Russian Invasion of Ukraine Megathread

[Techpriest]

Looks like they got lucky. I'm not a big ship guy, had no idea a cruiser could suffer ammo explosions and not sink. I'm gonna go ahead and guess this thing will be months out of commission though.

This is the same sort of language the Russian MoD used for the Kursk. For that matter, her superstructure is totally fucked for sure, there’s likely severe internal structural damage, her electronics are completely and utterly fucked. Months is optimistic at best. She’s a hulk, if she’s actually floating.

 

[Sexual Chocolate]

Times New Roman, Arial Fonts Blocked in Russia​

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022...rial-fonts-blocked-in-russia-vedomosti-a77352

I started to think that sanctions and bans could not have been more ridiculous, and here it is.

Let's hope Papyrus is next

 

[Feline Supremacist]

It's gonna be all right I tell you wut

 

[Ted_Logan]

In other news please enjoy some I stand by Ukraine autism I found

Spoiler: BLM?

 

[White_N]

Breakfast at the front lines

The best breakfast is a breakfast on freshly conquered Ukrainian positions. Even the arrival of 120 shells is not able to affect the appetite of the "Spartans". Avdeevsky boiler. Our days.

A lone man. Shelling and strange inscriptions

 

[CaesarCzech]

@Sammich
@Nationalistbrother1776

Is it too much to ask that you two just turn the other cheek to each other and move on? I know someone here can probably put it more diplomatically, but, of all the tomfoolery in this thread (the harrowing opposite of an echo chamber if there ever was one), I think you two are the first to straight up argue over nothing.

Yes, @Nationalistbrother1776, you're coming across as a hypocrite. You may not realize it, but you're the one who keeps bringing up race. Yes, @Sammich, you're coming across as resentful. You may not realize it, but you're the one who keeps escalating this dispute and won't let it just go away with time.

There's no harm in stepping away from the keyboard on this, it'll get buried under the bajillion marginally on-topic posts anyway.

And we now have our winner of new season of MODERATOR FOR ARTICLES AND HAPPENINGS

 

[CaesarCzech]

Russia is a 4th rate power but has ambitions of playing in the big leagues. Even under the Tsars they were 2nd rate trying to equal the British and Germans. They have the ability to have a large navy, and perhaps an advanced one, but they can only service a small fleet. When you have a reasonably modern submarine fleet as large the US while having an economy that's far less productive than countries like Australia, you get the Kursk disaster and then derivatives every few years. This is something China will be learning soon- it's one thing to have a bunch of gigantic shipyards, it's another thing to have the staff and dockyards on hand to constantly build, maintain, and deploy those ships.

Couldnt they run it as mixed military/civilian navy shipyard ? keep it busy when not in use for military and also get got basis for civilian ships wartime conversions ?

 

[Peter Piper]

Russian Ministry of Defense:

1. The source of the fire on the cruiser "Moscow" is localized. There is no open burning. Ammunition explosions have stopped.
2. The cruiser "Moscow" retains buoyancy. The main missile armament is not damaged.
3. The crew was evacuated to the ships of the Black Sea Fleet located in the area.
4. Measures are being taken to tow the cruiser to the port.
5. The causes of the fire are being established.

Looks like they got lucky. I'm not a big ship guy, had no idea a cruiser could suffer ammo explosions and not sink. I'm gonna go ahead and guess this thing will be months out of commission though.

If this is the official statement, we can safely assume that Moscow is peacefully resting on the seabed in the harbor at Sevastopol, and at least half the crew is dead. In any case, it's the largest ship "lost" in a wartime setting since WWII - great job!

While Moscow is old and decrepit, the ship has useful area defense capabilities with S-300, OSA and those huge-ass Bazalt/Vulkan cruise missiles. With Moscow out of commission, any amphibious landings are as dead as the ship.

 

[White_N]

Ukrainian soldiers are filthy anime fans and should be wiped off the face of the earth just like anime.

Sapper-dog at work

 

[Sexual Chocolate]

Ukrainian soldiers are filthy anime fans and should be wiped off the face of the earth just like anime.
View attachment 3177948View attachment 3177949View attachment 3177950
Sapper-dog at work
View attachment 3177951View attachment 3177952View attachment 3177953

Not sure I like this gritty reboot of Paw Patrol tbf

 

[Techpriest]

Russian Ministry of Defense:

1. The source of the fire on the cruiser "Moscow" is localized. There is no open burning. Ammunition explosions have stopped.
2. The cruiser "Moscow" retains buoyancy. The main missile armament is not damaged.
3. The crew was evacuated to the ships of the Black Sea Fleet located in the area.
4. Measures are being taken to tow the cruiser to the port.
5. The causes of the fire are being established.

If this is the official statement, we can safely assume that Moscow is peacefully resting on the seabed in the harbor at Sevastopol, and at least half the crew is dead. In any case, it's the largest ship "lost" in a wartime setting since WWII - great job!

While Moscow is old and decrepit, the ship has useful area defense capabilities with S-300, OSA and those huge-ass Bazalt/Vulkan cruise missiles. With Moscow out of commission, any amphibious landings are as dead as the ship.

She’s too big for any shipyards the Russians have in the Black Sea and they can’t tow her out of it. Moskva might, just MIGHT be floating still, but if the crew had to evacuate the ship and the fires went out, that means she was flooding. In any case, if she makes it back to port she won’t be sailing again for a year, if the Russians are lucky.

