patrick.net

Most of the world’s leading navies are getting bigger—a lot bigger—by one key metric: tonnage.
But not the Russian navy. It’s struggling to grow at all, and for one main reason. The Ukrainian navy, which has no large front-line ships, keeps sinking and blowing up Russian vessels.
Reddit-user Phoenix_jz annually aggregates, analyzes and publishes the total tonnage of the top 10 navies. Their most recent survey, published this week, should encourage advocates of a free Ukraine—and worry proponents of Russian aggression.
In 2023, the Russian navy added just 6,300 tons and ended the year with a total tonnage of 2,152,000. The Russians would have added 17,700 tons last year through the new construction of a new frigate, corvettes, a minesweeper and submarines, but the Ukrainians destroyed Black Sea Fleet vessels together weighing 11,400 tons.
In losing nearly as much tonnage as it built in 2023, the Russian navy joins an exclusive and embarrassing club of stagnant or shrinking navies. The 886,000-ton Royal Navy also shrank in 2023, which is nothing new for what once was the world’s greatest fleet but in recent decades steadily has withered under the mismanagement of successive governments.
The 356,000-ton Italian navy shrank, but that’s mostly due to a gap between the decommissioning of some older warships and the commissioning of their new, and much larger, replacements.
The Russian navy is the only navy that can’t manage to grow mostly because it keeps losing ships in combat. Over the last year the fleet’s “woes in the Black Sea have continued unabated,” Phoenix_jz wrote.
The Black Sea Fleet began Russia’s wider war on Ukraine with around 50 large warships including the missile-cruiser Moskva, several frigates and corvettes, a dozen or so landing ships, diesel-electric submarines and a large flotilla of patrol boats.
This against a Ukrainian fleet that had just one large warship, the frigate Hetman Sahaydachniy. The Ukrainians scuttled the frigate at her mooring in Odesa in the early hours of the initial Russian attack in February 2022. With Hetman Sahaydachniy on the seafloor, the Ukrainian navy became a new kind of navy—one that mostly fights with drones and missiles, with a big assist from the air force.
In 23 months of hard fighting, the Black Sea Fleet has lost—to Ukrainian drones and missiles—its cruiser, four amphibious ships, a submarine, a supply ship and several patrol boats and landing craft. In 2023 “the most dramatic loss by far was the destruction of the [submarine] Rostov-on-Don in drydock at Sevastopol,” Phoenix_jz wrote. The sub displaced 3,100 tons.
Any other fleet might be able to make good its wartime losses, but the Russian shipbuilding sector collapsed with the end of the Soviet Union. It doesn’t help that what remained of the industry relied on maritime engines it imported from Ukraine—engines Ukraine no longer is willing to sell to Russia, for obvious reasons.
Today, Russian shipyards still manage to build large submarines, but they struggle to build surface warships heavier than a few thousand tons.
So while the world’s leading navy, the U.S. Navy, last year grew by 32,000 tons to a new total of 7,393,000 tons; and the fast-growing Chinese navy added 50,000 tons to total 2,899,000 tons; the Russian fleet grew barely at all.
It’s all because of the Ukrainian navy. A fleet with no large ships keeps destroying as much tonnage as the Russians manage to build.

RWSGFY says

Most of the world’s leading navies are getting bigger—a lot bigger—by one key metric: tonnage.
But not the Russian navy. It’s struggling to grow at all, and for one main reason. The Ukrainian navy, which has no large front-line ships, keeps sinking and blowing up Russian vessels.

So? Ukraine is a LAND war.

L-A-N-D



Was it the Soviet Navy that defeated Germany in WW2?

UkraineIsFucked says

So? Ukraine is a LAND war.

L-A-N-D

Huh?

Thought Putin decided to get hundreds of thousands of his men killed, in part because the need to protect his Black Sea fleet and naval facilities in Crimea? How did that work out?

socal2 says

Thought Putin decided to get hundreds of thousands of his men killed, in part because the need to protect his Black Sea fleet and naval facilities in Crimea? How did that work out?

