«The ship must not be given to the enemy,» the commander of the Navy about the Hetman Sahaidachnyi frigate sunk at the beginning of the war in Mykolaiv

Frigate «Hetman Sahaidachny», photo from open sources

The frigate «Hetman Sahaydachnyi», sunk in the port of Mykolaiv, was not suitable either for combat operations or for rebasing due to the fact that at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, repair and modernization work began on it.

Commander of the Naval Forces of Ukraine Vice Admiral Oleksii Neizhpapa told about this in an interview with Ukrainian Pravda.

According to the commander, the flagship, which was being repaired at the Nibulon ship repair plant, had no power, and all diesel generators needed to be completely replaced.

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«The turbines were being repaired, all the weapons were also out of order. As a warship that could participate in repelling aggression, it was not capable at that time at all. Therefore, the commander of the ship made a wise decision, in my opinion. This is written in the provision «On ship service»: the ship must not be given to the enemy. And at that moment, the enemy was advancing very quickly through the Kherson region, had already bypassed Kherson, was on the approaches to Mykolaiv,» explained Oleksii Neizhpapa.

It was the only warship that was damaged in the first days of the war, the others were scattered, added Oleksii Neizhpapa.

«Some of the ships were at sea, some were at other bases, irregular, as they say: at civilian piers or other facilities. But most of the ships were at sea. Therefore, in the first days of the war, not a single warship was damaged after massive enemy strikes, all of them were dispersed,» the commander said.

It will be recalled that it became known about the sinking of «Hetman Sahaidachnyi» on March 4, 2022.

The frigate «Hetman Sahaidachny» project 11351 (code «Nerei») was launched 30 years ago, in the city of Kerch in 1992. He has been serving in the national fleet since 1993. During this time, he participated in numerous anti-terrorist and anti-piracy operations.