Two Russian corvettes leave Crimea due to the threat of naval drones

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is redeploying corvettes to more secure bases due to the threat of Ukrainian naval drones.

Photos from Crimea and other Russian bases show that surface forces are being redeployed to new bases.

In addition, according to Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk, Russia has now relocated two Project 1239 Sivuch corvettes.

Pletenchuk notes that the two missile ships have now changed their permanent location to the naval base in Novorossiysk.

It should be noted that deploying warships to Novorossiysk was made possible by relocating some transport and landing ships to the Sea of Azov.

“Two small corvettes made the transition to Novorossiysk. So we can say that this large grouping left Novorossiysk and is now in the Azov Sea, they had a little bit of space on the berthing front, and they immediately took advantage of it: they pulled two more ships from Sevastopol,” Pletenchuk said.

According to available information, two Project 1239 corvettes left Sevastopol, namely Bora (with the ship’s number 615, part of the fleet since 1989) and Samum (with the ship’s number 616, part of the fleet since 2000).

It should be noted that one of the missile ships was spotted on June 18, 2024. The Crimean Wind Telegram channel published a photo of it with the caption: “A Project 1239 corvette, accompanied by a Raptor boat, has set off to the east.”

It should be noted that the missile ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are part of the 41st Missile Boat Brigade (military unit #72165).

In September 2023, the Samum ship was attacked by a Sea Baby drone, which caused the ship to be severely damaged and towed away for repairs.

Militarnyi previously reported that the Russian naval base Novorossiysk currently has the least activity of surface ships over the entire period of observation.

Small missile ships, as well as some landing ships, were moved to the Sea of Azov to disguise them from Ukrainian naval drones.