Black Sea Fleet deployments-Wk07/2022

Fleet Overview



Weekly Brief

Russian naval forces in the Black Sea spent the week concentrating their amphibious landing capacity and escorting forces in the northern parts of the Black Sea. A large group is concentrated at Lake Donuzlav in the northwestern sector. This group has the carrying capacity of roughly two to three battalion tactical groups.
By the end of the week, a second amphibious task group capably of transporting a small battalion has been observed entering the Sea of Azov for exercises.

Coastal missile defense systems and naval aviation aircraft spend the week training on how to engage simulated hostile warships operating in the Black Sea.

Daily Events

February 14
Submarine rescue vessel Kommuna is reported at sea for a special emergency rescue operation. The vessel is training the deployment of the AS-28 deep diving submersible that is used to conduct emergency rescues from submarines in trouble [1].

An anti-submarine exercise took place with naval aviation and surface vessels looking for a simulated enemy submarine operating in the Black Sea. Be-12 amphibious aircraft and Ka-27PL helicopters were deployed to search and track the submarine. The role of the enemy submarine was played by an Improved Kilo class submarine though which one was not reported [2].

Several Ropucha class landing vessels were preparing to depart the naval base of Sevastopol between 1200Z and 1400Z. These included the vessels Kaliningrad, Olenegorskiy Gornyak, Minsk and Georgiy Pobedonosets [3]. Sentinel-1 satellite imagery at 1536Z shows three to four Ropucha class landing ships missing, as well as four Tarantul class missile boats [4].

An unidentified Ropucha class landing vessel was observed at Kozacha Bay. The location is a typical place where embarkation and debarkation exercises take place [5].

Over 50 aircraft of the Southern Military District and Black Sea naval aviation are taking part in a naval exercise. Su-27SM and Su-30SM fighters as well as Su-24M and Su-34 bombers will conduct missile strikes and bomb runs against simulated surface warships [6].

Russia media outlets reported on the morning of February 15th that several naval exercises took place in the Black Sea. These exercises most likely took place on the 14th [7] and involved naval gunnery, air defense and anti-submarine exercises [8] [9] [10].

February 15
Crane vessel SPK-46150 departed Sevastopol and headed northwest, possibly in the direction of Lake Donuzlav [11].

Goryn class tug SB-36 departed the naval base of Novorossiysk and headed west. Rescue tug Spasatel Vasily Bekh also departed Novorossiysk but headed northwest towards Kerch [12].

February 17
Yug class hydrographic vessel is conducting hydrographic or meteorological operations in the northwestern sector of the Black Sea [13].

February 18
Ten Su-24 bomber aircraft of the naval aviation completed a withdrawal and relocation to alternative airfields in the Crimea as part of a tactical exercise [14] [15].

Slava class cruiser Moskva is reported in the Black Sea conducting naval warfare exercises. The cruiser was seen involved in air defense and naval gunnery exercises [16] [17] [18] [19].

Hydrographic vessel Donuzlav continued her meteorological and hydrogrpahic data collection task in the northwestern part of the Black Sea [20].

Ivan Grenn class landing vessel Pyotr Morgunov was last reported off the roadstead of Sevastopol [21].

February 19
Rescue tug SB-36 departed Sevastopol and her AIS signal was reported at 09:20UTC as she was heading northwest at a speed of 7.7 knots. The vessel appears to be heading towards Lake Donuzlav [22].

Bal and Bastion coastal missile defense systems in the Crimea and Krasnodar region were deployed during a tactical exercise. The missile systems were deployed from a field location towards their assigned firing positions. Once deployed, the missile systems detected, identified and tracked surface contacts followed by electronic launches [23] [24].

Intelligence collection vessel Ivan Khurs conducted electronic surveillance missions in the Black Sea [25].

Buyan-M class corvette Grayvoron is allegedly preparing to launch a Kalibr cruise missile during exercises in the Black Sea [26].

February 20
Hydrographic vessel Donuzlav returned to the port of Sevastopol following several days of meteorologic surveillance in the northwestern part of the Black Sea [27].

Several warships passed the Crimean Bridge at the Strait of Kerch and headed into the Sea of Azov. These vessels were identified as Ropucha class landing vessels Novocherkassk and Tsezar Kunikov, Tapir class landing vessel Saratov, Grisha class anti-submarine corvette Yeysk, Bykov class patrol vessel Pavel Derzhavin, Tarantul class missile boat Naberezhnye Chelny [28] [29] [30].

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