Photos showing the sinking of the missile cruiser Moscow

A slightly distant picture

The two photos disclosed on April 18 show that the flagship of the Black Sea fleet is burning after the fire, no crew can be seen on the deck, and the whole ship body has tilted to the left, showing a sinking state. One of the photos was quoted by China’s World Wide Web and attracted wide attention for a time.

Since they were originally released on unofficial twitter, these two photos have triggered discussion on their authenticity.

On April 13, Moscow, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, exploded and caught fire, and then sank in the tow, causing the biggest loss of the Russian navy in the military operation against Ukraine. Moscow has also become the first 10000 ton warship built after the Second World War to lose in the military operation. Since then, the press has been asking “are there any photos of the Moscow, that is, before the sinking of the glory?” This is not only the pursuit of the news, but also because Russia and Ukraine have their own opinions on the reasons for the sinking of the ship. Ukraine claims that its coastal defense forces hit the Moscow with Neptune missiles, which eventually led to its sinking, while Russia claims that the ammunition explosion caused by the fire in the ship caused the capsizing of the giant ship. The photos of its last moment are undoubtedly of great value in pursuing the truth of the sinking of the Moscow.

This is a satellite photo before the Moscow was on fire. Since then, due to the influence of weather, satellites of various countries failed to capture accurate photos before and after the Moscow sank

The whole earth’s press was curious about this question, but in the first two days after the sinking of the Moscow, the answer was not satisfactory. Although the eight immortals of various media crossed the sea and were trying to obtain first-hand materials, the Internet was full of photos that were difficult to distinguish between true and false.

For example, the video screenshot of the so-called Moscow hit by a Ukrainian missile is very suspicious. The reason is very simple - this shooting angle is too good, better than shooting a movie, and there is little possibility of it in actual combat

However, the two photos this time were soon considered by most experts to be true. This is because the highly reputable global happenings network released a close-up photo before the sinking of the Moscow at almost the same time. Compared with the previous two photos, you will find that the details are very consistent, but there is a slight difference in time.

The fire photos of the Moscow displayed on global happiness can clearly see the name plate of the Moscow and the flames burning in the middle class A on the left of picture 3

According to this photo, it can be seen that the fire point of the Moscow is in the middle and front and spreads to the rear. The fire area extends to the front of the rear main deck, which is consistent with the situation shown in the two medium and long-range photos. We can even infer that this photo was taken earlier than the two medium shots.

This is because in this picture, the Moscow has not tilted yet, and the door of the helicopter hangar at the rear of it is closed. At the same time, the fire spread more widely, which shows that the Russian army has struggled to put out the fire after the warship caught fire and achieved certain results. From the comparison between picture 1 and picture 3, it can be seen that in picture 1, the fire in front of the gecko air defense missile launch module is extinguished, but there are traces of Combustion around it, while in picture 3, the fire burns around it, but there is no burning damage on the appearance.

Comparison between part of Figure 3 and part of Figure 1

However, figure 1 shows that at this time, the draft of the Moscow increased significantly and tilted to the left, which does not rule out the influence of water inflow caused by structural damage. It is also possible that the fire water flowed into the lower cabin during fire fighting, which exacerbated this problem. Perhaps this is the key reason for the final sinking of the Moscow.

Naval news, an international authoritative maritime website, basically recognized the authenticity of the photos and made an analysis accordingly.

Previously, naval news had analyzed the sinking waters of the Moscow according to the corresponding information

Analysis of the last moment of the Moscow

In the analysis, experts believe that the key damage area causing the sinking of the Moscow is located between its engine room and the bridge. After the fire broke out here, the fire spread to the whole engine room and extended backward. There are two AK630 30mm near fire guns arranged above the deck here, and its toilet ammunition depot is under it. Once it is affected, it may greatly increase the fire. Moscow is designed as a heavily armed cruiser, which also means that it carries more weapons and ammunition, which is easy to cause martyrdom and explosion, damage the ship structure and cause water ingress, while its superstructure design leads to a high center of gravity and is difficult to maintain stability after injury. Perhaps these comprehensive reasons have led to the final hopeless fate of Moscow.

Then, according to the available data, can we confirm which statement of Russia and Ukraine is more credible? Is it the missile or the accident that caused the disaster of the Moscow?

It should be said that from the current photos, the Moscow may sink due to a missile hit. Ukraine claims that the Neptune missile that hit the Moscow belongs to an anti-ship missile that sweeps the sea and flies at an ultra-low altitude. The terminal adopts radar active homing. Theoretically, its hit location is the area where the radar wave reflected by the warship is the strongest.

For the Moscow without stealth design, the strongest side radar reflection is in the above three areas. According to the probability of judgment and selection after the missile radar scans the three areas, the front of the cabin in the middle of the three areas is the most likely to be the missile hit position.

At present, the core area of the fire reflected in the photos is here.

In the battle between Britain and Argentina, the British missile destroyer Sheffield was hit by a flying fish missile using approximate guidance principle, and the hit position was also nearby

However, the possibility of the accident mentioned by the Russian side still exists. This is because the location of the fire is in the front of the engine room, which is also a common accident prone area. If the fire is caused by poor operation, there is a precedent before. It is not uncommon for the power system of Russian warships to have problems. It is not the same as before that the aircraft carrier Kuznetsov caused news because of smoke when sailing.

It is still too early to confirm the root cause of the sinking of the Moscow according to the current data.

However, according to the photos and corresponding analysis, it can be seen that the Russian sailors made great efforts after the incident. The initial fire area is very dangerous, and it is easy to detonate both sides if it extends forward