Slava class deployment
Posted: 24 Feb 2022 15:32
In an interesting development, all three of the Russian Navy's Slava class cruisers have been deployed to the Mediterranean.
As of Monday, the three Slava-class cruisers were operating in and around the Aegean Sea – Moskva (121) in the Black Sea, Varyag (011) south of Italy and Marshal Ustinov (055) off the coast of Syria, near Russia’s naval base in Tartus.
Moskva is based in the Black Sea, while Marshal Ustinov traveled from the Northern Fleet and Varyag from the Pacific Fleet. Ustinov and Varyag entered the Mediterranean from opposite ends earlier this month.
They are Russian Navy's most capable anti-ship platforms, with the exception of the Kirov class Pyotr Velikiy which is believed to be in poor condition and partially laid up in the Kola Peninsula.
Maybe Putin wanted them in the Mediterranean as insurance that NATO's naval forces, including the US carrier group based on the Harry S Truman, the Italian Giuseppe Garibaldi carrier group and the French carrier Charles de Gaulle and her escorts, all of which are operating in the Aegean and eastern Med, would not intervene in his invasion of the Ukraine.
Mike
As of Monday, the three Slava-class cruisers were operating in and around the Aegean Sea – Moskva (121) in the Black Sea, Varyag (011) south of Italy and Marshal Ustinov (055) off the coast of Syria, near Russia’s naval base in Tartus.
Moskva is based in the Black Sea, while Marshal Ustinov traveled from the Northern Fleet and Varyag from the Pacific Fleet. Ustinov and Varyag entered the Mediterranean from opposite ends earlier this month.
They are Russian Navy's most capable anti-ship platforms, with the exception of the Kirov class Pyotr Velikiy which is believed to be in poor condition and partially laid up in the Kola Peninsula.
Maybe Putin wanted them in the Mediterranean as insurance that NATO's naval forces, including the US carrier group based on the Harry S Truman, the Italian Giuseppe Garibaldi carrier group and the French carrier Charles de Gaulle and her escorts, all of which are operating in the Aegean and eastern Med, would not intervene in his invasion of the Ukraine.
Mike