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Is the Admiral Grigorovich a threat to USS Porter and USS Cole?

The Admiral Grigorovich will be shadowed by submarines. Any large warship is a sitting duck at this point to a capable adversary. The displacement of the Admiral Grigorovich is just 4000 tonnes loaded in comparison to almost 9000 loaded for each of the USS Porter and USS Cole, albeit Admiral Grigorovich is a 2013 issue warship while the USS Porter and USS Cole are about fifteen years older. Even without the submarine thread or the menace of an attack by American planes from nearby Mediterranean airbases, the Admiral Grigorovich would be hard pressed to sink both the USS Porter and USS Cole at the same time.

Moreover the Admiral Grigorovich is one of just three such Russian frigates while the US has 62 Arleigh-Burke class destroyers in service. The Russians would not like to trade the Admiral Grigorovich against even three such US destroyers.


For all the American whining about Admiral Grigorovich, the frigate is not a very large ship

What the Admiral Grigorovich could do though is interfere with cruise missile launches electronically as well as shoot down a fair number of the departing missiles. Whether that non-aggressive hindrance would inspire the US to try to sink a Russian navy vessel is an open question.


The bigger picture: Trump’s cruise missile strike has turned a co-operative neutral and occasionally allied country into a military adversary. The geopolitical situation has changed radically and we stand much closer to direct armed conflict between Russia and the United States.

The moment that starts I cannot wargame a scenario where the conflict does not escalate within a matter of about a week to full on nuclear war. None of us are safer, not even Syrians. That the neocons and MSM are cheering Trump indicates just how bad an idea this illegal act of war was.

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