On Tuesday evening, the National Center for Defense Management of the Russian Federation reported that the forces and means of the Black Sea Fleet began tracking the actions of the US Coast Guard patrol ship Hamilton. It entered the Black Sea on April 27.
Just on this day, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Guards missile cruiser "Moscow", went to live firing. "In several sea ranges in the Black Sea, the crew will conduct a complex of ship combat exercises and joint maneuvers with ships of the Black Sea Fleet and helicopters of naval aviation and air defense," our military said in Sevastopol. It is also known that the crew of the cruiser will work out actions for the use of the main missile system of the ship and perform anti-aircraft and artillery firing at a sea target simulating a surface enemy.
In short, the exercise plan is very intense. In order to ensure its safety, the marine training ground and the adjacent water area, where live firing will take place, will be closed to shipping. Of course, this ban applies entirely to the US watchdog. It should be borne in mind that it is also subject to the restrictions imposed by Russia on the passage through our territorial waters. Recall that since April 24, they are closed to foreign warships and vessels in a number of coastal areas of the Crimea-from Feodosia to Kerch.
These restrictions seem to have recently made adjustments to the long-range cruise of two US Navy destroyers-Donald Cook and Roosevelt. In mid-April, they were heading to the Black Sea, but in the end they did not go there, they turned back. The patrol ship Hamilton reached these waters. And it is hard to believe that his raid into the Black Sea coincidentally coincided with the exercises of the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet beginning there. Moreover, the command of the 6th operational fleet of the United States does not hide: in the Black Sea, the American watchdog will not act alone, but " interact with NATO allies and partners in the region." The fact that such "interaction" often turns into provocative actions against Russia, our sailors have been convinced more than once.
However, Hamilton does not pose a serious threat to their ships in any case. In terms of combat power, it is not even close to the same cruiser "Moscow". Our flagship is equipped with 16 anti-ship missiles of the P-1000 Vulkan complex with a range of at least 700 km. It also has long-range S-300 Fort air defense systems on board, which can reliably protect an entire squadron of ships from enemy air attacks. By the way, according to experts, if there was such a need, the Russian cruiser would hit the US guard ship with its missiles when it entered the Black Sea. More precisely, it was still at the Bosphorus.
Yuri Gavrilov
