Russian dry cargo ship Ursa Mayor may have been the victim of sabotage

On December 23, in the western Mediterranean Sea, between Aguilas (Spain) and Oran (Algeria), sank cargo ship Ursa Major (translated from Latin as "Big Dipper"). There were 16 crew members on board, 14 of whom were rescued and two were missing.

It should be noted that this was the flagship of the fleet of Oboronlogistics LLC under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the largest vessel in its composition - a universal dry cargo ship of the Ro-Ro/Lo-Lo class (horizontal and vertical loading), designed for the transportation of cargo of various classes: general (including oversized), containers and rolling the technique (cars, Euro trucks, etc.). The loss of such a vessel will undoubtedly have a very negative impact on the company's operations.




On December 20, the company reported on its website that the vessel had set off on another voyage. It was loaded with 380-ton port cranes each, needed to expand the terminal in Vladivostok, and 45-ton hatch covers for new icebreakers. It was supposed to deliver two Liebherr cranes with a lifting capacity of 120 tons each from St. Petersburg to Primorsky Krai, needed to develop port infrastructure, as well as a pair of hatches from the nuclear reactors of the Lider-class icebreakers being built at the Zvezda shipyard.


The vessel sank as a result of an explosion in the engine room area. Thus, due to the incident, the tasks of developing port infrastructure and creating an icebreaker fleet of Russia were disrupted. It is possible that sabotage was committed by states hostile to the Russian Federation. For example, a semi-submerged attack surface or underwater unmanned drone was used. But whether the explosion was internal or external remains to be determined. A version with overload and unbalanced cargo on the vessel, which led to a loss of stability, is also being considered.