The assault was first announced on several channels on Telegram. Russian RIA Novosti media outlet reported by citing the Russian Ministry of Defence that two Ukrainian Su-24 jets attacked Feodosiya port with missiles and damaged the Black Sea Fleet’s Project 775 Ropucha-class LPD.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the missiles fired by the jets were Storm Shadow/SCALP EG cruise missiles and claimed that Russian air defenses attacked and destroyed the jets. The head of the Ukrainian Air Force also announced that its warplanes had destroyed the ship.
The damaged Project 775 LPD was identified as “Novocherkassk“, as it was in port before the attack, which was confirmed with the help of satellite images.
The LPD seemed destroyed and half-sunk after the fire was extinguished.
According to BBC World, the port’s transportation operations are functioning normally after the area was cordoned off while a fire caused by the attack was contained.
British supplied Storm Shadow, and the essentially identical French supplied SCALP-EG, is an air-launched cruise missile. Ukraine has adapted the Soviet-era Su-24 Fencer jet to carrying two missiles.
Storm Shadow uses the BROACH warhead. This stands for Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge and means a two stage delayed explosion. The missile dives into the target and the first charge creates a hole in the structure for the second warhead to pass through. The main detonation then occurs inside or below the target, depending on the fuse settings.
Novocherkassk is not the first Russian Navy ship hit by Storm Shadow missiles. The Russian Navy improved Kilo-class submarine Rostov-on-Don was hit by Storm Shadow missiles in Sevastopol on September 13, 2023. You can read H.I. Sutton’s relevant story from the link below:
