SSU drones hit 4 Russian ships through remote mining - WSJ reveals unknown details of unique SSU special operations
SSU Sea Baby drones planted more than 15 underwater mines near the Crimean peninsula, hitting at least four enemy ships. The explosives were placed on routes used exclusively by the warships of the ruscists.
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by The Wall Street Journal.
"After the first use of maritime drones, the Russians built larger barriers at the entrance to the port in Sevastopol, which made drone strikes almost impossible. Therefore, the team of SSU Head Vasyl Malyuk came up with an alternative: laying sea mines," reads the article about the work of SSU SeaBaby maritime drones.
The so-called bottom mines are made of plastic and weigh about 400 pounds (180 kg), and are difficult to detect because they sink into the silt under shallow water.
According to American journalists, Vasyl Malyuk's specialised team tracked the routes of naval vessels and civilian transport for a month and a half before sending SeaBaby to plant two mines. On 14 September, the "Samum", a missile corvette, hit one of the mines, which blew a hole in its stern: "The boat is still under repair in dry dock."
"Over the following weeks, the SeaBabies travelled back and forth, covering more than 3,000 miles, laying about 15 more mines. During one of the voyages, detected by three Raptor-class patrol boats, the drone opened fire with a grenade launcher, hitting the enemy vessel," journalists recounted a conversation with SSU Brigadier General Ivan Lukashevych, better known by his call sign Hunter.
On 11 October, the large patrol boat Pavel Derzhavin punctured its side while entering Sevastopol Bay. It was on its way to the port for maintenance. Minesweepers and divers searched the area for mines, apparently without success.
On 13 October, the "Pavel Derzhavin" was redirected to another port for repairs, but while leaving Sevastopol Bay, it hit a mine. A large tugboat sent to rescue it also hit a mine and had to be towed back to the port.
"A few days later, an explosion also damaged a modern mine countermeasures ship, one of two in service in Russia," the newspaper said of the damage to the "Vladimir Kozitsky", a transparent-bottomed vessel.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the remote mining performed by SSU Sea Baby drones is the first example of successful remote mining in the world.
"Previously, maritime drones were used mainly for surveillance or logistics. We are doing many things that no one else in the world has done before," said the SSU source.
In total, under the leadership of Vasyl Malyuk, the SSU has destroyed 11 Russian warships and the Crimean bridge, which the Russians still cannot use fully.
As a reminder, the Ukrainian Defence Forces destroyed and damaged a third of the ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
