large-scale
amphibious landings. Attacks by Ukrainian forces in February and May of 2022 report
having disabled two of these ships however Russia continues to list them as available for action.
The six Assault Ships registered to the Black Sea Fleet have been augmented by five assault
ships from the Baltic Fleet and one from the Northern Fleet, all of which passed through the
Dardanelles before they were closed by Turkey. These major warships are augmented by a series
of Missile Corvettes for the Dergach and Buyan M-class, equipped with Kaliber cruise missiles
but designed for littoral combat, providing close-in support during landing operations.
Among the various support vessels deployed by the Black Sea Fleet is the Ivan Khurs,
a new Yury Ivanov-class SIGINT collections vessel designed for intelligence gathering,
surveillance, communications, electronic warfare, and fleet management.
The Ukrainian Navy is, by comparison, very small, consisting largely of patrol craft mostly laid
down during the Soviet era. Few of these ships have any ship-to-ship missile capability and
rely on autocannons, Close-in-Weapons-Systems, and mounted machine guns for both defense and
offensive capability. The Ukrainian Navy is augmented by ships of the Ukrainian Sea Guard,
and the border patrol service, and include a Pauk-class ASW Corvette as well as a mixture of
Stenka and Shmel fast attack ships, all originally built in the Soviet era. The United States has
promised accelerated delivery of new ships for both the Navy and the Sea Guard but these are
all expected to be smaller patrol boats, suitable for littoral and riverine hit-and-run engagements.
NATO presence in the Black Sea is mainly composed of ships from three countries, Romania, Bulgaria,
and Turkey. The Turkish Navy comprises the largest NATO force in the region, composed
of a mix of 12 diesel-electric Type 209 boats of German design, meant for anti ship warfare, 16
frigates including eight Gabya-class ships, which are modernized Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates,
originally built for the US Navy and designed for both anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare,
armed with both Sea Sparrow and Harpoon missiles as well as Mark 46 or Mark 50 ASW torpedoes.
The Harpoon missiles are in the process of being replaced by Turkish designed Atmaca sea-skimming
anti-ship missiles, which have a range of at least 250 km.Turkey can also contribute up to
9 Corvettes for NATO duty, designed for both ASW and littoral combat. The Turkish Navy includes
over 30 Amphibious Warfare ships, including two Bayraktar LSTs, giving Turkey the ability to
move and land troops and armor within the region. Romania is able to augment this force with several
Frigates and Corvettes, designed around ASW combat but with full ship-to-ship combat capability.
Bulgaria similarly offers the same type of force disposition of older but refurbished
Belgian frigates and Soviet-era Corvettes. Both the Romanian navy and the Bulgarian navy offer
a number of minesweeping ships, deemed of crucial importance in the Black Sea theater of operations,
in light of both the Russian and Ukrainian Navy’s propensity to use sea mines in the area.
Crucially, the ships of the Turkish Navy are free to move through the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus
at will. While many ships of the Turkish Fleet are based from ports on the Mediterranean Sea,
they have the ability to be redeployed into the Black Sea as necessary.
Both the Romanian and Bulgarian Navies are based in the Black Sea itself, making them a permanent
force in the theater. No other NATO naval ships are able to enter the Black Sea at this time,
largely fixing the naval strengths in the region. Some of the earliest Ukrainian naval losses
in the war occurred in the opening weeks of the Russian invasion. During the Battle of Berdyansk,
Russian forces captured several Ukrainian ships including a Matka-class missile boat and several
Gyurza-M-class artillery boats. There is still some dispute over whether these ships have been
captured or sunk. In addition, the flagship of the Ukrainian Navy, the Krivak-III-class
frigate Hetman Sahaidachny, itself due to begin an extensive refit, was scuttled while still
in port in Mykolaiv. This was done to prevent the ship from being captured by the Russians.
The early months of the war saw the most naval action, with the Black Sea Fleet dominating
proceedings. This included the bombardment and capture of Snake Island, a key outpost near
the Romanian border from which control of ships entering and leaving the vital Ukrainian port of
Odesa could be exerted. Amphibious landings against the port were anticipated but never
materialized, likely due to increased pressure on Russian forces in other areas of the war.
