Russia's Black Sea Fleet is in mourning, the fleet's flagship, the missile cruiser RTS Moskva (Slava Class Cruiser) reportedly suffered major damage on April 13, where its crew had left the 12,490-ton warship. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the incident, but from the Ukrainian side, the damage to the RTS Moskva was claimed to be the result of an RK-360MC anti-ship missile fired from the coast.
Quoted from news.usni.org, it was stated that a fire had occurred on the ship which caused the ammunition to explode. Russia's Tass news agency has also mentioned the accident, but did not specify the cause of the fire.
Ukrainian officials claim that a coast-based anti-ship missile hit the Moskva which had been operating from the Black Sea Fleet's headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea.
RTS Moskva is one of three units of the Slava Class cruiser, one of which has the name RNS Varyag from the Russian Pacific Fleet which has sailed to Indonesia several times. The Moskva RTS was built in the Soviet era, by the 61 Kommunara Shipbuilding Plant (SY 445), Nikolayev. This warship was launched in 1979 and entered the service of the Soviet Navy on January 30, 1983 and was reactivated in the Russian era in 2000 with hull number 121.
RTS Moskva has an impressive display as a true warship. This is none other than the Moskva RTS installing a lot of weaponry, light, medium and heavy that surrounds all parts of the ship. The most striking are definitely the 16 launcher tubes (8×2) of the P-500 Bazalt anti-ship missile, or in NATO code called the SS-N-12 Sandbox.
Compared to anti-ship missiles on NATO-standard warships, the P-500 Bazalt does have a very large size. With a weight of 4.8 tons and a length of 11.7 meters, you can imagine how big the dimensions of the launch tube are.
The placement of the P-500 Bazalt missile launchers in the bow is a hallmark of this cruiser. This missile with a warhead weight of 1 ton is indeed a frightening specter for US aircraft carriers, especially this missile can shoot Mach 2.5 with a flying height of 50 - 5,000 meters.
As for air defense, the Moskva RTS has also been anticipating it in an integrated manner. To neutralize targets at a distance, the battleship carries 64 missiles (8×8) long-range S-300F Fort (NATO code SA-N-6 Grumble).
The designer of this ship apparently wanted to make this ship truly secure from the threat of air attacks. Not only the S-300F, in the Moskva RTS it turns out that there is still a short-range air defense (SHORAD/Short Range Air Defense) type OSA-M (NATO code SA-N-4 Gecko), there are at least 40 units (20×2) of this missile. ready to be installed to fence off the cruiser.
Apart from the world of missiles, the Moskva RTS has 1 AK-130 130mm/L70 dual purpose gun mounted on the bow. The Close In Weapon System (CIWS) is also not absent on this Russian warship, there are six six-barreled AK-630 rapid reaction cannons that fence the body of the Moskva RTS.
Even if you want to bulldoze a submarine, the RTS Moskva is ready, as if you are not afraid of being attacked by a submarine, on this cruiser there are 2 × 12 RBU-6000 anti-submarine rockets, a type of defense system that is also familiarly used by the Indonesian Navy in the Parchim Class corvette fleet.
Meanwhile, for torpedoes, there are 10 tubes (2×5) of 533 mm caliber torpedoes. No less than that, at the stern there are hangars and decks that can be loaded with a Ka-25/Ka-27 Kamov anti-submarine helicopter.
With the many weapons it carries, of course this cruiser is studded with sensor devices on its turret. For fire control only, there are Volna/Top Dome SA-N-6 SAM control, MPZ-301 Baza/Pop Group SA-N-4 SAM control and Argument/Front Door-C SSM control.
While the radars carried are very colorful, such as the MR-800 Voshkod/Top Pair 3-D long range air search, MR-700 Frigate/Top Steer (first two) or MR-710 Frigate-MA/Top Plate (second two) 3- D air search. The installed sonar are MG-332 Tigan-2T/Bull Nose hull mounted LF and Platina/Horse Tail MF VDS.
Regarding Ukraine's claim that the Neptune missile had succeeded in striking the RTS Moskva, if it were true, it would certainly be a serious homework for Russia to improve the hanud system on its warships.
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