Misc event in Ukraine on Wed 6th March 2024

Ukrainian navy drone boats ran chased down the Russian Black Sea Fleet missile-corvette Sergei Kotov on Tuesday, severely damaging if not sinking the 1,700-ton vessel outside the port of Feodosiya in southeastern Crimea. The strike by the 18-foot, explosives-laden “Sea Baby” drones extends a remarkable kill-streak by a navy that no longer has any large warships—but which still has managed to sink a quarter of the Black Sea Fleet’s own large ships. It’s increasingly clear what makes the Sea Babies so dangerous. Rather than trying to infiltrate Russia anchorages singly or in small groups, the satellite-controlled drones attack in wolfpacks at night, like German submarines did during World War II. But where German subs traveled in packs, they attacked individually, with each captain picking his own targets and approaches. By contrast, Ukraine’s Sea Baby operators seem closely to coordinate their assaults—swarming and even herding Russian vessels. Coordinated tactics were evident when perhaps half a dozen Sea Babies attacked Sergei Kotov under the cover of darkness. The corvette’s crew spotted some of the Sea Babies speeding in from astern of the corvette. The crew opened fire. But according to one analysis of a video depicting the attack, a second clutch of drones took advantage of the Russian gunners’ distraction and attacked from the corvette’s unprotected port side. These flanking drones didn’t actually strike Sergei Kotov, it seems. Rather, they herded the corvette into open water just outside Feodosiya. There, another group of Sea Babies lay in wait. It’s that second division of drones that apparently hit the Russian vessel.