Thread by @GrangerE04117

The strike on Sevmorzavod last September 13 would be the first time that Ukraine would strike a naval support facility in the 'heart of the Black Sea Fleet'.

Fleet maintenance played a vital role in the sustainment of the Black Sea Fleet, even with the increased threats.

Sevastopol served as the city that housed both the Imperial, Soviet, and the Ukrainian Navy HQ and Russian Naval HQ in the Black Sea.

With a city that has deep roots in naval history, naval shipbuilding and ship repair eventually would follow.

Shipbuilding in the city would start when the then-Akhtiar Admiralty was founded alongside the city in 1783. This yard would be the primary ship repair center in the city and peninsula until the formation of the 13th Ship Repair Plant in 1945.

Akthiar would become known as Sevastopol Marine Plant today and was privatized. At the same time, the 13th SRZ is unique in that it is under RU MOD and not under a civilian state enterprise.

These two shipyards shouldered the majority of fleet maintenance since they were built.

Other yards also existed for warship ship repair like Mykolayiv and Zaliv. But either those were more focused on the civilian cargo, fishing, and passenger ship business, manufacturing of components, or they were too small to accommodate larger fleet vessels.

After the dissolution of the USSR, Russia lost the majority of its ship repair and construction facilities in the Black Sea, with only the 13th Shipyard being the only ship repair center available to handle significant warship repairs.

Image of 13th Shipyard:

Naval equipment maintenance facilities are also in the city.

With the agreement between Ukraine and Russia regarding Sevastopol and renting it for the use of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, it also means access to one of the largest yards for maintenance. That being Sermorzavod.

The setup ended up being that the Russian Navy via the 13th Ship Repair Center, would contract Sermorzavod, now a privatized Ukrainian company, to conduct maintenance on Russian naval vessels.

Especially regarding capacity, as the 13th SRZ only has two floating drydocks.

So, both the naval maintenance facilities of the Black Sea Fleet and the equipment repair facilities are secured, and they do not have to reshuffle the majority back to mainland Russia.

But they also have plans to develop Novorossiysk as a rear base for the Black Sea Fleet.

However, after the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, they now have complete control of the major ship repair plants and shipyards needed to sustain the Russian BSF in the long run.

Which further justifies their goals of keeping it Russian regardless.

But after the strikes on September 13th, the sustainment and survival of the fleet are now in question.
Ukraine has shown that it can strike manufacturing and maintenance facilities, which is an enabler of the RU war effort. What is there to keep them away from other facilities?

Then there is the question, "But what about Feodosia, Kerch, or Novorossiysk for maintenance?"

1. Feodosia does not have a floating drydock to use. They have a shipyard (JSC More Shipyard), but they lower ships using rails and not floating drydocks.

2. Kerch houses Zaliv Shipyard, the largest shipyard Russia has in this area. Although they can use their one assembly slipway to house multiple vessels for deeper repair, the yard is currently occupied by blocks for the Project 23900 LHD and two cable laying ships.

While Zaliv also has a floating drydock of its own. It isn't really used for maintenance. It is used primarily as a transfer dock to transfer ships from open slipways.

3. Novorossiysk houses the Novorossiysk Ship Repair Center. This yard was not known to everyone until one ship, Olengorsky Gornyak, went there and had its holes patched up to be sent to Sevmorzavod for a thorough repair.

This yard is the closest to the Novorossiysk Naval Base.

While it has dry docks large enough to accommodate most if not all, the vessels of the BSF, it isn't set up for military maintenance, unlike the 13th Shipyard (Below), which has surrounding facilities for machinery repair, etc. Plus, they are not equipped for submarine repairs.

Now, Russia faces a dilemma of keeping its fleet intact or having the facilities that support it get crippled so it could be taken out of action without even striking the platforms themselves.

They can't go anywhere without the facilities offered by Sevastopol's yards.

Imagery and image annotations are courtesy of @Tatarigami_UA and @MT_Anderson

cc: @TayfunOzberk @The_Lookout_N @COUPSURE @DefMon3 @Osinttechnical @Saturnax1