According to asynthetic investigators, there are a total of 10 cruise missile carriers and 14 auxiliary fleet ships there, including a patrol boat stationed in the roadstead.
Satellite images of the Novorossiysk naval base have appeared on the Internet, showing that most of the ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are in the port. This was reported on March 11 by the monitoring group of the Crimean Wind telegram channel.
As Crimean Wind observers note, citing satellite imagery data from the American OSINT researcher MT Anderson, there are carriers of Caliber cruise missiles in the waters of the Novorossiysk naval base:
- 2 frigates of the “Admiral Grigorovich” project (out of 2);
- 2 small missile ships of the Buyan-M project (out of 4);
- 2 small missile ships of the Karakurt project (out of 2);
- 4 submarines of the Varshavyanka project (out of 6).
In addition, the following ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are moored there:
- 3 Project 22160 patrol ships (one with the TOP anti-aircraft missile and gun system on board);
- 3 large landing ships of Project 775;
- 1 large landing ship of the Ivan Gren project;
- 1 large landing ship of project 1171;
- 1 minesweeper “Alexandrite”;
- 2 minesweepers of project 266-M;
- 1 minesweeper project 12660;
- 1 reconnaissance ship of project 864.
Satellite images March 10 published American OSINT researcher MT Anderson on his social network account X.
Earlier, Crimean Wind reported that at the Novorossiysk roadstead, the Black Sea Fleet placed a patrol ship – an analogue of the sunken Sergei Kotov – to strengthen air defense.
Analysis of satellite images for February 27, also made OSINT researcher MT Anderson testifies that the Russian command also kept a patrol ship in the Novorossiysk roadstead to strengthen air defense.
More than six months ago, the command of the Russian fleet used similar tactics in Sevastopol, where at the entrance to the bay a small missile ship “Cyclone” was moored to barrels with an anti-aircraft missile and gun system “Pantsir-ME” on board. The modern radar armament of this corvette makes it possible to strengthen the air defense of the water area and coastal military installations.
Let us recall that earlier the Crimean Wind monitoring group tracked and photographed ships in the Tsemes Bay of Novorossiysk and found out that the command often keeps them in the roadstead, and not at the berths.
What does the relocation to Novorossiysk mean for the Black Sea Fleet?
Regular attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on military and infrastructure facilities in the annexed Crimea have led to a sharp reduction in attacks on the territory of Ukraine by ships of the Black Sea Fleet. Moreover, the risks of being attacked by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the ports of annexed Crimea forced the Russian command to relocate ships from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk, Russian experts themselves note.
At the same time, the Black Sea Fleet command failed to do this according to wartime rules – the fleet’s vessels should have been dispersed to different ports and the corresponding material and technical base and infrastructure should have been prepared there, but the Russian military command did not do this.
Since the end of 2023, the Russian command has taken fewer risks: it is trying to keep launch vehicles away from the Ukrainian coast and launching missiles from Novorossiysk. The change of location seriously limits the capabilities of the fleet, since all logistics support is still in Sevastopol, and the port of Novorossiysk, for example, is not even equipped to load Kalibr missiles onto ships. As a result, ships are still forced to enter the ports of Crimea and expose themselves to the danger of coming under fire from Ukraine.
Important
The Black Sea Fleet lost 25% of its ships: the corvette Sergei Kotov was hunted for 5 months, – Forbes
Let us recall that ISW analysts reported: the Russian Federation may use nuclear weapons if 20% of submarines are lost.
It was also reported that the Navy spoke about details of the destruction of the Russian ship “Sergei Kotov” and serious crew losses.