Ukraine rebuilds navy, with U.S. help, to counter Russian build-up in Crimea
Reuters: Ukraine is refitting and expanding its naval fleet, including repairing its flagship, the frigate “Hetman Sahaydachnyy”, to counter a Russian military build-up in the annexed territory of Crimea, the commander of the Ukrainian navy says.
The upgrade will be helped by $30 million worth of U.S. aid, part of a $500 million package from Washington for the Ukrainian military which Kiev expects to receive next year. (Graphic: Size of Russian navy tmsnrt.rs/2fEjLO1)
“Step by step we will rebuild our fleet from the beginning,” Vice Admiral Ihor Voronchenko told Reuters in an interview.
“Our capacities in terms of quality will be better that the ones which remained in Crimea.”
Ukraine lost two-thirds of its fleet, which had been mostly based in Sevastopol, when Russia seized Crimea from Kiev in 2014. Since then it has fought Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass region in a war that has killed nearly 10,000 people.
Before the Russian annexation, Moscow leased facilities from the Ukrainian state to house its Black Sea Fleet, which has been based in Crimea for more than two centuries. Those facilities, mainly around Sevastopol, are now being expanded.
Russia has started a program to militarize Crimea, including resurrecting Soviet-built facilities, building new bases and stationing soldiers there, according to a Reuters Special Report.
When Russia seized Crimea, Ukraine stopped the “Hetman Sahaydachnyy”, the landing ship “Yuriy Olifirenko”, the missile boat “Pryluky” and some gunboats from falling into Russian hands.
“We just started repairing works at our flagship,” Voronchenko said.
Two new gunboats are almost ready for service “and I am sure we will receive four more boats in July next year,” he said.
The navy also plans to have a new Corvette warship and a new missile boat by 2020.
Other measures by Ukraine to beef up its defense include raising the level of training for navy personnel and creating new units of coastal defense troops. Part of the training is being carried out in NATO member countries Italy, France and Britain.
Voronchenko said Russia was planning to turn Crimea into a “military base”, installing three submarine boats, new frigates and more airborne facilities. He also said that Russian ships were experiencing technical problems.
“We have information, we conduct surveillance. I cannot tell you everything,” he said. “But we can counter-attack all their hostile intentions. They also have problems in resources.” More here from Reuters.
Then there is the Mediterranean and Syria and the new maritime missions of Moscow.
Podmoskovye leaving the Zvezdochka Ship Repair Centre on 22 October for trials. Source: Zvezdochka Ship Repair CentreJanes: The Russian Navy’s new submarine mothership Podmoskovye (Delta IV Stretch) set sail for the first time on sea trials on 22 October after a lengthy conversion.
Podmoskovye was originally the Project 667BDRM-class (Delta IV) nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) K-64, launched in 1986. It has now been converted to act as a mothership for the smaller special purpose Project 10831-class (‘Losharik’) and Project 1851-class (Paltus) submarines for underwater research and intelligence gathering activities.
Conversion of the submarine began in 1999 at the Zvezdochka Ship Repair Centre under Project 09787. This work included the removal of the submarine’s mid-section (containing the prominent missile launch tubes) and its replacement with the mid-section from a previous Russian submarine mothership, the Project 09774 (Yankee Stretch) boat K-411. This work is believed to have increased the length of the boat by 9 m to 175 m.
The submarine mothership is a converted Project 667BDRM-class (Delta IV) nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. (Zvezdochka Ship Repair Centre)
The Zvezdochka Ship Repair Centre stated on 24 October that repair and modernisation work on the submarine was now complete. The submarine is currently conducting factory sea trials to confirm the design characteristics of the submarine, the shipyard added.
***** The Power of Putin, is it Real?
The Russians have no strategic interests in Syria. There have been attempts to figure out why Russia intervened and what its end game is. Its intervention is limited and it is bogged down, just as the Americans are. Even if Aleppo falls, the war isn’t over. Yet they are there.
One theory is that Putin intervened in Syria because he believed Russia’s control over gas supplies to Europe was under threat. Perhaps, but any potential pipeline going through Iraq and war-torn Syria was unrealistic in the first place. Plus, a military operation to secure a pipeline (or to block one, whatever the case may be) makes little sense. Another theory is that Russia wants a naval base in Syria. That is possible, but it makes little military sense. Naval bases and operations depend on extensive logistical support for food, munitions and so on. These supplies are far too extensive to be flown in. And anything that would come to Syria from Russia by sea would come through the Bosporus. That is controlled by Turkey, and the U.S. Sixth Fleet could easily block exits. A naval base in Syria is more a liability than a warfighting asset.
But the Russians were not in Syria to save Bashar al-Assad, control pipelines, build naval facilities or intimidate the United States. They were there so Putin could appear to be more powerful than he was, and that was primarily for the benefit of his public. As the economy weakened and privations increased, he had to give it all a meaning, and Syria made him appear to be restoring Russia’s greatness. Convincing Western public opinion of his power was of secondary value, and in the course he made the cover of the Economist. More here.
