10 August 2025: Translating History has received news that on August 9, 2025, in St. Petersburg, near the wall of Baltic Shipyard (part of United Shipbuilding Corporation), as a result of an accident, the Project 23470 offshore tugboat Kapitan Ushakov (factory number 414), which was being fitted out for the Russian Navy, capsized on its starboard side and sank. The completion work on the vessel was being carried out by Yaroslavl Shipyard (YaSZ), which built it, and leased a berth from the Baltic Shipyard. The Kapitan Ushakov was laid down at YaSZ in 2017 and launched on June 14, 2022, and in November 2023 she was towed along inland waterways for completion and trials to Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg. Work on the vessel was significantly delayed. The tugboat was supposed to join the Northern Fleet.
Earlier, on the evening of August 8, 2025, the Kapitan Ushakov, moored at the wall of the Baltic Shipyard, began to list increasingly to starboard. The fight to save the vessel lasted all night, but in the morning of August 9, the tug finally capsized to starboard and grounded, sinking at the wall. There was no crew on board. Apparently, the vessel will be restored, which will delay the delivery of this long-term construction project even more.
The Kapitan Ushakov (factory number 414) is the fifth Project 23470 offshore tug for the Russian Navy. The Project 23470 designer is Baltsudoproekt. Construction of the series has been underway since 2014, having been significantly delayed due to problems with sanctions-forced import substitution of a significant part of the machinery (primarily rudder propellers) and insufficient funding. The lead Project 23470 Sergey Balk (factory number 410) was laid down at YaSZ on October 30, 2014, launched on December 27, 2016, but only on February 21, 2020 did she enter service with the Black Sea Fleet.
Subsequently, YaSZ delivered two more tugs of this class to the Navy: the Andrey Stepanov (serial number 411, entered service on June 19, 2020, part of the Pacific Fleet) and the Kapitan Nayden (serial number 412, entered service on August 31, 2022, part of the Black Sea Fleet). The fourth tug, Kapitan Sergeev (serial number 413), was launched on May 14, 2021 and transferred from Yaroslavl to Sevastopol in October 2022 for completion and testing. However, due to wartime circumstances, the ship did not undergo trials in the Black Sea and in December 2023, under a civilian flag, sailed from Sevastopol through the Turkish Straits and the Suez Canal along the southern route to Vladivostok, where she has since been undergoing permanent modifications and has not yet been handed over to the Navy. In February 2025, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal sentenced YaSZ to pay a penalty of 187 million rubles to the Russian Ministry of Defense for repeatedly failing to deliver this ship on time.
Two more Project 23470 tugs are under construction at YaSZ: the Rear Admiral Pinchuk (factory number 415) and Vladimir Kovalev (factory number 416, laid down on August 30, 2024).
The Project 23470 offshore tug is designed to tow vessels, floating objects, and structures in ice and open water, escort vessels in port waters and berthing, escort operations at sea; extinguish fires on floating and shore facilities, extinguish fuel fires on the water, and (perhaps ironically) refloat ships and vessels. The project has an unlimited navigation area, and can work in freezing seas – in accordance with its Arc4 ice strength class. The maximum length is 69.75 m, the maximum width is 15 m, the displacement is 3400 tons.
The following photos come from the the LiveJournal blog BMPD.
© 2025 by Michael Estes and TranslatingHistory.org
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