Latest news with #BalticFleet
Saba Yemen
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Patrushev: Russian Baltic Fleet Ensures Maritime Security
Moscow - (Saba): Nikolai Patrushev, Assistant to the Russian President and Head of the Russian Maritime Authority, announced on Sunday that the Russian Baltic Fleet is strengthening its positions amid the current complex military-political situation, ensuring safe navigation and repelling provocations by the naval forces of unfriendly states. According to Sputnik, Patrushev stated on his Telegram channel on the occasion of the Baltic Fleet's founding day: "Amid the complicated military-political situation, the fleet continues to strengthen its positions, reliably ensures the safety of navigation, repels provocations from the naval forces of unfriendly states, and hones its skills through exercises in the Baltic Sea and long-distance voyages." Patrushev emphasized that the sailors of the Baltic Fleet carry out their duties with honor to protect the nation's maritime borders. He added: "The Baltic Fleet, founded by Peter the Great, is truly the cradle of the Russian Navy. Its entire history stands as a testament to heroism, courage, boldness, and loyalty to the homeland." Earlier, Patrushev noted that NATO's European wing continues its policy of attempting to blockade Russia in the Baltic region, ignoring the possibility of resuming dialogue between Moscow and Washington. He warned of a high likelihood of increased threats to Russian port infrastructure and freedom of navigation, stressing that Moscow will not allow any infringement on its national interests in the Baltic. He affirmed that strengthening Russia's military presence in the region is a guarantee of its sovereignty in this strategic direction. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The first modern steel battleship to be sunk by gunfire was an Imperial Russian flagship
The Russian battleship Oslyabya had a grand legacy. Named for a Russian hero, the vessel was little more than two years old when it went into battle against the Japanese in the Russian Far East. It would end up making history, but not for the reasons the Russian Empire would hope for. Its first naval engagement would be its last. Steaming into the 1905 Battle of Tsushima against the Imperial Japanese fleet, it would become famous as the first modern steel battleship to be sunk solely by enemy guns. The Battle of Tsushima went about as well for Russia as the rest of its ill-fated war against Japan, which is to say: not at all. On paper, the war shouldn't have been such a complete drubbing for the Russians. Both sides utilized similar, modernized technology, had a roughly similar number of troops available to fight and as a result, inflicted a horrendously similar number of casualties. But in naval terms, the number of Russian ships in its various fleets should have outmatched the Japanese – but that did not happen. In fact, the opposite happened. Twice. Japan was a relative newcomer to the modern world, but its military modernized and grew at a rapid pace, and that includes its leadership. Japan rocked China's world in the First Sino-Japanese War that ended in 1895, acquiring control of Korea and the Liaodong Peninsula with its warm water port of Port Arthur. Russia, Germany and France forced the Japanese out of China, and that's when Japan got the idea that the Europeans weren't taking their empire seriously and had to be taught a lesson. When Japan offered to recognize Russian dominance in Manchuria in exchange for Russian recognition of Japan's dominance of Korea, the Russians not only rejected it but suggested that Japan cede Korea. That's when Imperial Japan went for the sucker punch it would soon be famous for. It launched a surprise attack on Port Arthur in February 1904 and then laid siege to the city. In a war that would see upwards of 200,000 Japanese killed or wounded and 250,000 Russians killed or wounded, the Russian leadership would not win a single battle. Despite the Russian Empire's massive population, large military and nearly unlimited resources, all of that stuff was in Europe and the railroad to the Pacific wasn't finished yet. When the Japanese crippled the Russian Far East Fleet at Port Arthur, Tsar Nicholas II had to send his largely untested Baltic Sea Fleet to the Pacific. Under the command of Adm. Zinovy Rozhestvensky, the Baltic Fleet almost immediately fired on ships it thought were Japanese torpedo boats… in the North Sea. Those enemy warships turned out to be British fishing boats. Two British sailors were killed along with two Russians (somehow). The Russians even managed to mistake their own ships for Japanese vessels and fired on each other. The British would decide not to go to war over it, but the new Russian battleships opted to go around Africa's Cape of Good Hope, rather than steam through the British-controlled Suez Canal. The Baltic Sea Fleet's mission to relieve the Siege of Port Arthur would ultimately fail, mostly because it took seven months to get to the Sea of Japan. The city had fallen to the Japanese by then, and the battleships in port were sunk by Japanese land artillery. After steaming 18,000 nautical miles to the theater of war, the Russians weren't really in the best shape to do battle with Japan's veteran sailors and battleships. They were poorly maintained, many