CV32

Notable for me in the photo above: 1. The 3R41 Volna (NATO Top Dome) fire control radar for the S-300F Fort (NATO SA-N-6a Grumble) air defence system in its usual, standby position, rather than appearing to have been in the process of engaging anything. 2. The Osa-2M (NATO SA-N-4b Gecko) air defence systems, on either side of the hangar, are still in their retracted positions inside their cylindrical enclosures, rather than appearing to have been in the process of engaging anything. This seems to be strongly suggestive of a ship that was caught entirely by surprise. The area of the apparent damage/fire -- just aft of the P-1000 Vulkan (NATO SS-N-12 Sandbox mod 2) antiship missile launchers, and just ahead of the funnels -- makes sense for a missile(s) hit. Given that active radar guided antiship missiles (like Neptun) would ordinarily home on the centroid of the radar return. Notably, there are a pair of AK-630M CIWS in this area, lending more credence to the idea that the air defences of Moskva were completely surprised.

A tremendous amount of work went into the HCWW database but it only managed to attract a handful of scenarios. Part of the reason might be the fact that the code is not particularly suited for gunnery warfare.

2022 WWIII Video Game Tournament Championship (Third World War 1987)

Re Moskva: https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2022/04/analysis-chain-of-negligence-caused-the-loss-of-the-moskva-cruiser/

Good reading. https://rockymountainnavy.com/2022/04/14/moskva-burning-using-the-wargame-harpoon-v-from-admiraltytrilogy-com-to-assess-the-story/

Yet another twist ... she has sunk while under tow, according to Moscow.

Yes, I see a US defence official has stated she is still afloat and moving east. Possibly under tow. There are a congregation of Russian search & rescue and support vessels in the area, and Russian warships in the Black Sea appear to have moved generally away from the Ukrainian coast (and thus away from the potential missile threat.) The presence of an orbiting Global Hawk (callsign Forte10) southwest of Crimea is probably providing superb and timely intel.

There appears to be a strong possibility that Moskva has been sunk.

Reuters is reporting the Russians have admitted serious damage and a complete evacuation of the crew due to an ammunition explosion and fire. Ukraine claims hits from two Neptun coastal defence antiship missiles. This is big.

Its now been a month since the war in Ukraine began, and although I am sure many of you have been watching closely, there hasn't been much chatter about it here. Some of the Twitter feeds that I have been following, and which you might also find useful: H.I. Sutton Modern War Institute ISW (Institute for the Study of War) Calibre Obscura Russian Defense Policy Christo Grozev, Eliot Higgins and Bellingcat ELINT News Rob Lee Jomini of the West Intel Crab Ukraine Weapons Tracker Michael Kofman OSINTtechnical MilitaryLand.net Not an exhaustive list but lots of useful material here.

Abundantly clear now that at least some aspect of the long standing speculation is over. 😬

As of 21 February:

If New Looks could kill: Russia’s military capability in 2022 (IISS, 15 February 2022)

Black Sea flagship Slava class cruiser Moskva has joined her sisters Varyag and Ustinov in the Med. Three Slavas in the Med!

The phibgru has entered the Dardanelles enroute to the Black Sea. The Project 636.3 (Kilo) class sub Rostov-on-Don is due to return to the Black Sea on 11 February.

1979 for paper and 1989 for the PC game. Welcome to the forum, Jason. 🙂

The Russian phibgru made a brief stop at Tartus, Syria and is now reportedly underway again. Meanwhile, the Ustinov group entered the Med through Gibraltar yesterday and the Varyag group has also entered the Med via Suez. There are now two Slavas in the Med, something which I think has not happened in a long time (if ever.)

The Ustinov group has been joined by the Project 1541 (NATO Luza) class tanker Kama, and entered the English Channel yesterday. The Russian phibgru was off Sicily yesterday.

If any scenario creator is looking to put together scenarios depicting the evolving situation in Ukraine, I can offer the following information to assist: Spotted yesterday morning off Finnmark by a Norwegian P-3C Orion: Project 1164 (NATO Slava) class missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov, Project 1155 (NATO Udaloy) class destroyer Admiral Kulakov, Project 22350 (NATO Admiral Gorshkov) class frigate Admiral Kasatonov, a Project REF-675 (NATO Kaliningradneft) class tanker Vyazma and Project 712 (NATO Sliva) class rescue tug SB-406. Already in the Mediterranean, Project 864 (NATO Vishnya) intel collector Vasiliy Tatischev. Enroute to the Med, having passed through the English Channel: Landing ships Project 775 (NATO Ropucha II) Minsk and Kaliningrad, the Project 775 (NATO Ropucha III) Korolev, the Project 775 (NATO Ropucha I) Olenegorskiy Gornyak, Project 775 (NATO Ropucha II) Georgiy Pobedonosets, and the Project 11711 (NATO Ivan Gren) class landing ship Pyotr Morgunov. Departed naval base at Baltiysk in the Baltic Sea: Project 20380 (NATO Steregushchy) class missile corvettes Stoykiy and Soobrazitelny. In the Arabian Sea but apparently enroute to the Mediterranean: Project 1164 (NATO Slava) class missile cruiser Varyag, Project 1155 (NATO Udaloy) class destroyer Admiral Tributs and Project 1559 (NATO Boris Chilikin) class fleet oiler Boris Butoma. In the Black Sea: Over 20 Russian Black Sea Fleet’s warships deploy to sea for drills (TASS) These include the following: Minesweepers Project 266M (NATO Natya) Ivan Golubets, Project 12700 (NATO Alexandrit) Ivan Antonov and Project 266ME (NATO Natya) Valentin Pikul Project 1124M (NATO Grisha V) ASW corvettes Suzdalets and Yeysk (or Eysk?) Two other unidentified ASW corvettes? Frigates Project 11356 (NATO Grigorovich/Krivak IV) class Admiral Essen and Project 1135 (NATO Krivak) class Ladny Missile corvettes Project 21631 class Grayvoron and Ingushetia, and Project 12411 (NATO Tarantul) class Naberezhnye Chelny. Aviation OOB information can be found here: How The Russian And Ukrainian Air Forces Stack Up Against Each Other (The War Zone)

A China-US war in space: The after-action report (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)

Speaking as a DB editor, its worse than ugly. The last thing you want (again, from the perspective of a DB editor) is for your changes to any single annex entry to have negative effects on the values of multiple other annex entries. To the point of potentially making a scenario unworkable. Speaking as a scenario creator, its worse than ugly.

The "and/or" is important, because many of these ships cannot operate the F-35C.

Stock scenarios will work with the HCDB.