Sevastopol, key to the Black Sea
Just over eighty years after the capture of Sevastopol by German troops in the summer of 1942, themajor port city in the Crimea is back on the front pages of all the newspapers.
This time, however, it is not because of violent fighting or a long siege, but because of the numerous drone raids - conducted by air or sea - Ukrainian during this phase of the war in Ukraine against Russian infrastructure and naval vessels here.
The city, in fact, is not only the main settlement and port of Crimea, but more importantly the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet. Here, in fact, are the headquarters, a large number of surface and submarine naval units are housed, there are countless warehouses, depots, shipyards and dry docks, where construction, modification, repair and modernization works of the units that make up the fleet are possible.
By having Sevastopol we will have a fleet, and without Sevastopol we cannot have a fleet on the Black Sea
The structure of the Sevastopol base
But how, in detail, is this important base structured?
To begin with, it should be mentioned that the base practically covers the entire Sevastopol Bay, often mixing military installations to facilities belonging, instead, to civilian realities. Arriving from the waters of the Black Sea, there are two major artificial piers erected to protect the entrance to the base, reducing the navigable body of water to about 450 meters in length.
This formed the first passive defense line of the base over the years, access to which is now easier to monitor. Going deeper into the interior, however, it is possible to find a boundless array of more or less old military installations of various types, positioned on both sides of the bay.
The base headquarters is located on the southern shore of the bay, right in the heart of the city's socio-cultural activities. To its right, a few hundred meters away, however, is the first natural inlet, which goes up into the interior of the city for just over two kilometers.
It is, in this case, the most important sector of the base, where it was decided to host the greater number of naval units belonging to the famous fleet.
The surface units, from what is visible from most of the satellite images available over time, Are generally located on the left bank, while on the right are numerous port facilities, some shipyards and, most importantly, the moorings of the component submersible.
Testifying to the importance held by these iconic vehicles is theImportant protection system arranged in their surroundings, on the other hand, absent for almost all surface units.
Continuing inland, always analyzing the southern shore, however, there is a much smaller inlet, just after the shipyards, which leads to some of the main dry docks where all the Construction, repair and modernization operations Of naval units.
And right here, on September 13, 2023, they were struck and Severely damaged Ropucha-class landing ship. Minsk and the submarine Rostov na Donu, belonging to the Kilo class. Continuing into the interior of the bay, the southern shore offers yet one more inlet, this time much smaller and narrower than the previous ones, where additional base structures and various naval units find placement.
Given the small size of access, satellite photos occasionally show the presence of a physical obstacle - obviously artificial- protecting the inlet, which could currently be considered one of the safest spots on the entire naval base.
Continuing Toward the deep interior of the bay, at least on the south shore, military installations are assiduously present, until they reach the mouth of the Chorna.
On the north shore, starting right from here, there is a new, immense, complex under construction, followed by a new system of piers where naval units moor. On land, on the other hand, numerous silos are positioned, almost certainly intended to house naval fuel reserves. An equivalent situation occurs a few hundred meters away, where the last, large, pier intended to house the fleet's military units is positioned.
The Black Sea game in the Ukraine war.
As could easily be guessed, given its positioning and the current ongoing conflict, the base is now on the front lines of the air-naval warfare being waged in the Black Sea. Although the base was equipped with a good protection system from the beginning of operations, there has been a Continued increase in units assigned to this task. In order to counter Ukrainian operations, anti-aircraft systems, particularly short- and medium-range, in the area have been increased.
The following should definitely be named among the main such systems i Pantsir-S1, whose presence has been confirmed by some video images. There are also some batteries of S-300 and S-400, which offer increased and long-range defense, supported by the anti-aircraft protection systems installed on many naval units in the fleet.
In addition, it has been repeatedly confirmed theuse of passive fog protection systems, capable of releasing a dense white artificial fog in order to hide the view of major structures and vessels. These, from what has been observed, are generally placed on docks, while no such systems are recorded placed on floating platforms, as, however, found around the Kerch Bridge.
Moreover, just as the base can boast a decent system of protection against threats from above, the same can be said for defenses against maritime pitfalls. One of the first obstacles, at least as recognized by many analysts, is constituted by a very peculiar system: dolphins specially trained to counter the possible action of saboteurs and other underwater threats.
Then, comes the presence of a multi-purpose ship positioned outside the bay and light units, which constantly patrol access to the harbor, mainly to defend against the action of Ukrainian explosive boats. To these must be added various systems of nets placed in different locations and at a different depth level, employed primarily in countering active threats below the sea surface.
Complementing this, of course, are numerous radar and interception systems, theoretically capable of detecting any threat many tens of kilometers away.
The events of recent months, however, have raised several questions about the effective defense capability offered by this disparate mix of active or passive elements and systems. Despite a number of aerial and naval drones Have been intercepted and destroyed by the defenses, there are many that, instead, have reached their targets, causing heavy damage.
The worst snub at the moment was on September 13, 2023, when Heavy damage was inflicted on the Minsk and to the Rostov na Donu. Then, there is the one on September 22, 2023, directly aimed against the Black Sea Fleet command center, which resulted in the death and injury of several officers. At least in these two cases, the base's air defenses proved unable to thwart the action of British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
Given the inability of air defenses to intercept cruise missiles, it is highly plausible that we will see, within the next few weeks and months, new, repeated attacks. In this way, Ukrainian strategy would come to fruition., already anticipated by the ongoing work to dismantle Russian defenses and major military centers on the peninsula, which aims to bring the war within the territory of the Federation.
Although the battle lines still keep a safe distance from the region's borders, increased pressure on Crimea is crucial for Kiev. As a logical consequence, should the Russians fail to develop an effective defense against the Storm Shadow, the loss of additional large-tonnage naval units is highly plausible and the destruction of important port infrastructure essential to the war effort.
This lack, at the moment, seems to be confirmed by the fact That the Russian commands opted to transfer numerous surface and submarine units to Novorossiysk and Feodosia, both placed at a good safe distance from Ukrainian weapons.
Andrea De Poli
Class of 1996, he graduated in 2020 with a degree in linguistic sciences from the Catholic University of the
Sacro Cuore in Milan, later perfecting his studies in Strategic Affairs at LUISS in Rome.
He previously worked for his family's corporate group, while now serving as an analyst for Menerva.me. He has always devoted part of his spare time to the study of major armed, social and political conflicts of the 20th century and the present day. Over the years, he has also devoted special attention to the entire social, political and economic context of the Middle East, Ukraine and North Africa. In 2021, he published "Hezbollah: History, Organization
and doctrine of the Party of God."
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