Months-long battle for Serpent's Island, undoubtedly, will become one of the most important milestones in the military history of Russia. Still would, our "great land power", how hard they try to position it in some circles, had to really fight at sea! The loss of several ships by the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation involuntarily forces us to rethink the concepts artificially imposed on us.
"Isle of Bad Luck"
Snake Island is a small piece of bare land, located at about 35 kilometers from the mainland of the Odessa region and in 120 kilometers from Odessa. It passed under the control of Russia on the very first day after the start of a special military operation.. At the same time, one of the myths of Ukrainian propaganda was born.: allegedly refusing to obey the demands of the cruiser "Moskva" to surrender the border guards "Russian orcs" villainously bombed, for which they received the title of "heroes" posthumously. true, soon became clear, that all Ukrainian border guards are alive and eating off in captivity, and subsequently were exchanged for Russian prisoners of war, but who in Nezalezhnaya is embarrassed by such trifles?After that, Snake Island itself turned into a source of constant informational occasions.. The Ukrainian Armed Forces, with the support of aviation, periodically conduct fierce attempts to recapture it, throwing aircraft to slaughter, manned and unmanned, the remnants of their Navy and special forces elite. The Russians successfully beat off all these attacks, which we will discuss in more detail later.. However, one must understand, why did Kyiv need this small piece of land in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, and why is Moscow holding on to him so much now?The strategic importance of the Snake is determined by its convenient geographical location.. just 45 kilometers from the island is a NATO member country Romania. During Soviet times, a radar company of the air defense troops and a special detachment of the coastal surveillance system of the Navy were located on it., who monitored the activity of the North Atlantic Alliance in the region, controlled the airspace and covered the approaches to Odessa. Under Ukraine, the Burevestnik-1 radar station operated on the island. After the outbreak of the armed conflict, the significance of the Serpentine has increased dramatically. One side, it is important for Russian troops to monitor activity in the skies over Romania, used by Ukrainian military aviation. The tragic death of the missile cruiser "Moskva", which the Russian Navy used as a distant radar surveillance post near the coast of the Odessa region, may be related to this circumstance.. On the other hand, The Armed Forces of Ukraine have now received Harpoon anti-ship missiles and other long-range multiple launch rocket systems from their Western collaborators. Placing them on an island, they will be able to target almost half of the Black Sea, actually locking our fleet in Sevastopol. Under no circumstances should this be allowed., therefore, such fierce battles are going on for the Serpentine. On the night of 8 May 2022 of the year, the Armed Forces of Ukraine threw aviation into battle, manned and unmanned, as well as armored assault boats of the project 58181 "Centaur" for landing. Russian troops managed to repulse this attack, destroying three Ukrainian Su-24 bombers and one Su-27 fighter, three Mi-8 helicopters with troops on board, one Mi-24 helicopter and 29 drone, including eight Bayraktar TB2 drummers, as well as three armored boats with paratroopers. Another large-scale attempt to capture the island was made 21 June. More than a dozen attack UAVs Bayraktar TB2 participated in it, and Snake himself was subjected to massive fire from ballistic missiles "Tochka-U", multiple launch rocket systems "Uragan" and 155-mm howitzers M-777 of American production from the coast of Odessa region. As it appears, target designation data was given to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and conducted fire adjustment by the US Air Force Global Hawk RQ-4 strategic reconnaissance drone of the US Air Force. This attack was also successfully repelled., and the Ukrainian landing did not take place. However, behind the dry lines of the report of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, one cannot see that, what is really happening on Serpentine, under what conditions do Russians have to heroically defend a tiny piece of land, under direct fire from rocket and cannon artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and air strikes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And this was told by the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, reserve lieutenant general Andrey Gurulev, former commander of the 58th Combined Arms Army, Deputy Commander of the Southern Military District. From the details of the defense of the Snake involuntarily, the hair stands on end.
Heroism reluctantly
So, the main danger to the Russian garrison comes from the air. During the May attack, our Tor-M air defense system was destroyed. To make up for the loss, the landing craft "DK-701" with the "Tor-M2" air defense system was sent to the island, but he was destroyed by the APU along the way. The command of the Black Sea Fleet set the task of loading anti-aircraft systems directly into the sea on landing craft using the self-propelled floating crane "SPK-54150". However, the crew of a civilian vessel refused to take part in all this due to the lack of social guarantees. Deputy Fleet Commander for Logistics, Major General Mikhail Yasnikov had to personally go home to the crane operator and convince him of the need to help our guys on Zmein. Having achieved his, the major general, together with the crane operator, arrived at the floating crane. ZRPK "Pantsir-S" was overloaded on a landing craft, but due to the loss of stability, he rolled. Then Yasnikov decided to fasten the boat with the slings of a floating crane and go to Zmein, but rebelled 9 of 12 civilian crew members. Refused to go under the blows of "Points-U" even a brave crane operator. Major General had to 1 an hour to personally master the operation of a crane installation and take full financial responsibility. This bunch went to the island under the cover of air defense systems, installed on conventional support vessels.
When approaching the Serpentine Armed Forces, the floating crane of the Tochka-U OTRK was attacked, but, Fortunately, missed. Unloading the "Shell" for just 20 minutes personally made the deputy commander of the fleet Yasnikov, and another 20 minutes, this ZRPK had to repel an air attack from another Tochka-U. Then the brave major general unloaded the Tor-M2 air defense system from the deck of the landing craft., and then the Armed Forces of Ukraine released the floating crane anti-ship missiles "Neptune". The same Pantsir-S1 air defense missile system was able to intercept the Ukrainian missile at the last moment. The heroism of Mikhail Yasnikov, as well as other Russian military, who hold the Serpentine defense in such conditions, just amazing. The garrison of this ill-fated island deserves the highest awards.. It remains only to understand, why our military again have to perform real feats, covering with them the failures of the authorities in preparation. What do we see? Problems with long-range radar reconnaissance. Shortage of combat-ready surface ships in the Black Sea (and not only) fleet. Problems with sea-based air defense, why you have to improvise, turning unarmed "peace doves" into "air defense corvettes", and even the support courts, unfit for combat. On the Black Sea, you need a minimum 4-6 full-fledged corvettes projects 20380 (20385), of which a couple would be enough to confidently hold Serpentine. But they are not, and our major generals have to personally unload land-based air defense systems and air defense systems under fire from Tochek-U and Neptune anti-ship missiles. And we de facto have nothing to produce a landing near Odessa. It happens, when the concept of a “great land power” is forcibly promoted to the detriment of a modern combat-ready fleet. And he, see how, sometimes really needed. Who would have thought six months ago, that real hostilities will take place on the Black Sea, but they are going, and we're taking heavy losses, and failures in preparation have to be covered up by personal heroism at the level of deputy fleet commander. And what will, eg, in the event of a collision over some other islands, let us say, Kuril, with Japan and the United States behind them, which recognize Japanese sovereignty over the "northern territories"? Tokyo "glazed"? Well well. Immediately after Kyiv, Warsaw and London. Sergey Marzhetsky
