The Ursa Major was supposed to be a ghost, one of those freighters flying the Russian flag that traverses oceans without drawing much attention. Constructed in 2009 and operating under sanctions since 2022, it has operated the so-called Syrian Express for years, transporting equipment to and from Tartus. However, by December 2024, there appeared to be a problem with its departure from St. Petersburg. The path was incorrect. The load was substantial. In retrospect, the manifest appears almost absurdly thin: 129 empty shipping containers, two cranes, and two “manhole covers.”
It turns out that those manhole covers were parts of nuclear submarine reactors. After the ship sank 62 nautical miles off the coast of Murcia on December 23, 2024, the captain told Spanish investigators as much. He expressed his belief that the freighter would ultimately be diverted to the port of Rason in North Korea. When he said it, he was allegedly terrified for his life.
You understand why he hesitated. The events leading up to the Ursa Major’s sinking read more like a covert act of war than a maritime mishap. Two crew members were killed when three explosions tore through the engine room on the starboard side. Nikitin, a second engineer, and Yakovlev, an engineer, are still unaccounted for. After slowing, the ship drifted. Fourteen survivors managed to board a lifeboat. As a Spanish rescue helicopter flew overhead, a rescuer attempted to enter the engine room but discovered it was locked. The Ivan Gren, a Russian warship, gave the order for everyone to retreat two nautical miles before shooting red flares into the sky. There were four more explosions that were recorded as underwater mine-like seismic events. The ship vanished at 2,500 meters by 11:10 p.m.
The final scene, with its flares, warnings, and explosions in the dark Mediterranean water, has an almost theatrical quality. It’s difficult not to interpret it as a real-time cover-up in which evidence was destroyed before the wrong cameras could capture it.
The question of what initially caused the hole in the hull is more intriguing and more difficult to verify. According to reports, a 50-centimeter breach with bent metal was discovered by Spanish investigators. The United States, a few NATO allies, Russia, and Iran are thought to be the only nations with the kind of supercavitating torpedo capable of making it. If you follow the breadcrumbs, it suggests that someone in the West determined that a covert intervention was worthwhile in response to two reactors that were headed toward Kim Jong Un. It seems like Washington wanted no one to discuss this kind of operation, especially during the awkward final weeks of Biden’s term.
The fallout has been nearly as bizarre as the sinking itself. The Yantar, a Russian spy ship that was later spotted loitering close to British waters, hovered over the wreck for five days. At least two passes were made by US “sniffer” aircraft, which are meant to detect radiation. After opposition lawmakers put pressure on the Spanish government, a brief document confirming the general outlines was eventually released. Other than that, Spain’s foreign, defense, and interior ministries have remained silent.
It would be easy to dismiss this as just another murky chapter in the lengthy, unpleasant alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow. However, that minimizes what took place. About 10,000 soldiers were sent by Kim to fight in Ukraine. For months, Russia had been implying that it would provide significant military improvements, with a nuclear-powered submarine at the top of his list. That deal might have been due on the Ursa Major.
Rather, it sits in 2.5 kilometers of saltwater, gradually being forgotten and, at the same time, refusing to be.