 

[Sexual Chocolate]

This is something China will be learning soon- it's one thing to have a bunch of gigantic shipyards, it's another thing to have the staff and dockyards on hand to constantly build, maintain, and deploy those ships.

There's a billion Chinamen in China and they're flooding Western university engineering departments with their students every chance they get, so I'm sure they'll manage somehow

 

[CaesarCzech]

Russian Ministry of Defense:

1. The source of the fire on the cruiser "Moscow" is localized. There is no open burning. Ammunition explosions have stopped.
2. The cruiser "Moscow" retains buoyancy. The main missile armament is not damaged.
3. The crew was evacuated to the ships of the Black Sea Fleet located in the area.
4. Measures are being taken to tow the cruiser to the port.
5. The causes of the fire are being established.

If this is the official statement, we can safely assume that Moscow is peacefully resting on the seabed in the harbor at Sevastopol, and at least half the crew is dead. In any case, it's the largest ship "lost" in a wartime setting since WWII - great job!

While Moscow is old and decrepit, the ship has useful area defense capabilities with S-300, OSA and those huge-ass Bazalt/Vulkan cruise missiles. With Moscow out of commission, any amphibious landings are as dead as the ship.

Im thinking the ship is not sunk but unable to operate as ship imho, they will be able to get the missile etc back but do they have something else that they can put it on ?

 

[Techpriest]

Im thinking the ship is not sunk but unable to operate as ship imho, they will be able to get the missile etc back but do they have something else that they can put it on ?

No. Both her sister ships are out of the Black Sea, and can’t enter it. The Kirov’s could also use her munitions but they’re in either repair yards or again, can’t enter the Black Sea. If this was an accident I expect the admiral commanding that ship to end up having “died saving it”.

 

[Bush King]

There's a billion Chinamen in China and they're flooding Western university engineering departments with their students every chance they get, so I'm sure they'll manage somehow

It's not a matter of know-how and bodies. It's a huge expense. A huge navy needs a huge crew who get paid, and needs those ships constantly rotating between deployments, maintenance and reserve or they begin to break down. China doesn't use nuclear fuel for most ships like the US does, so that's a lot of oil too. It's not easy to build more when Xi gets told the budget needs another $20 billion next year on oil and spare parts alone.

 

[LeChampion1992]

Russia isn't going to keep any of that territory in the south after the war unless the Red Army completely breaks the hohols in the east and sends them running over the Dnieper which I just don't see happening from Russia's performance so far. In the south they couldn't take Mikolaiev and threaten Odessa once Ukraine got reinforcements in, now the hohols have retaken some territory near Kherson in a fairly limited counteroffensive. Russia has to win this coming big battle in the east and win it decisively. Not half win it which is basically the best they've done anywhere so far including the pretty large and determined offensives at Kiev and Kharkov, a smaller one but just as determined one at Chernihiv that bogged down, and another smaller but just as determined offensive at Mikolaiev that got stopped and pushed back. At Mariupol the hohols are still fighting because if the Russians went all urra urra on the Nazi battalion they'd take unacceptable losses, but Mariupol not being pacified makes an eastern offensive more complicated for them. Russia hasn't yet been able to break Ukrainian forces and make Ukrainian reinforcements irrelevant, every time Ukraine has been able to hold long enough to reinforce and stop major Russian drives so far. Russia can't let that happen again.

Ukrainian morale is mostly high at the moment. Russian morale has been low due to Ukranian civilians resisting. Add to the fact that Ukraine is practically replinishing every man they lose where the Russian army is losing morale. If Putin doesn't get some sort of political win I see Knives coming out for him in Moscow.

 

[Peter Piper]

No. Both her sister ships are out of the Black Sea, and can’t enter it. The Kirov’s could also use her munitions but they’re in either repair yards or again, can’t enter the Black Sea. If this was an accident I expect the admiral commanding that ship to end up having “died saving it”.

I think the commanding officer will have a bad time anyhow, likely scenarios are:

- Ivan and Oleg having a cigarette after a romantic tryst in the armory (irresponsibility)
- Famously sloppy Russian ammo handling (retardation)
- Missile defense crew jackin' it to tranny porn while ignoring the beeping sounds (complacency and incompetence)
- Weird accident (commander still getting blamed lol)

 

[UVB-76]

There's a billion Chinamen in China and they're flooding Western university engineering departments with their students every chance they get, so I'm sure they'll manage somehow

Fun fact, the Western universities are under pressure to not fail Chinese students because of the income they bring.
Do you want to sail in a ship designed by engineers who got their degree through the No Chink Left Behind progam?

 

[CaesarCzech]

Ukrainian morale is mostly high at the moment. Russian morale has been low due to Ukranian civilians resisting. Add to the fact that Ukraine is practically replinishing every man they lose where the Russian army is losing morale. If Putin doesn't get some sort of political win I see Knives coming out for him in Moscow.

i thinks thats why the Russians switched from maneuver wars to trying to draw them into concentrated battle and basically force them into smaller and smaller bulge. Russian advantage is still artilery

 

[Sexual Chocolate]

Im thinking the ship is not sunk but unable to operate as ship imho, they will be able to get the missile etc back but do they have something else that they can put it on ?

They have a couple of guided missile frigates in the area but idk.

The story is "Heh, no amphibious invasion for you, Putler " but this is not WW2, it's The Asylum version of WW2 with a budget of 3 roubles and a turnip (and they just lost the turnip). If they were planning on a seaborne invasion of Odessa that'd probably end in large numbers of dead Russians even if SS Turnip was still floating so the Ukies might have done Russian marines a favor here