On April 13, land-based Ukrainian forces mounted an attack on the
Slava-class cruiser Moskva whose long-range radar and air-defense
system was providing protection for Russian ships operating off of the Ukrainian coast.
The successful attack, which is believed to have been made by using aerial drones as a distraction,
struck the Moskva with two R-360 Neptune cruise missiles. These missile strikes appear to have
ignited onboard munitions causing an explosion which overturned the vessel, sinking it.
There has been little offensive use of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, since the sinking
of the cruiser Moskva on April 14. The threat posed by Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles
as well as Western-supplied Harpoon anti-ship missiles has forced the fleet to largely remain
at anchor inside Sevastopol or to operate well off-shore or even behind the Crimean peninsula,
where their effectiveness and ability to support operations on land are greatly diminished.
The submarine force, which should be able to fulfill its mission as a cruise missile platform,
has been more muted than expected, being involved in some missile strike operations
but as the force least at risk from Ukrainian retaliation, performance has been quite subdued.
While active seaborne threats seem to be quite minimal in the region,
there have been, and continue to be concerns over more passive threats spilling over from the war,
specifically that posed by drifting naval mines. Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have deployed
naval mines to deny access to regions of water. This includes the deployment of mines by the
Russians to aid in enforcing the attempted blockade of Odesa while the Ukrainians have
deployed their own mines in the same region to help in anti-invasion proceedings. Some of these
mines have broken free and are drifting on open currents posing a threat to shipping in the Black
Sea, with the threat being taken seriously even through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles.
NATO minesweepers are on alert as a result, looking to find and deactivate any potential
threats, and have been called into action multiple times in the western area of the Black Sea.
With the loss of the air protection supplied by Moskva, Russian control over Snake Island, crucial
to maintaining any type of blockade of Odesa, became more and more tenuous, including drone
and precision missile strikes on Russian resupply craft trying to reinforce the garrison there.
On June 30th, Ukraine announced it had regained control of the island while
the Russians claimed their withdrawal as a “gesture of goodwill”. This withdrawal had
the effect of greatly diminishing the ability of the Russian fleet to blockade Ukrainian shipping.
Since August 1, a United Nations-brokered deal has been in place allowing Ukrainian export of
grain from the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Yuzhny/Pivdennyi. Ships transporting grain are
able to navigate an established corridor and must then stop in Istanbul for inspection by
monitors from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and the United Nations in order to ensure they
are not transporting additional items. As part of this deal, the Ukrainians have agreed to not
use the established corridor in the Black Sea to stage attacks against Russian ships and targets.
October 29 saw what may possibly be eventually seen as a game-changing moment in naval
operations. Ukrainian forces deployed seven Uncrewed Surface Vessels or USVs towards the
protected Crimean port of Sevastopol. The seven naval drones, approximately the size of a small
canoe, penetrated the harbor and caused damage to a frigate and a minesweeper. While the damage
was minimal, the impact of this attack forced the Russians to add extra layers of security
to the ships and the port and effectively lock the entire Black Sea Fleet away, rendering it useless.
Overall, the naval situation in the Black Sea since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February
of 2022 has been surprising. While it was expected that the Russian Black Sea Fleet would dominate
the Ukrainian Navy, which it rapidly did, the effective and innovative use of the weapons
at hand by the Ukrainians has subsequently left the Russian Navy in Crimea a useless liability.
We don’t expect an active shooting war between the NATO countries and Russia in the Black sea,
but it is clear that the Ukrainians damaged the Russian Black Sea Fleet to an extent that it can’t
impose its will anymore. Even the NATO fleets that are right now in the Black sea are sufficient to
keep the Russians at bay, so the expectation is that the grain deal will be continued no matter
what happens. The continuation of the conflict in this configuration will continue to degrade the
Russian naval capabilities in the region and only strengthen the positions of the NATO countries.
More videos on the unprovoked and illegal war Putin’s Russia waged on Ukraine are on the way,
so make sure to subscribe and have pressed the bell button to see them. Please consider liking,
commenting, and sharing, it helps us immensely. Our videos would be impossible to produce without
our kind patrons and YouTube channel members whose ranks you can join via the links down in the
description to know our schedule, get early access to our videos, access our discord, and much more.
This is the Kings and Generals channel, and we will catch you on the next one.