were old, and almost all of them were gathering microorganisms on their hulls, slowing them down and reducing their maneuverability. To be fair, they weren't looking to fight; they wanted to slip past and head to Vladivostok to regroup – but they tried the fastest, shortest, and most dangerous route past Japan: the Tsushima Strait. So, of course, a Japanese cruiser caught them, then sent a telegram to Adm. Tōgō Heihachirō, who went to sea with his entire fleet. It took six hours to catch up to the Russian fleet and less than an hour for Japan to cross the Russians' T, which meant the Japanese could fire full broadsides while the Russians could reply only with their forward batteries. Just 90 minutes into the battle, the Oslyabya, flagship of Rear Adm. Baron Dmitry von Fölkersam, was sunk by Japan's guns, the first modern steel battleship to go down that way. Fölkersam went down with the ship, which is probably another historic first. By the time the sun went down on May 27, 1905, Adm. Rozhestvensky was unconscious and the Russians had lost four battleships. Torpedo boats and destroyers harassed the Russians throughout the night (because the Russians decided to use their searchlights to try to find the enemy, giving away their positions in the dark). The next morning, what was left of the Russian ships tried to retreat but they were outclassed. They surrendered. Along with the Oslyabya, the Russians lost five more battleships during the Battle of Tsushima, as well as a littoral battleship and 14 other vessels. Two battleships, two coastal battleships, and a destroyer were captured, and more than 11,000 Russian sailors were killed or captured. The Battle of Tsushima also featured the first time wireless telegraph was a decisive part of the battle, as it signaled the Japanese fleet the Russians were present. The defeat forced Russia to sue for peace, setting the stage for Japan's rise as a true imperial power.
Al Arabiya
03-05-2025
- Al Arabiya
Poland says a Russian helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea
A Russian military helicopter of the Baltic Fleet violated Polish airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening, the Polish Armed Forces said on X on Saturday. 'The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defense systems,' they added.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russian military helicopter violates Polish airspace to probe air defenses, Poland says
A Russian military helicopter of the Baltic Fleet violated Polish airspace on the evening of April 25, the Polish military command said. Polish military radar systems and civilian systems of the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency tracked the aircraft over Poland's territorial waters in the Baltic Sea. "The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defense systems," the statement of the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command said on X on April 26. "On-duty air defense forces and means remained on constant alert to ensure the security of Polish airspace," the command added. Poland has regularly scrambled jets since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion due to Russian missile and drone attacks on western Ukraine. In several cases, Russian projectiles have briefly entered the Polish airspace. Warsaw has also repeatedly accused Russian aircraft of airspace violations. On Feb. 11, a Russian SU-24MR military jet flew within Polish airspace in the Gdansk bay area of the Baltic Sea for over a minute, due to what the Russian side said was a failure of the navigation system. Last year, Polish Brigadier General Tomasz Drewniak told Radio RMF24 that Russia is likely testing Poland's air defenses after a suspected Russian drone flew into Polish airspace on Aug. 26 amid a mass attack on Ukraine. We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russian military helicopter violates Polish airspace
The Polish army has reported that a military helicopter belonging to Russia's Baltic Fleet violated Polish airspace on the evening of Friday 25 April. Source: Polish Armed Forces Operational Command in a statement on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda Details: A Russian military helicopter violated Polish airspace last night, Operational Command reported on the morning of Saturday 26 April. "A Russian military helicopter belonging to the Baltic Fleet violated the airspace over Poland's territorial waters above the Baltic Sea on the evening of 25 April," the statement said. The Polish army added that the flight of the Russian aircraft had been monitored by military radar systems of the Polish Armed Forces and civilian systems of the Polish Air Navigation Agency. "On-duty air defence assets and personnel remained on constant alert to ensure the safety of Polish airspace," the Сommand said. It noted that the nature of the incident indicates that "Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems". Background: Swedish Gripen fighter jets, which have been patrolling NATO airspace from Polish territory since April, were scrambled for the first time due to the presence of a Russian military aircraft. On the morning of 24 April, Poland scrambled its aircraft because of a Russian missile attack against Ukraine, which is already standard procedure in such cases. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
