Ukraine blows Russian LCUs with Kamikaze USV

Ukraine blows Russian LCUs with Kamikaze USV
Serna-class LCU (Russian Navy photo)
On November 10, 2023, the footage was released showing a Ukrainian kamikaze unmanned surface vehicle attacking Russian landing crafts in Chornomors'ke, northern Crimea.
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Analysis of the footage suggests that there were multiple LCUs in the location, probably two. According to H. I. Sutton, an OSINT expert who writes regularly for Naval News, two landing craft were damaged in the attack. One was the Project 1176 Ondatra Class and the other was the Project 11770 Serna Class LCUs.

According to GUR, Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, the LCUs sank after the successful USV attack.

Here is the message released by GUR;

“The results of reconnaissance conducted on November 10, 2023 in the Uzka Bay area on the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea indicate that small amphibious ships of the Russian Navy were destroyed after an attack by surface attack drones.

According to the new findings, two boats of the occupiers were damaged: one ship of the older project 1176 “Shark”, the other newer – project 11770 “Serna”.

As a result of the attack, both Russian ships ran aground: “Shark” – immediately, “Serna” – unsuccessfully fought for survival, but also sank.”


GUR official message on website, November 10, 2023

Here is the video of the attack;

Naval News comments

Ukraine started to use kamikaze USVs in the war since the 2022 autumn. The first assault, which occurred on October 29, 2022, was shocking for the Russian Black Sea Fleet as it was not expected. An Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate and mine countermeasure (MCM) ship were reportedly hit by the Ukrainian USV during the attack.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet lost a considerable number of naval assets, including combatants and logistic ships, as a result of Ukraine’s kamikaze USV attacks in the last year. Though the Russian ships were able to repel a few attacks with machine guns, this approach doesn’t seem a solid solution against Ukraine’s suicide drones, as they keep losing their assets at every attack.

It is certain that the Ukraine attacks demonstrate the effectiveness of kamikaze USVs, which are difficult to detect and defend against and must be carefully monitored for 24 hours with efficient sensors.

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