The bullshit alternate reality you live in is amazing.

https://twitter.com/DougAMacgregor/status/1746383889965207885

The Three Little Pigs



https://twitter.com/joiedevivre789/status/1746056087722496445

https://babylonbee.com/cleanArticle/bidens-approval-rating-at-100-percent-amongst-defense-contractors

https://twitter.com/simpatico771/status/1747423612309553489 2:44

https://twitter.com/Sprinter99800/status/1747606360458412185

The_Deplorable says

https://twitter.com/DougAMacgregor/status/1746383889965207885

Talk with a Russian recently? The few I have are not happy. They ain’t laughing at us. Let’s put it that way. Most Chinese in America are embarrassed or simply get their news from the CCP and think everything is good.

Everything can be manipulated, but why do so many people want to come here? My Canadian BIL cannot even get citizenship married to an American. I have zero interest in even visiting Russia or China yet that all will move here if given the chance and had the $$.

MacGregor is maybe one the dumbest people I’ve heard. Let me know when your friends and family move to Russia or China because America is so bad. I’ll wait. This is one of the most laughable things I’ve read in a while. This guy is losing it upstairs. A barking dog is right more than this guy.

Forty year old outdated Bradley's taking out Russia's most advanced T90 tank.
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1746149986188882246

Thousands of Russians protesting against the war in Bashkortostan.
https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1748268287585141123

Mearsheimer: Where the Ukraine War is Headed

In summary: Ukraine Is Fucked

socal2 says

Forty year old outdated Bradley's taking out Russia's most advanced T90 tank.
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1746149986188882246

Sure it did.

WookieMan says

"MacGregor is maybe one the dumbest people I’ve heard."

You call that an argument? This is an ad hominem attack against Douglas Macgregor and you are admitting in other words that you cannot reply to Douglas Macgregor's arguments.

Thank you for the feedback.

The hottest new Vodka, called: "Zelensky’s Tears" is flying off the shelves in Moscow.

The Ust-Luga terminal is apparently even more liberated and denazified then thought previously:

https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1749467450561732813

The_Deplorable says

WookieMan says

"MacGregor is maybe one the dumbest people I’ve heard."

You call that an argument? This is an ad hominem attack against Douglas Macgregor and you are admitting in other words that you cannot reply to Douglas Macgregor's arguments.

Thank you for the feedback.

I believe we have a special thread dedicated to McGregor 🤡 being a false prophet and a stupid cunt.





UPD. Found it: https://patrick.net/post/1347407/2022-09-12-douglas-mcgregor-is-a-stupid-cunt

RWSGFY says

I believe we have a special thread dedicated to McGregor 🤡 being false prophet and a stupid cunt.

I mean has anyone watched any video since the war started that he was on? Like actually watched and listened to it? The guy is a dip shit beyond belief. He's looking to get a media contract because his pension wasn't paying him enough to probably suck off little boys. I don't know how people can quote a guy that's been wrong for two years.

We all know Ukraine will "lose" in the end. Russia ain't getting what it wants for 2 years and has been embarrassed. I honestly think the Ukrainians are dumb enough to keep this going for another decade. I don't think McGregor understands this. You don't need to be a blowhard general to understand this. Just know Eastern Europeans. He's an idiot that doesn't understand their mindset. McGregor has zero inside information. Nothing. It's hysterical.

But yes, Ukraine will lose the land after stubborn Ukrainians wave the white flag. Russia has too many men. Which they're losing. The women are leaving. Both countries are fucked for a long time and McGregor for some reason has no understanding of any of this. Again, he's an idiot.

RWSGFY says

"I believe we have a special thread dedicated to McGregor 🤡 being a false prophet and a stupid cunt."

That is not an argument. Have a nice day.

The_Deplorable says

RWSGFY says

"I believe we have a special thread dedicated to McGregor 🤡 being a false prophet and a stupid cunt."

That is not an argument. Have a nice day.

#UkraineIsFucked

I thought "Judge" Andrew Napolitano got shit-canned for groping all the young males at Fox News? Did he land at RT??

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/566006-andrew-napolitano-out-at-fox-news-amid-allegations-of-harassment/

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/01/24/nato-general-secretary-goes-rogue-says-no-threat-of-russian-expansion-beyond-ukraine/

NATO General Secretary Goes Rogue – Says No Threat of Russian Expansion Beyond Ukraine

UkraineIsFucked says

The_Deplorable says

RWSGFY says

"I believe we have a special thread dedicated to McGregor 🤡 being a false prophet and a stupid cunt."

That is not an argument. Have a nice day.

