This was stated in an interview with the head of the Department of the Navy of the National Defense University of Ukraine, Captain 1st rank Stepan Yakymyak. A Ukrainian naval officer told the ArmiyaInform information agency about the specifics of planning strikes by Ukraine’s fleet against russian ships in the Black Sea and, among other things, about the destruction of the russian Admiral Essen frigate by a Ukrainian anti-ship cruise missile.
In particular, as Yakymyak said, "the uniqueness of our actions (that is, the Navy of Ukraine - ed.) was due to the fact that, in fact, the Neptune coastal missile system was successfully used for the first time and strikes were made against the Admiral Essen frigate, the Moskva missile cruiser." The Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial system played a major role in detecting enemy surface ships as well as anti-ship cruise missiles’ targeting.
Read more: Finding Sunk Cruiser Moskva: russia Try to Raise the Warship from the Black Sea Bottom
In fact, this statement is the first confirmation from official sources that in the spring of 2022, the Ukrainian Navy launched a missile attack on the Admiral Essen frigate of the Black Sea Fleet of the russian federation from the Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship complex. Even if the strike did not lead to the sinking of the Admiral Essen, the lessons from it were used to further sink the Moskva missile cruiser, wich became the brightest victory not only in the history of the Ukrainian Navy, but also in the entire world history of the use of missiles for warfare at sea.
As of April 2022, there were already reports in open sources that before the destruction of the russian Moskva missile cruiser, the Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missile system also had struck the russian Admiral Essen and Admiral Hryhorovych frigates. But the fact of such attacks before the statment of the representative of the National Defense University of Ukraine had not been confirmed by official sources.
Yakymyak also said that when forecasting the actions of the Black Sea Fleet of the russian federation and planning possible missile strikes on russian ships, the Ukrainian Navy used the experience of russia's war against Georgia in 2008. "This work provided an opportunity to outrun the enemy, to launch successful missile strikes on its ships, which eventually led to the disruption of its dominance at sea and the refusal of active actions outside the coastal regions of Crimea," the publication quotes the words of the head of the Department of the Navy of the National Defense University of Ukraine.
It seems that what was meant here was that, according to the expectations of Ukrainian analysts, the russians in 2022 would use their large surface ships for the physical blockade of the Black Sea coast, as they did in 2008. Such a prediction came true, and for the use of almost 15 years old templates, the russians paid more bitterly than ever, because the loss of the Moskva missile cruiser, which was also the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, became for the russians a powerful testimony that their war against Ukraine would not be easy a walk, but may become one in which they would suffer defeat.
Defense Express reported earlier on How many “Neptune” Anti-Ship Missiles Needed to Destroy russian Black Sea Fleet. We also wrote, that US was Surprised by “Neptune” a.k.a. “Moskow-Killer” Anti-Ship Missile.
Read more: Neptun ASCM plus Vilkha MLRS: To Destroy Moskva Due to Ukrainian Defense Industry's Missile Program
