Breaking: 160,000-dwt Tanker Dashan Hit by “Sea Baby” Naval Drone, Fire and Blasts Reported

Ukraine’s SBU security service has released footage showing its Sea Baby naval drones striking the suezmax tanker Dashan in the Black Sea – another high-profile incident in the ongoing campaign against Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”.

According to SBU sources, the video shows a small unmanned surface vessel closing in on the tanker before explosions erupt in the stern area. The SBU says the vessel, flying the flag of Comoros, was transiting inside Ukraine’s Exclusive Economic Zone, heading towards the Novorossiysk terminal at maximum speed with its AIS transponder switched off.

The tanker is reported to have suffered “critical damage”, and the strike is described as a joint operation between the SBU and the Ukrainian Navy.

What makes this case particularly notable for the maritime community is that:
Open data links Dashan to Seychelles-based ownership and to a false Gambia flag registration, a pattern that fits the wider “dark/shadow fleet” profile.
This is reportedly the third suezmax bound for Novorossiysk targeted in recent weeks, after earlier incidents involving the Kairos and Virat.
In parallel, SBU has also detained a bulker in Odesa accused of carrying “illegal” agricultural cargoes from Crimea, underscoring that enforcement is now happening both at sea and in port.

For shipowners, charterers, insurers and financiers, the message is clear:
participation – even indirectly – in high-risk, opaque trades around sanctioned cargoes or contested regions is no longer just a compliance and reputational issue. It increasingly carries kinetic risk.

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