Author: Rainbow Kursk
Recently, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that the Korolev, Minsk, Kaliningrad, Pyotr Morgunov, Georgy Pobedonosets, and Olenegorsky Gornyak) and six other landing ships arrived at the Sevastopol Naval Base of the Black Sea Fleet, greatly enhancing the amphibious combat strength of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
These 6 warships were not warships of the Black Sea Fleet, but came from the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet, and after a long voyage from the north to the Black Sea in the south, passed through the Well-defended Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea of NATO, and passed through the Turkish Strait around the 8th, entered the Black Sea, and joined the sequence of the Black Sea Fleet.
The voyage of this landing ship formation has always received great attention from the West, because the current Black Sea Fleet, although it also has a large landing ship force, is still not enough to carry out an amphibious landing operation, and the arrival of 6 large landing ships effectively alleviates this problem.
Photo: The large landing ship "Peter Morgunov" arriving in the Black Sea.
The latest information shows that a formation of three large landing ships of the Black Sea Fleet entered the Sea of Azov under the escort of small missile ships. These included the large landing ships Novocherkassk, Caesar Kunikov and Saratov.
Judging from the name of the ship, there have been 9 large landing ships, including the latest "Ivan. The Glenn class, the Toad class, and the older Crocodile class, these landing ships are all large tank landing ships, capable of transporting not only tank armored vehicles, but also a variety of supplies.
Image: A Toad-class tank landing ship arriving at the Black Sea Fleet, its long-distance voyage has caused it to rust.
These landing ships are likely to be mainly invested in the Sea of Azov region in the future.
The Sea of Azov is an inland sea isolated from the Black Sea by the Crimean Peninsula in russia and southern Ukraine, and after the independence of Ukraine, it became the high seas of Russia and Ukraine. The sea mouth here is controlled by russia in the Kerch Strait.
A few years ago, Ukraine wanted to increase its troops to the Ukrainian naval base on the coast of the Sea of Azov, and the missile boats sent were seized by Russia while passing through the Kerch Strait, which made Ukraine's maritime power on the coast of the Sea of Azov very weak.
At the same time, the Sea of Azov is the maritime lifeline of East Ukraine, Russia can transport supplies to the Eastern Ukraine region through the Sea of Azov, and once armed conflict breaks out, the Russian army can also threaten the flank of the Ukrainian army through amphibious landings on the Sea of Azov, making it difficult to overwhelm.
Photo: Sea of Azov area.
Therefore, the Sea of Azov may be the main combat area of Russian landing ships.
Because it is an intercontinental sea, the Russian landing ship that carries out combat tasks in the Azov Sea can not be interfered with by other NATO fleets deployed in the Black Sea, and NATO fighters are also difficult to fight deep into the Azov sea, so the survivability of the landing ship can be guaranteed.
Ukraine's own naval and air force has limited combat capabilities, and it is difficult to directly threaten Russian landing ships in the Azov Sea. The landing ships were like a right-hand punch ready to strike, so that Ukrainian commanders did not dare to take coastal defenses lightly.
Of course, at present, there has not been a large-scale armed conflict between the two sides, these landing ships are like Putin's backhand, and like the tank troops on land, they mainly play a strategic deterrent role.
Photo: The Black Sea Fleet landing ship unit that has just entered the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait.