A Russian navy tugboat, the Kapitan Ushakov, sank on August 9, 2025, at a shipyard in St. Petersburg. It was expected to be delivered to the Northern fleet.
The Project 23470 began listing to starboard on August 8. The sinking of the ship occurred at a time when it was in the final stages of outfitting and about to be completed at the Baltic shipyard in St. Petersburg.
The shipyard team made efforts throughout the night to stabilise the vessel, but failed ultimately. By the morning of August 9, the tugboat flipped and capsized on the seabed near the dock.
The Russian investigative committee launched an inquiry to determine if there was any violation of construction safety regulations. Reports suggest that flooding happened in the auxiliary machinery compartment, which caused the list that ultimately led to the ship sinking.
A naval engineer commented on the sinking of Kapitan Ushakov while being asked about the reason behind the sinking of a brand-new vessel at the dock by a news channel.
He told the UK Defence Journal, “A ship in this stage of construction is essentially in a controlled environment.”
“Systems are tested step-by-step, and the stability envelope is well understood. For a vessel of this size to flood and capsize alongside the pier, something went very wrong in either the way work was sequenced or the way safety margins were monitored,” he added.
Kapitan Ushakov was a modern ice-class tugboat, displacing approximately 3200 tons and 70 meters in length. It was designed for multiple tasks such as towing large vessels, firefighting, navigating in ice, and rescue missions.
The loss of the tug boat was a setback for the Russian Navy as it was planned to support the military presence in the Arctic.
More than two dozen Russian ships have been sunk in Crimea, in the Black Sea, since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
