Ukrainian strike sinks advanced Russian warship with ATACMS missiles

The Ukrainians carried out another attack on Russian ships stationed in the port of Sevastopol. This time, they used MGM-140 ATACMS blast missiles, achieving the first-ever warship hit. Here are the details of this attack.

According to the portal Army Recognition based on Russian sources, the Karakurt Tsiklon project 22800 Corvette was hit and sunk in the attack on the night of May 19-20, 2024. This modern Russian ship was launched in the summer of 2020 and commissioned on June 12, 2023. It was one of four ships of this type and the only one serving in the Black Sea Fleet.

The attack was reportedly accomplished by MGM-140 ATACMS ballistic missiles, marking the first instance in the world of such missiles being used against warships. While Houthi rebels from Yemen have previously hit vessels in the Red Sea with ballistic missiles, those were civilian units. This attack on a warship is another notable feat by the Ukrainians in their ongoing efforts to neutralize the Russian Black Sea Fleet, following surface drone attacks and the elimination of a submarine with an air-launched cruise missile.

In keeping with modern trends, the project 22800 Karakurt ships feature stealth technology and are equipped with advanced target detection systems. The vessel's main armament consists of two four-chamber vertical launchers for Kalibr-NK cruise missiles or anti-ship P-800 Oniks missiles.

The secondary armament includes a 76 mm AK-176MA naval gun similar to the Leonardo 76 mm Super Rapido and a maritime variant of the very short-range air defence system Pantsir-M. This system comprises a pair of GSh-6-30 six-barreled 30 mm cannons with a rate of fire of 5,000 rounds per minute, a range of up to 5 km, and a launcher of 32 57E6 or 57E6-E rockets.

These missiles enable targets to be engaged at a distance of up to 19 km but are only suitable for combating drones, helicopters, or subsonic missiles. For this reason, 57E6 or 57E6-E rockets are ineffective against ballistic missiles requiring larger systems like the S-300 or S-400. However, recent events have shown these systems struggle against American MGM-140 ATACMS ballistic missiles.

It appears that the project 22800 Karakurt Tsiklon Corvette stationed in the port was either not under the defence umbrella of the anti-ballistic missile system or was destroyed shortly before the attack.

The Ukrainians have been highly successful in using the MGM-140 ATACMS ballistic missiles provided by the Americans. Previous recordings showed cluster warhead missiles, which would be ineffective against ships. Therefore, versions with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead, with a range of 300 km, were likely used in this instance.

The missiles in question are the M48, M57, and M57E1 families, which contain a single large WAU-23/B warhead weighing about 200 kg or a specialized penetrating variant that detonates with a delay after piercing the target. Ballistic missiles can travel at speeds of up to Mach 7 (8,650 km/h), which grants them such kinetic energy that a penetrating warhead can pierce through a ship's deck and detonate inside, causing catastrophic damage.

The guidance systems of the MGM-140 ATACMS missiles include a combination of inertial and satellite navigation. This is somewhat problematic since the Russians can reduce the accuracy from a few meters to tens of meters. However, in the case of a large target like the project 22800 Karakurt Corvette, with a length of 67 meters and a width of 11 meters, even a decrease in accuracy makes little difference.