Ukraine’s New Navy Needs Attention—Or Russia Will Sink It Again

As Ukraine and the West focus on building up Ukrainian ground forces and getting modern aircraft into Ukrainian hands, the Ukrainian Navy risks being forgotten. A recipient of only a few surplus mine-hunters, riverine patrol boats, and some unmanned patrollers, the Navy is not a priority for anybody.

That is a mistake. The foundational building blocks of Ukraine’s next navy—ordered well before Russia’s 2022 invasion—will arrive sooner than most outside observers expect.

With Ukraine’s future Hetman Ivan Mazepa, the first of two Turkish-built, 326-foot Ada class corvettes, set to arrive in Ukrainian waters in just nineteen months, Ukraine’s friends must join in the big task of training up the crew, readying the new ship for combat, and bulking up the Ukrainian Navy to the point where it can hold it’s own against the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has only re-emphasized the utility of Black Sea naval forces. Russia, knowing full well the importance of dominating the Black Sea, has been whittling away Ukraine’s creaky, underfunded Soviet-era Navy for years, first sinking and seizing Ukrainian ships during the 2014 takeover of the Crimea.

Most of Ukraine’s few remaining big ships were lost in the first few days of Russia’s full-scale 2022 invasion.

Little is left.

The Ukrainian Navy needs a full reboot. But how? Incremental additions of individual combat units will not survive in the contested Black Sea.

And, regardless of how the defense of Ukraine proceeds over the next year, the Black Sea will be no place for untrained, unready sailors to go and learn their craft. The Eastern Mediterranean, often chock-full of Russian ships and submarines, is no safe-haven, either.

Ukraine’s next navy will only survive if it is protected, trained, and then flung into the Black Sea as a cohesive multi-unit fleet, ready for a fight.

What Will Await Ukraine’s Mighty MILGEM Vessels?

The Ada class corvette, the first product of Türkiye’s “MILGEM” family of surface warships, is no slouch. Designed to serve a broad underwater vehicle attack and surface patrol role, Ukraine’s two new ships will wield a formidable array of sensors and weapons.

Built around a 76mm main gun, the ships carry a mix of anti-ship missiles, torpedoes, a close-in anti-aircraft defense system, and a helicopter with other aerial vehicles. While it is no Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) destroyer, the light, 2,300-ton corvette is a good, workmanlike design for places like the Black Sea.

Four Ada class corvettes are already in service with the Turkish Navy. Pakistan is building two of their own, and Ukraine purchased two. Aside from the now-launched Hetman Ivan Mazepa, Türkiye began construction of the second Ukrainian corvette in mid-March.

In the original plan, Türkiye was to build the basic hull, mechanical and electrical systems for the vessel, and, by late 2023, deliver the ship to Ukraine to install weapons systems and integrate the vessel. Given Russia’s 2022 invasion, Ukraine is unlikely to carry out shipyard work while under attack. Information on how the ship will ultimately be completed is hard to find.

What seems clear is that the ship will either be delivered from Türkiye, virtually complete, or the ship will go to another country—outside of the current war zone—for final fitting out. The ultimate location of the Ukrainian ship’s fit-out and the location and extent of the Ukrainian crew’s training regime is unknown.

A Plan To Generate A Navy Is Overdue:

While Ukraine is putting some basic future operational pieces together, operating RGM-84 Harpoon missiles and practicing with a UH-60A Blackhawk helicopter, the Ukrainian Navy will still face a real challenge in operating their new ship and keeping it alive in the Black Sea.

To keep Ukraine’s “next navy” above the waves, Ukraine’s friends will either need to put Ukraine’s waters under some sort of protective NATO-type mechanism, or NATO countries will need to help Ukraine train up—and then deliver—a credible maritime force in one go.

Put bluntly, Ukraine’s Navy will sink unless it arrives under air cover and in sufficient numbers to resist attack from Russia’s air and sea units. The second Ukraine takes ownership of a major vessel, sinking the new Ukrainian combatant will be a Russian priority.

To jump-start the process, the U.S. Navy has a chance to start training up Ukrainian sailors on either a Freedom class Littoral Combat Ship or an early-flight Arleigh Burke Destoyer—or both.

With the first LCS-1, the ex-USS Freedom already decommissioned and stricken from the Navy rolls, and with several Freedom class Littoral Combat Ships already slated for a future decommissioning, it should be easy to get LCS-1 somewhat operational and start training Ukrainian crews right away.

On the other hand, several early Arleigh Burke destroyers are approaching the end of their expected 35-year service lives. While the Navy plans to keep some early Arleigh Burke destroyers in service for 40 years, others will likely be consigned to the scrapyard. One or two of those ships, if slated for operational duty in the Black Sea, would no longer face the operational wear-and-tear of long sea transits, and might be able to stay in service, fending off Russian aircraft, for a good while.

Freedom Class Littoral Combat Ships are very much like the Ada class corvettes, and would be a logical starting point for Ukraine. But an early-flight, nearly-ready to decommission DDG-51 might be an even better pick for Ukraine. The basic Aegis radar, offering a protective aerospace bubble, may not be much use in the Pacific, but it is formidable enough to give Ukraine the breathing space it needs to develop a ready, modern, and survivable naval force in the Black Sea.