On August 31, 1986, the SS Admiral Nakhimov, a Soviet passenger ship, sailed from Novorossiysk en route to its next stop, Sochi. There were 888 passengers and 346 crew members aboard. Just minutes into the voyage, the ship’s pilot noticed that the large bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev was on a collision course with the Admiral Nakhimov. The Pyotr Vasev was a Japanese-built, 18,604-ton freighter recently acquired by the Soviet Union, and was carrying a cargo of oats and barley. The pilot radioed a warning to the Pyotr Vasev which was ignored. The freighter rammed into the starboard side of the ship at a speed of about 5 knots (9 km/h). The Admiral Nakhimov continued forward with the freighter’s bow in its side, ripping a 900 square foot (84 m²) hole in the hull between the engine and boiler rooms.

The Admiral Nakhimov sank in only seven minutes, there was no time to launch the lifeboats. Hundreds of people dove into the oily water, clinging to lifejackets, barrels and pieces of debris. Passengers and crew had had little time to escape, and 423 of the 1,234 on board perished.