On the morning of December 24, 2024, it was reported that the russian Ursa Major cargo ship, part of russian Defense Ministry's LLC Oboronlogistics, sank in the Mediterranean Sea due to an explosion on board. In previous years, it was used for the Syrian Express.
The incident involving the explosion and subsequent sinking of the Ursa Major looks somewhat unusual, as it concerns a relatively large ship with a hull length of 140 meters and a width of 23 meters, which was slightly smaller than, for example, the Moskva missile cruiser. It should be recalled that the Moskva cruiser that sunk due to the strike by the Defense Forces of Ukraine with Neptune cruise missile in 2022, had a hull length of 186.5 meters and a hull width of 20 meters.
Immediately after the news of the explosion and subsequent sinking of the Ursa Major appeared, it was reported that the cargo ship was heading to Vladivostok and was carrying two Liebherr harbor cranes and two 45-ton hatches for the construction of the new Project 10510 nuclear powered icebreaker.
At first glance, such data may look unreliable, because in the current geopolitical situation, it would be more logical for russia to send all available vessels to the coast of Syria to transport its troops to a new destination, such as Libya or Sudan.
The nuance is that, in this case, Ursa Major was indeed carrying port cranes and hatches. There is an image in the public domain that confirms this data.
It is known that russia has another "mega-project" in the Far East to build nuclear icebreakers of the Leader project. The laying for the first one, called Rossiya, took place in 2020, although the order to begin construction was given back in 2010.
The icebreaker is to be built at the Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex in Bolshoy Kamen, 30 kilometers away from Vladivostok.
We can note the following specific nuance: at the moment, the scheduled delivery date of the Rossiya icebreaker has been postponed to at least 2030. Apparently, at the moment, russians are not fully confident that they will be able to complete the icebreaker.
Nevertheless, russians deemed it necessary to deliver some elements for the implementation of this project, such as hatches and expensive Liebherr port cranes, using the Ursa Major.
However, this only highlights the mystery of what could have exploded aboard this 140-meter ship, which eventually sank.
Earlier Defense Express reported that russian Sparta vessel was headed towards Syria, while Damascus’ new leadership was reportedly urging Moscow to withdraw.
