Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is one of the most important strategic assets in the entire Russian Federation. It protects Russia’s naval base at Sevastopol on the Crimea Peninsula and allows for Russian power projection into the vital Black Sea. Indeed, without Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet stationed there, Turkey—which controls the entrance to the Black Sea—would have free range there, with ominous consequences for the surrounding littoral states.

At the start of the Ukraine War in 2022, the Russian cruiser Moskva (“Moscow”), which was billed as one of Russia’s most advanced warships, was sunk by Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship ballistic missiles. It was a humiliating blow to the Russians—and an early portent of how difficult the war would be for the Russians.

Dmitry Shkrebets is the father of Yegor Shkrebets, a young sailor who perished aboard the Moskva when it was consumed with smoke and fire after being struck by Neptune anti-ship ballistic missiles. Dissatisfied with the official accounts of how his young son who died aboard the Moskva, Dmitry Shkrebets went about organizing his own investigation into the sinking of the iconic Russian Black Sea flagship—and in late April, published a lengthy dossier based on his findings.

Shkrebets’ dossier is not merely a recollection of his own son’s accounts. It is a professional report, independently investigated by the gold star father, that included detailed recounts from sailors who survived the sinking. Moreover, it reveals details about the ship’s operation—both in the leadup to and following the missile strike—that paint a damning picture of the Russian Navy’s operations.

According to Shkrebets, around 100 experienced sailors were redeployed off the Moskva right before the war erupted. The experienced sailors were replaced by eighty-three poorly trained conscripts,........

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