Religious bullshit doesn't work very well in modern warfare. Sorry, Jesus does NOT save.

In this Quora exclusive, Misha Firer shares what really sank flagship cruiser Moskva, the pride of Putin’s Black Sea fleet, 110 years to the day after Titanic hit the iceberg.

Russian officers believe that if God protects you, then nothing bad can happen to you in the battle, and if he’s not protecting you, then no armour can save you. When they said it, they meant it literally, not figuratively.

To place this military doctrine in historical context, we have to skip the 20th century altogether; the 19th century, during Napoleonic Wars, Russia relied on technologies, rifled firearms were purchased from England; in the 18th century, Peter the Great melted down church bells into artillery guns. Hence, we arrive at Moscovia Empire of the 16th century.

The marker of the Middle Ages, the period dominated by the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, is crucial to give the context to the fact that might shock you, an enlightened person of the 21st century.

Putin's admirals were absolutely sure of invulnerability of Moskva.

That is why the cruiser drifted into the danger zone, reachable by Ukrainian missiles. It was not about state of the art systems of detection, reflection, interception, which it lacked.

Instead, the command of the Black Sea Fleet kept faith in the miraculous power of one particular relic that has decorated the interior of the cruiser since 2020.

A minuscule piece of wood, just a few millimetres in size, was allegedly a particle of the Jesus Cross. Former prime minister Sergey Stepashin purchased it for $40 million and handed it over to the admirals to be stored inside a 19th-century metal cross, which, in turn, was kept in a special reliquary.

That magical splinter, Putin’s admirals, captains and sailors sincerely believed was capable of deflecting missiles and torpedoes from the ship.

The $40 million sliver did not work and, together with the cruiser, went to the bottom of the Black Sea.