MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Moskva, the first major surface combatant vessel sunk since the Falklands' war

Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea Russian fleet sinking

When the Russian missile cruiser Moskva sank on Thursday, allegedly hit by two anti/ship missiles (Ukrainian version), it was the largest warship lost at sea since World War II, and the first major surface combatant ship sunk since the Falklands War in 1982. Moskva was the flagship of the Russian navy in the Black Sea and was involved in the attack and capture of Ukrainian ports.

 The Russian version is that Moskva was being towed to port when “stormy seas” caused it to sink. Moscow did not report any attack on the 500-crew missile carrier, and the ministry said the vessel sank after a fire. The blaze caused the explosion of the warship's ammunition, Russia says, adding that the entire crew were later evacuated to nearby Russian vessels in the Black Sea.

Back in 1982 in two days, the Argentine and British navies each sank one of its opponent’s major warships. On May 2, 1982, a British submarine sank the ARA General Belgrano, a massive but aging destroyer nearly as big as the Moskva. Two days later, an Argentine aircraft fired an Exocet missile at the HMS Sheffield, crippling the destroyer. Abandoned, it sank less than a week later while being towed.

The General Belgrano was no stranger to combat or sinking ships. Prior to service with the Argentine navy, it had served in the US Navy as the USS Phoenix and was moored at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Unscathed in the attack by Japanese warplanes that sank larger battleships anchored nearby, the Phoenix’s guns fired on retreating Japanese aircraft. Later in the war, during the Pacific campaign, it faced repeated kamikaze attacks, its guns shooting one down just 100 yards before it would have impacted.

After World War II, the ship was decommissioned and sold to Argentina in 1951, where it was eventually renamed the General Belgrano. In 1982, the ship was at the center of a task force when it was hit with two torpedoes by the submarine HMS Conquerer. It sank hours later, with 772 of the crew eventually rescued and 323 killed.

Two days later, on May 4, 1982, a flight of two Argentine Super Etendard fighters took off carrying anti-ship Exocet missiles. Seriously crippled the Type 42 destroyer went down a week later.

Declassified reports from 2006 published in The Guardian revealed British officers on the bridge had been “mesmerized” by the sight of the incoming missile and failed to raise the alarm.

The board overseeing the after-action review to uncover what had gone wrong determined that Sheffield’s captain, a submariner named Sam Salt, and his second-in-command, a helicopter officer, had “little or no relevant recent surface ship experience. The destroyer didn’t activate “action stations,” so the missile strike had caught many sailors on the ship, including Stephenson, off guard.

Despite the Argentine military having only five Exocet missiles in its arsenal, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ordered a special forces mission to seize the Argentine air base that housed the aircraft that carried the missiles. However, poor weather grounded the special forces team and eventually scrubbed the operation.