The Ukrainians attacked two Russian warships in Sevastopol, Crimea with unmanned aerial vehicles (USVs). According to information, the frigate Admiral Makarov (Project 11356R) and the minesweeper Ivan Golubets (Project 266M) were reportedly victims of the attack.
On September 21 an unidentified USV (unmanned surface vessel) was found on a beach outside a Russian naval base in the Black Sea. The small, low-profile craft appears to be a kamikaze “explosive craft”. Although not confirmed it appears to have been Ukrainian.
Explosive boats were used in the American Civil War. Confederate “David” class ships intercepted Union warships with Spar torpedoes. In World War I, Germany developed the idea of using a remote-controlled design, the Fernlenkboot. This plan was not successful as it was way ahead of its time. By World War II the Italians had developed explosive craft into an art. Small but powerful speedboats, the operator was abandoning the vessel before the impact. They were moderately successful and the idea has been copied ever since.
Much more recently the Houthis in Yemen have developed explosive boats with the help of Iran. The Ukrainian design is smaller and has a lower profile. The exact specifications are not known. But it is possible that the Ukrainian and Houthi types have similar performance and explosive charge.
Russia says the remote-controlled, unmanned surface vehicles that attacked its fleet in the Black Sea used the “safe corridor” intended to transport the grain and that one of them may have been launched from a “civilian ship”.
“The maritime drones were operating in the safe zone of the grain corridor,” the defense ministry said, adding that their wreckage had been recovered.
Some of them had Canadian-made navigation devices and one may have been launched “from one of the civilian ships chartered by Kyiv or its Western masters to export agricultural products from Ukrainian ports.”
According to Moscow, citing information retrieved from the memory of these devices, “it was determined that the departure of the sea vessels took place from the coast near the city of Odessa.” The ships moved along the “grain corridor” and then changed course to head for the Russian naval base of Sevastopol, the largest city on the Crimean peninsula.
