The first thing they teach at the naval academy is that you do not let your flagship be sunk. The pride of the fleet, a “flagship” is literally the ship on which the admiral's flag flies. The flagship of Russia's Black-Sea fleet, the “Moskva" (Moscow) is currently at the bottom of the briny black-sea deep. Why, you may ask? A lying tyrant’s delusion of grandeur met a free nation’s worthier goal. Now "Vladi", you can't have nice things unless you play well with the other kids -- or countries. Some people come to that lesson very late in life. I will call your mother to take you home.

This was the same ship involved in the famous radio retort from the soldiers on Ukraine's Zmiinyi "Snake" Island and as such the ship will be remembered by a new stamp that was recently released.

Art by Ukrainian artist  YumiCH, an art reward for my donation to her charity event where money went to Ukrainian companion animal and zoo charities.

I promised the artist we would one day do another version of this where he walks back to the ocean by day with clear skies and a face of relief.