Today, on April 21, the Ukrainian military hit the Russian ship Kommuna in occupied Sevastopol. It was the oldest ship in the Russian navy.
What is known about the Kommuna ship
The Russian ship Kommuna is over 100 years old. It is the oldest working ship in the Russian Navy, and possibly the oldest in the world.
The Russians launched the Kommuna back in 1913. In 1915, the ship became part of the Russian Baltic Fleet. Initially, the ship was named Volkhov, allegedly in honor of the Novgorod river, and, according to another version, in honor of the biblical wise men. On December 31, 1922, the ship was renamed Kommuna.
In 1967, the Kommuna was relocated from Kronstadt to Sevastopol. This ship is designed to search for and rescue submarines, and also serves as a carrier of underwater vehicles. It is the only one of its kind in the Black Sea.
"It (Kommuna - ed.) serviced submarines, and launched underwater drones. It was this ship that worked at the site of the sinking of the cruiser Moskva to retrieve the most important elements at the sinking site. Despite its "venerable age," it had quite the latest equipment," Dmytro Pletenchuk, the Navy spokesperson, told RBC-Ukraine.
Russian ship Kommuna (photo: wikipedia.org/George Chernilevsky)
Strike on Kommuna
On the morning of April 21, an explosion was heard in occupied Sevastopol. Later, a video of a fire in Sevastopol Bay was posted online, and an eyewitness spoke about the ship being hit by a missile. The Russian occupiers, in turn, claimed that the attack on the ship was repelled.
The Crimean Wind Telegram channel reported in the morning that the Kommuna ship was probably attacked. In the evening, Pletenchuk confirmed this on his Facebook page.
"As for the choice of the target, I can only note that the enemy continues to cover its combat units with supply vessels in Crimea, because combat units are more important to them," the navy spokesman added in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
At the same time, Pletenchuk emphasized that the attack was carried out by the Ukrainian Navy and promised that "similar cases" would continue to occur in Crimea.