[M T]

I am very suspicious the picture is a fake. As near as I can determine, the Moskva was sunk at night. The timeline is as follows:



Thursday, 0100 hrs The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that a “fire” aboard the Cruiser had broken out after an ammunition explosion aboard the ship.

0105 hrs: Reports of an SOS signal in Morse Code was being sent by Moskva.

0114 hrs: According to radio messages from the Cruiser, a port-side list has developed and more explosions occur.

0147 hrs.: The ship has lost electrical power.

0207 hrs: A Turkish vessel responding to the SOS Turkey reports that the “Moskva” appears to be sinking and takes off 54 sailors of the Moskva’s crew.




0248 hrs: Turkish and Romanian authorities report the Cruiser has sunk.

Even if the times are GMT, not local, the ship sank at 0548 local. Picture shows full sun, ship not listing much. Further, there was a sea running that made rescue difficult. The picture shows a DFC. Doubt it is real.

Contrast the times you give to the times  in
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/202...tyPhoto/0/

The slide containing the SAR image indicates an image time of 15:52 UTC (6:52PM local time).
A calculation for the coordinates shows sunset would be at 16:23 UTC, a half hour later.

The picture shows a good-sized ship (something like 1/3 the length of the Moskva) alongside on the starboard side, which agrees with the SAR image.
No sun on the water, which is consistent with it being below the marine layer in the late afternoon.

If the vessel from which the picture was taken was the tug (as one source thought), it might be the possible vessel on the port side near the bow in the SAR image.  I would imagine a tug pushing from there would help to keep the ship from listing more.

I would guess the photo (with the man's shoulder) was taken some time (5 to 60 minutes) before the SAR image.  There is another image, taken from further away.  It appears that one may be before the vessel was alongside the starboard side.

In (a better version of) the closer-in photo, there are two objects in the water, which I presume are evacuation craft. One is at a set of steps over the port side near the aft. I would interpret it as taking on crew, but I see no crew.  It appears to be idling, generally facing in the same direction as the ship.  The other is just at the port side of the aft, with whitewater behind it suggesting it is motorized and in motion toward the aft and in position to go behind the ship to get to the vessel on the starboard side.


(By the way, the "tease" was not questioning the poster's analysis.  It was just that poster said his opinion was different than the savvy analysts, which I was pointing out that he was excluding himself from the savvy analysts.   Personally, I am awed by the collective knowledge of our posters.)

[M T]

I am very suspicious the picture is a fake. As near as I can determine, the Moskva was sunk at night. The timeline is as follows:



Thursday, 0100 hrs The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that a “fire” aboard the Cruiser had broken out after an ammunition explosion aboard the ship.

0105 hrs: Reports of an SOS signal in Morse Code was being sent by Moskva.

0114 hrs: According to radio messages from the Cruiser, a port-side list has developed and more explosions occur.

0147 hrs.: The ship has lost electrical power.

0207 hrs: A Turkish vessel responding to the SOS Turkey reports that the “Moskva” appears to be sinking and takes off 54 sailors of the Moskva’s crew.




0248 hrs: Turkish and Romanian authorities report the Cruiser has sunk.

Even if the times are GMT, not local, the ship sank at 0548 local. Picture shows full sun, ship not listing much. Further, there was a sea running that made rescue difficult. The picture shows a DFC. Doubt it is real.

Contrast the times you give to the times  in
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/202...tyPhoto/0/

The slide containing the SAR image indicates an image time of 15:52 UTC (6:52PM local time).
A calculation for the coordinates shows sunset would be at 16:23 UTC, a half hour later.

The picture shows a good-sized ship (something like 1/3 the length of the Moskva) alongside on the starboard side, which agrees with the SAR image.
No sun on the water, which is consistent with it being below the marine layer in the late afternoon.

If the vessel from which the picture was taken was the tug (as one source thought), it might be the possible vessel on the port side near the bow in the SAR image.  I would imagine a tug pushing from there would help to keep the ship from listing more.

I would guess the photo (with the man's shoulder) was taken some time (5 to 60 minutes) before the SAR image.  There is another image, taken from further away.  It appears that one may be before the vessel was alongside the starboard side.

In (a better version of) the closer-in photo, there are two objects in the water, which I presume are evacuation craft. One is at a set of steps over the port side near the aft. I would interpret it as taking on crew, but I see no crew.  It appears to be idling, generally facing in the same direction as the ship.  The other is just at the port side of the aft, with whitewater behind it suggesting it is motorized and in motion toward the aft and in position to go behind the ship to get to the vessel on the starboard side.


(By the way, the "tease" was not questioning the poster's analysis.  It was just that poster said his opinion was different than the savvy analysts, which I was pointing out that he was excluding himself from the savvy analysts.   Personally, I am awed by the collective knowledge of our posters.)