Name Kapitan Man Yard number 319 Out of service 15.05.2012 Launched 9 December 1985 | Port of registry Vladivostok Laid down 1985 Construction started 1985 Builder Valmet | |
Owner Far East Shipping Company (FESCO) | ||
The Kapitan Man (Russian: Капитан Ман) was a Russian SA-15 Super class multi-purpose merchant ship (call sign UIFU). Part of a series of ships, she was designed to navigate the Arctic waters and was fitted with an ice-breaking bow. The ship was named after the Soviet polar explorer, captain Ivan Man (1903-1982). She was reportedly sold for scrap in May 2012.
On 4 April 1997, the ship was a part of the Strait of Juan de Fuca laser incident between the Russian crew and Canadian and United States military. The ship had long been suspected of conducting covert espionage operations either for hire or for the Russian military.
Kapitan Man was owned by the Far East Shipping Company (FESCO)—a cargo outfit based in Vladivostok, Russia with known ties to the Russian military. As further evidence of the espionage being conducted by FESCO, a joint U.S. Customs and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) inspection of the Kapitan Man in April, 1993 found environmental data equipment—including sophisticated sonar equipment—used solely to conduct anti-submarine warfare. (ASW).