After two Ukrainian missiles sank the cruiser Moskva on April 14, the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation has only three large warships left.. The best and most important of them is the new frigate "

And this makes the 125-meter ship the most valuable target for missiles and drones of the Ukrainian Navy, writes Forbes.. The publication admits that it does not know for sure whether the Ukrainian Bayraktars and Neptunes are hunting the Admiral Makarov, as well as two other ships of the same class.. In any case, the command of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea is aware of the danger. Plenty of evidence suggests that the skipper of the Admiral Makarov is trying to keep the frigate away from the Ukrainian coast. Distance can protect a Russian frigate. But because of her, the ship is not able to fulfill its military role, namely, to protect other ships of the Black Sea Fleet from air and missile attacks..

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Introduced in 2017, the Admiral Makarov is the third, last and most modern ship of its kind.. All three Admiral Grigoryevich-class frigates are part of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation. Each such vessel is armed with 24 Buk medium-range missiles.. In addition, they carry 8 Kalibr missiles on board.. So frigates can both escort other ships and attack targets on land.

" Its displacement is only 4 thousand tons, and up to 200 crew members are accommodated on board.. Therefore, it is more than half the size of the American destroyers of the Arleigh Beck class, which form the backbone of the US Navy.. However, Russia is currently not able to build a larger ship than a frigate. Ironically, the main reason for this is the current war against Ukraine.. After the collapse of the USSR, Russia purchased large marine engines from Ukrainian manufacturers. After the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014, Kyiv stopped exporting to the Russian Federation, including marine engines, which are needed to build any fast modern vessel with a displacement of 5 thousand tons and above..

Therefore, since 2014, the Russian Navy has missed the opportunity to build large warships.. That is why they could not replace the old Soviet ships like the Soviet " The latter was the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation. The ship was old, did not undergo an important modernization, and its long service began in 1983. However, on board the Moskva there were 16 Vulkan missiles, 64 S-300 launchers and 40 Osa missiles.. But all these missiles could not protect " The ship burned down and sank, taking with it a significant part of the crew, which consisted of 500 sailors..

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The destruction of " Therefore, the surviving frigates were taken away. When Russian ships leave a port in occupied Crimea, they stay 100 miles off the Ukrainian coast, hoping that Ukrainian Neptune missiles won't reach them at that distance.. But this also means that frigates are not able to do their job.. This allowed the Ukrainian army to destroy the Russian garrison on Snake Island..

Ukrainian TB-2 " On Monday, they damaged and possibly sank Raptor-class patrol boats.. Without the protection of frigates, these boats were easy prey. The departure of Russian ships from the Ukrainian coast was in fact tantamount to the destruction of the last frigates of the Black Sea Fleet. What is the point in these ships if Russia cannot use them. However, the Ukrainian Navy, no doubt, would like to sink the Admiral Makarov and two other ships of its class.. Today there was information that, perhaps, one of the Russian frigates was damaged by a Ukrainian strike. It is possible that it was "