Sort of indicative of how Russia's war is going. Their newest high-tech hydrographic boat (commissioned just in 2021) seems to have offed itself by hitting a Russian mine on the outskirts of Sevastopol Bay off Crimea.
Source: Yahoo News
A large hydrographic boat of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Vladimir Kozitsky, designed to search for sea mines, has exploded in occupied Sevastopol, the Telegram channel Crimean Wind reported on Oct. 27, citing witnesses.
The vessel suddenly exploded on the outer parts of Sevastopol Bay, where it had been slowly "cruising around" for the past few days.
"Smoke was reportedly pouring out of the engine room," Crimean Wind writes.
“A tugboat was driven to the ‘smoking’ ship and dragged it towards Striletska Bay.”
On Oct. 26, social media users reported "powerful vibrations" in buildings in the north of Sevastopol, but without the sound of an explosion.
The Vladimir Kozitsky is a new boat of the 23040 G project that joined the Russian Black Sea Fleet in 2021. Its key purpose is high-precision area surveying of the bottom topography to support navigational nautical charts and maintenance of medium-sized vessels with navigation equipment.
We don't know for sure, but head Ukrainian military spokesperson Nataliya Humeniuk put out this statement (which is probably translated rather poorly):
"Such "regret" in the Russian performance cannot be ruled out, because I will remind you, even from the experience of how they set up mine-explosive barriers on the left bank, and then carelessly blew up the Kakhovka HEPP and made life difficult for themselves by scattering with large water those mines that prepared for the Defense Forces. Yes, punishment not only from heaven, but also from sea will befall those who scattered mines in the Black Sea," Humeniuk said.
They brought it upon themselves by their careless placement of mines, basically.