#UkraineIsFucked

So is Russia. There’s no winner in this. We can talk about casualties and military BS. What are the women doing? They’re leaving both countries. There’s going to be a lost generation in both countries. They’re fucked for the rest of our lifetimes. Russia/USSR never recovered from WWII. Oligarchs got their cash but the region has been a shit hole since I’ve been alive. And the trend continues…

WookieMan says

So is Russia. There’s no winner in this

Russia is not fucked from this war. It will win it.

Russia is fucked demographically. And that was the case war or no war.

Ukraine is totally fucked.

WookieMan says

"So is Russia. There’s no winner in this."

No. Russia defeated the US and NATO in Ukraine and Russia right now controls Eastern Ukraine and the Crimea. Most important,
military defeats, despite neoCon arrogance, have consequences. And one such consequence, in my thinking, is the collapse of NATO.
Besides, Ukraine lost over 500,000 soldiers and they are finished - their famous counteroffensive collapsed before it even started.

Look, it's essentially this:

Neocons, most of whom are descended from victims of pogroms under the RUSSIAN EMPIRE, sense an opportunity to kill Russia by any means to satisfy their blood libel/vendetta, yadda, yadda.

These fucks are trying to drag the New World into Old World arguments. FUCK!!!

Let the Old World immolate itself with Musselman rapefugees. We have a clean slate, but some globohomo fucks want to convince us otherwise (guess the ethnicity - still holding a grudge?)

The_Deplorable says

And one such consequence, in my thinking, is the collapse of NATO.

This would make you happy - no?

And what has Russia won at this stage? Russia lost major naval bases and assets in Crimea and Ukraine's grain shipments through the Black Sea are at record levels. Russia was already quasi-occupying much of the Donbass before the war and now have over 300,000 dead and wounded without much to show for it other than destroyed gas pipelines to Western Europe, couple brand new NATO members on their borders and the EU increasing their military budgets.

There is no quantifiable way to claim Russia is better off economically, militarily or strategically today than before they decided to invade Ukraine.

Hungary Drops Opposition on New EU Weapons Fund for Ukraine
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-25/hungary-reverses-opposition-on-new-eu-weapons-fund-for-ukraine

Turkey's Erdogan signs off on Sweden's NATO membership
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkeys-erdogan-signs-off-swedens-nato-membership-ratification-2024-01-25/

Mass demonstrations in Slovakia against the new Pro-Russian government. Demonstrations have been ongoing for over a week now and keep growing.
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1750653285369794838

OOOOOOHHHHHH! Russia's in trouble now.

socal2 says

Mass demonstrations in Slovakia against the new Pro-Russian government. Demonstrations have been ongoing for over a week now and keep growing.

CIA

Yeah but, I've read in here that Ukraine is winning and Russia is losing bigly ...

US to change strategy on Ukraine – WaPo

The Biden administration has reportedly shifted focus to defensive tactics and will no longer help Kiev recapture lost territory

The US is working on a new strategy for Ukraine that would mark a departure, away from the offensives of 2023 and now toward frontline defense, the Washington Post has reported. The supposed adjustments come in response to Kiev’s failed counteroffensive last year, the newspaper added.

In its article on Friday, the newspaper quoted a senior White House official explaining that “it will be difficult for [Ukrainian forces] to try to mount the same kind of major push on all fronts that they tried to do last year.” In light of this, the hope is now much less ambitious – to ensure that Kiev does not lose any more ground to Moscow, the unnamed staffer told reporters.

This, however, does not mean that Ukraine’s military will just sit in their trenches, with what is described as a “swapping of territory” still likely in small cities and villages, the source told the WaPo.

Late last month, Politico reported similarly, of a realization that a “total victory” for Ukraine was unlikely...

zzyzzx says

I figure it's either that or we are intentionally limiting weapons system to Ukraine due to supply constraints on the consumables (ammunition). It's not like Russia is doing any better in that department. They can't make stuff either and have to beg North Korea for stuff. At least north Koreans have food and oil now.

I don't know why you think they are "begging".

Russia runs a war as cost effectively as possible. The US does the opposite. The reason the US spends more on their military than any other CONTINENT does, is not because the US has the best military, it's because the US military will happily purchase a nail for $10. Why shouldn't they? They don't pay for it, YOU DO.

RayAmerica says

The US is working on a new strategy for Ukraine that would mark a departure, away from the offensives of 2023 and now toward frontline defense

What happened to Russia getting it's ass kicked in the 'summer offensive'? Crimea was supposed to be taken back by now!

You can't take back territory by being defensive.