Russian Show Of Force

Disabled Russian Warships - 1905

Anyone have an idea of the condition of Russia's navy? I'm wondering if Putin's navy is anything like the hollow shell that Russia threw against the Japanese Navy in 1905.

From the UK Daily Mail:

Cutting through the English Channel, the looming bulk of the Russian navy’s flagship passes the White Cliffs of Dover.

Belching black smoke, the ageing aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov sailed menacingly close to Britain yesterday in a provocative manoeuvre.

              Russian Aircraft Carrier - Admiral Kuznetsov - commissioned 1995

The Soviet-era vessel, leading a flotilla of eight naval vessels, is on its way to the eastern Mediterranean to bolster the Syrian bombing campaign.

[...]Putin's flagship was accompanied by the nuclear-powered missile cruiser Peter the Great and six other surface vessels including the world's biggest ocean going tug, the Nicolay Chiker.

The Kuznetsov never travels far from its home port in Severomorsk, outside Murmansk without the tug in case the vessel's unreliable diesel engines pack up.

The Russian flee is being shadowed by a British destroyer, the HMS Dragon. This Type 45 destroyer has it's own power plant problems:

The turbines are of a sound design but have an intercooler-recuperator that recovers heat from the exhaust and recycles it into the engine, making it more fuel-efficient and reducing the ship’s thermal signature. Unfortunately the intercooler unit has a major design flaw and causes the GTs to fail occasionally. When this happens, the electrical load on the diesel generators can become too great and they ‘trip out’, leaving the ship with no source of power or propulsion.

The Brits could have installed a more mature, reliable power plant produced by General Electric but chose Rolls Royce instead.

British Navy Type 45 Destroyer, HMS Dragon (D35) - commissioned 2008

This Russian warship may also be a sitting duck for the Type 45's modern  armaments and electronic counter measures.

 Russian Guided Missile Destroyer - Peter the Great - commissioned 1985

The Japanese Battleship Musashi

The Imperial Japanese battleship Musashi was one of two super battleships of the Yamota class displacing 70,000 tons. By comparison, the Iowa class battleships of the US Navy displaced 45,000 tons.

Each of Musashi's three 18" gun turrets weighed more than a destroyer. Shells fired from these guns had a range of 46,000 yards (26 miles) and weighed 3,200 lbs. US carrier-based dive bombers dropped 500 lb. bombs on top of these turrets but could not penetrate their armor.

The Musashi was a hard ship to sink, but US carrier aircraft did exactly that during the Battle of Leyte Gulf on 24 OCT 1944. This was the largest naval battle of WWII, possibly one of the largest in history - almost 740 military ships were involved.

In all, Force A endures raids by 259 U.S. carrier aircraft during the day. MUSASHI sustains a total of 19 torpedo (10 port, 9 starboard) and 17 bomb hits, as well as 18 near misses.

MUSASHI capsizes to port and sinks by the bow in 4,430 feet of water in the Visayan Sea at 13-07N, 122-32E. Two underwater explosions are heard.

Destroyers KIYOSHIMO, ISOKAZE and HAMAKAZE rescue 1,376 survivors including XO Captain Kato, but 1,023 of her 2,399 man crew are lost including her skipper, Rear Admiral Inoguchi who is promoted Vice Admiral, posthumously.

The Americans lose 18 planes shot down.

More here.

The wreck was recently discovered by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.