In the port of Novorossiysk, drones from Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) struck the Russian Navy frigate “Admiral Essen,” hitting equipment in the ship’s midsection. The attack targeted radars, electronic warfare systems and air-defense components. What happened on board after the strike, and how did it affect the ship’s combat readiness?
A fire burned aboard the “Admiral Essen” for 18 hours after the drone attack, SBU sources told the outlet RBC-Ukraine.
The agency believes the ship sustained damage severe enough to prevent it from being used to launch Kalibr cruise missiles at Ukraine.
The SBU said its drones breached Novorossiysk’s multi-layered air-defense system and hit the central superstructure. From now on, the “Admiral Essen” will not take part in strikes and will be unable to launch its eight Kalibrs.
“The Russian frigate ‘Admiral Essen’ suffered critical damage and can no longer employ Kalibr missiles,” the outlet wrote.
The Ukrinform agency received additional details from SBU sources. Specifically, they named the systems damaged by the Ukrainian drones:
- passive EW countermeasure - a grenade launcher that fired heat decoys to disperse the radio signal;
- active EW system - the TK-25 complex for detecting radar operation and jamming;
- air-defense system - MR-90 “Orekh” target-illumination radars;
- part of the air-defense suite - the “Fregat-M2M” search radar.
The sources did not specify which piece of Kalibr launch equipment was damaged in the March 1–2 attack on Novorossiysk. However, the systems listed above have weakened the “Admiral Essen’s” protection against air attacks.
