Naval SBU drones laid mines near Crimea and hit four Russian ships

Sea Baby drones of the Security Service of Ukraine hit four Russian ships due to remote mining.

Last year, Sea Baby drones hit four Russian ships with underwater mines, The Wall Street Journal reports.

After the first use of drones, the Russians installed larger barriers at the entrance to the port of Sevastopol, which practically made further operations impossible. Then the SBU came up with the idea that drones could lay sea mines made of plastic weighing about 180 kg near Crimea. Mines sink into the mud, so they are difficult to detect.

For a month and a half, the SBU monitored the routes of military and civilian vessels in Crimea, after which it began laying mines. On September 14, the Samum missile corvette exploded on one of them.

In the following weeks, the Sea Baby drones covered a total of almost 5,000 km and laid about 15 more mines. During one of the flights, drones detected Russian Raptor-type patrol boats. Then the drone opened fire from a grenade launcher and hit the enemy ship.

On October 11, a large patrol boat “Pavel Derzhavin” was blown up by a mine. Leaving the repair, the ship came across a mine for the second time, and the tug, which was sent to rescue the boat, also blew up.

A few days later, a mine damaged the modern anti-mine ship with a transparent bottom “Vladimir Kozytskyi”.

WSJ notes that SBU drone demining is the first example of successful remote demining in the world.

Earlier, USM reported that Russia may soon release naval drones into the Black Sea, which will mine the Ukrainian grain corridor.