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BATTLE FOR THE SEA
Ukraine sea drone pilots are the ‘new Dambusters’ as they humiliate Putin’s navy & blow up ships to reclaim Black Sea
UKRAINE sea drone pilots have been dubbed the "new Dambusters" as they humiliate Putin's crumbling navy.
As the Russian dictator watched the Moskva sink last year, the must surely have thought it couldn’t get worse for his beloved Black Sea Fleet.
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But he was mistaken, because tiny Ukrainian drones are now running circles around the very same warships.
And the battle for supremacy in the Black Sea is ramping up fast.
The £200,000 craft terrorised the port of Sevastopol, launched daring raids on two intelligence ships, and last week blew up a military transport and an oil tanker.
Putin's ally demanded revenge on Ukraine after two kamikaze sea drone attacks on prized warships within 24 hours.
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James Rogers, founder of the Council on Geostrategy think-tank, likened the drones to Britain’s bouncing bomb - designed to swoop across water dodging torpedo nets.
They were used in the Dambusters Raid of 1943 when when the 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command attacked German dams.
Mr Rogers said Ukrainian ingenuity has trumped Russia’s superior firepower and humiliated Putin’s already red-faced fleet.
"Russia has, in the past, behaved as if the Black Sea is a Russian lake," he told The Sun.
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"But Ukraine is making a statement: We have the means to strike you on the Black Sea, it will be contested, it is no longer a Russian lake.
"[These drones] make life more complicated for the Russian navy, undermine Russia’s war effort, and all of that is good for Ukraine."
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was once the pride of its navy, established by Prince Grigory Potemkin in 1783 at Sevastopol after his conquest of Crimea.
It became the largest fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy and was used to dominate the Black Sea at the expense of the Ottomans - who fought and lost a series of naval campaigns throughout the 19th century.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, the Black Sea Fleet moved to quickly cut off Ukraine’s southern coast and was expected to dominate Kyiv’s much-smaller force.
But that proved not to be the case.
While Ukraine was forced to scuttle its only battleship in the opening days of the war, it found other ways to strike back - initially using missiles.
Three transport ships were blown up in the port of Berdyansk, before the Moskva - capital ship of the fleet - was sunk in April.
Slava-class missile cruiser Moskva was in service on-and-off for almost 40 years - and is now resting at the bottom of the Black Sea.
Russia’s admirals fled the small but strategic Snake Island and were forced to relocate much of the fleet from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk, where it was used to launch long-range missiles at Ukrainian power stations and cities.
But even that tactic now looks to be failing, as Ukraine trades missiles for drones with enough range to cover all of Russia’s ports in the Black Sea.
It has taken Kyiv a while to finesse the tactic.
Back in May, attacks on the Ivan Khurs intelligence ship failed when the drones didn’t explode.
And several more drone attacks on the port at Sevastopol produced spectacular explosions but no real damage as Russian machine guns blew them out of the water.
But on August 4, one drone succeeded in striking the Olenogorsky Gornyak transport ship.
Just a day later, the Sig oil tanker- thought to be transporting fuel for Russia’s war effort - was also hit.
Mr Rogers said: "The Ukrainians are seeking sea denial.
"They don’t have much of a navy themselves, and if they were to go into battle with Russians they’d be hit quite quickly.
"Instead they’re using whatever means they have available to make life difficult for Russia, to force Russia to keep warships further away from important areas, and drive up the cost of keeping warships in the Black Sea.
"The UK did something quite similar during the Second World War by developing bouncing bombs to hit German dams.
"This is similar - Ukraine is turning its greatest minds and economic resources to manufacture whatever they need.
"They cannot quickly make warships, but they can make drones."
The drone in question is thought to be the Magura 5, a small craft that resembles a speedboat and can be remotely controlled using webcams to guide it to its target.
Back in November last year, Ukraine announced a crowdfunding campaign to buy 100 of the vessels which have been used to attack 12 different targets so far, according to BBC Verify.
Mr Rogers said he expects those attacks to increase in both scope and scale now they have succeeded in knocking a Russian transport out of action.
Future targets could well include Russian warships or important ports with swarms of up to 20 drones used simultaneously to overcome defences.
"The issue is that no matter how effective the Russian defences, if Ukrainians can send several simultaneously… one is going to get through," he added.
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"Even the Royal Navy or US Navy would have trouble intercepting a swarm like that.
"Some [Russian warship] may be blown out of the water… [Ukraine] could sink a ship or cause significant damage going forward."
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