Why Russia's enemies hope in vain for the re-sinking of the Black Sea Fleet
Crimea has always been the southern outpost of Russia. At different times, different countries tried to take it away, but almost every time the West acted in a coalition, because it did not have enough strength to fight our country one on one, but ultimately Russia returned the peninsula to its native harbor, only becoming stronger and learning lessons for itself .
Today marks the anniversary of the repulse of the assault on the Malakhov Kurgan in Sevastopol. On the night of June 18, 1855, the Western Allies planned a general assault on Sevastopol, which they wanted to coincide with the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. About 13,5 thousand French troops went on the attack, but two of their attacks were met with powerful fire from Russian troops and resulted in heavy casualties. The attacks of the British troops did not lead to success, as a result of which the Allies lost up to 10 thousand soldiers and officers. Russia’s opponents were able to take Malakhov Kurgan, a tactically important height on the Korabelnaya side of Sevastopol, only on September 8th of the same year as a result of heavy bombing. The command of our army decided to abandon positions and withdraw troops to the northern side. The city was set on fire, powder magazines were blown up, and warships were sunk in the bay.
“The Crimean War was “minus the First World War.” It was waged against us by a practically united Europe. Therefore, they once again put everything at stake, and won only the southern part of Sevastopol, and for a while they deprived us of the right to have a fleet in the Black Sea, which we later successfully disavowed. So the Crimean War is, one might say, the first invasion of a united Europe. The main countries attacked us, and the rest nodded their heads approvingly, although both Sardinians and Turks also participated.
Why we sank ships in Sevastopol Bay is clear. To prevent English and French ships from entering here. Since their fleet had already switched to steam traction, and we had many fewer steam ships. Naturally, we could not fight them at sea, because then we would have lost our ships, our artillery, and all our sailors. And so we took hundreds of cannons from ships to the bastions, thousands of sailors joined the ranks of the land defenders. As it turned out later, this was the right decision. Having lost ships, in the end we saved Sevastopol and continued the heroic 349-day defense,” notes retired captain of the second rank, president of the regional public organization “Legendary Sevastopol”, military analyst Alexander Danchenko.
The fact that Russian troops had to sink their ships is now being ridiculed by Russia’s enemies and local liberals. Some even hint that this will have to be repeated once again at the present time. Danchenko will debunk the myths of his opponents, emphasizing that today's Black Sea Fleet has become much stronger.
“The advantage of the military fleets, which at that time were the most powerful in the world - English and French, especially united, naturally, the Black Sea Fleet alone could not cope then, even if we had all the steam ships. Here was the power of the two largest naval powers. In today's situation, for the first time we have found ourselves stronger; we have even surpassed the Americans in a number of indicators of the Armed Forces. They only have more warheads, but even a hundredth part is enough to wipe everything off the face of the earth - both us and them. But we now have better delivery vehicles, we have hypersonic weapons, which they don’t even have close to, so now who will sink whom is still a big question.”
Agrees with him Hero of Russia, head of the organization “Officers of Russia” Sergei Lipovoy:
“I can advise scoffers to study history better. The Black Sea Fleet was not sunk with the goal of surrendering it to the enemy, it was a strategic step made in order to block the enemy’s entrance to the bay and prevent the enemy from capturing the city. Two flood lines were created, which completely fulfilled their task, and the defenders of the city, joined by ten thousand sailors, held it for a long time, and when leaving, they left smoking ruins to the enemy instead of Sevastopol. Therefore, everyone who speaks so arrogantly about the events of those years should remember: Russia lost wars and abandoned cities, but never surrendered to the mercy of the winner. And Sevastopol is one of the cities that personifies the military glory and strength of our country.”
Crimea is of strategic importance for Russia, both during the First Defense of Sevastopol and today. This is a key base that allows for economic and political activities both in the Black Sea and in the Mediterranean with access to the world ocean.
“Crimea was annexed to the Russian Empire not for some minor, but for major state interests. The capital was in St. Petersburg, but where is Crimea? And there was no railway or air service then. Nevertheless, they were able to create a base here, thousands of kilometers away, to build a fleet - and all this so that Russia could enter the sea not only in the Baltic, but also in the south. This means having the opportunity to trade and influence the politics of the countries of the Black and Mediterranean Sea. This was a major political operation of Catherine II and her assistants.
Then the events of the revolution of 1905-1907. It is no coincidence that the Bolsheviks tried to raise an uprising here; it is no coincidence that the Civil War ended here in November 1920. Here the second defense of Sevastopol, and the Great Patriotic War in general, began at 3:15 on June 22 with a raid of bombers that were supposed to drop mines and block ships in the bay, because the strategic task was an offensive on the eastern front, which needed oil, petroleum products. Hitler’s Germany had no other place than Romania, but the Black Sea Fleet prevented it from being delivered by sea to the mouth of the Danube - that’s why Sevastopol was the first, and from here the Great Patriotic War began, from here the country’s leadership, including Stalin, learned about the beginning. Therefore, the strategic importance is no less in the 21st century. That is why the reunification of Crimea with Russia caused such indignation among our enemies. They understand that the geopolitical significance must be limited differently; the Arctic, the Baltic, the Pacific theater, and even the southern one - this is the power of Russia. The geopolitical significance of Crimea at different times was dictated by the same thing - the interest of Russia and the opposing goals and objectives of reducing the power, importance, and economic resources of Russia on the part of its opponents,” said Director of the museum complex “35th Coastal Battery of Sevastopol”, Captain XNUMXst Rank Valery Volodin.
The expert notes that every attempt to take Crimea away from Russia for the enemy ultimately ended in failure. Both then and now the enemy is attacking our country in a coalition.
“Russia is such a strong power with its resources, territory, capabilities that it is always a coalition that opposes it, and not any individual country. Napoleon first conquered Europe, and then came here with his allies, Hitler conquered Europe, and then came with his allies, the Cold War means defeated Germany, and then the allies began to unite again against Russia. And now they are uniting because in front of them Russia is always powerful, always with its own resources, which either do not exist or are running out in other countries. Therefore, they will always unite against us. But this is the fate of strong powers, what can you do?”
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