So, we learn that the Russian Navy’s Black Sea flagship RTS Moskva (121) has sunk while being towed toward Sevastopol, Crimea, after sustaining major damage in a fire Wednesday. I have little doubt that the Kremlin chose not to say that the "fire" was caused by two of Ukraine's "Neptune" anti-ship cruise missiles striking the ship and causing fires that reached the vessel's ammunition magazines, igniting secondary explosions that made the ship a flaming, leaking hulk that finally succumbed to bad weather.
My guess is that she was a constructive total loss long before she slipped beneath the waves. It could hardly be otherwise if the entire crew was ordered to abandon the ship because "damage control" was both impossible and pointless.
I am, of course, not "rooting for the Russians" in this war. Russia's aggression, wanton destruction, and countless war crimes immediately perish the thought. The only way this war will end properly is if Russia suffers such enormous losses that not even a monster like Putin will consider embarking on another such "noble cause" in the future.
Even so, I felt a strange twinge of sadness hearing that the ship had gone down. There is a finality to a major warship sinking that approximates a human death. It's gone. You can't bring it back. In contrast, even a horribly damaged warship can be brought back if the hull is sound. Consider the USS Belknap (DLG-26) after a collision with the Navy carrier John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1975.
