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A criminal investigation is reportedly underway after a powerful and nearly complete Russian warship was destroyed by a devastating fire at its construction site in St. Petersburg. The new stealth corvette was to be one of several such vessels added to the Russian fleet next year as part of a major naval modernization program which Western militaries have expressed some anxieties over, particularly relating to a new type of missile.
Brand new Russian warship gutted by fire
Three workers were reportedly injured when the ship caught fire, though no one was killed and the vessel was largely empty at the time.
The hull survived but the rest of the ship has been completely gutted by the blaze, which broke out with the ship painfully close to completion with most of its expensive equipment already in place.
Total damages are said to be nearly $300 million and it is unclear if the hull itself will be salvageable. Fortunately there were no weapons aboard at the time.
This class of corvette is likely intended to carry a new variety of hypersonic missiles, Russia’s answer to the American Tomahawk missile.
This weapon is said to be impervious to any countermeasures available to NATO at the moment. Russia has been aggressively testing new weaponry amid recent tensions.
The new hypersonic missiles can hit targets at enormous distances and move too quickly for most countries to have any chance of shooting them down.
Putin’s modernizing his navy
Coming as it did after new weapons tests and while tensions are still rising around the prospect of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the fire is somewhat suspicious.
The ship should have been far more resistant to fire than it was. The fact that flames spread so rapidly and did so much damage before they were detected is raising some eyebrows in Moscow.
Even more suspicious is the fact that this is not the first major fire at a Russian shipyard in recent years. Vladimir Putin’s navy is either exceedingly flammable or it has a sabotage problem.
If anyone hostile to Russia did want to sabotage its military then the navy would be a top priority. Moscow is in the midst of a major naval modernization program.
Russia can call on its experience in Syria for military developments and technological advances. The Russian military is likely more powerful today than it has been at any point since the fall of the Soviet Union.
That will at least be some consolation for Putin, who now must figure out as soon as possible why his new warships are going up in flames, before his revitalized navy runs into any more embarrassments.
