Spasatel Vasily Bekh Rescue Vessel Wikipedia - What Happened To Wassili Beg Tug?

Spasatel Vasily Bekh was a Russian tugboat, which the Ukrainian military have reportedly gunned down. 

On June 17, 2022, the Defence of Ukraine announced that the country's navy had successfully struck the Russian ship. They even posted about their victory via their official Twitter account with a photo of the former ship crossed with red lines. 

The post captioned, " Spasatel Vasily Bekh, a tugboat of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, was demilitarized by the Ukrainian navy. The ship was attacked while transporting troops, weapons and ammunition to Zmiinyi island. Moskva never is alone..."

Spasatel Vasily Bekh, a tug of the russian black sea fleet, successfully demilitarized by the @UA_NAVY. The ship was transporting personnel, weapons and ammunition to the occupied Snake Island.
Moskva never be alone... pic.twitter.com/3slXr6qtEl

— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) June 17, 2022

According to the reports, the ship was carrying Russian troops and weapons. It was reportedly heading towards Zmiinyi island, which is about 35km away from Odessa. The island has always been a location of conflict since the start of the war. 

However, the Russian officials have neither denied nor confirmed the claims.

According to the surfacing video online, Spasatel Vasily Bekh was attacked by Harpoon missiles. 

The viral drone footage shows two missiles striking the ship while still on its water journey. Apparently, the missiles went past the ship's TOR-M2KM air defence system.

***UPDATE***

Credible reports that the #Russian navy project 22870 Rescue Tug Spasatel Vasily Bekh (SB-739) has been hit and sunk by #Ukrainian navy missiles.

Short thread on why this is important, aside from obvious morale boost for UKR side pic.twitter.com/qPTlauORNl

— H I Sutton (@CovertShores) June 17, 2022

Nonetheless, Spasatel Vasily Bekh is not the first Russian Wassili Beg Tug taken down by the Ukrainian government. Back in April, the country's military had attacked and sunk another Russian ship called Moskva. This had even led the Russian government to attach anti-missile craft systems named TOR on their ship's deck. 

However, even the instalment of such advanced technology has failed. This is another blow to the Russian government, which has been trying to invade Ukraian since Feb 24, 2022.

On the other hand, Ukrainian are hopeful of eventually ceasing the war. They have requested their allies to help them with better ammunition and weapons. 

Spasatel Vasily Bekh was first launched on August 02, 2016, and commissioned on January 16, 2017.

There is no Wikipedia page for Spasatel Vasily Bekh as of now. But, reports entail that the ship was initially known as Rescue Tug SB-739. Similarly, its design was created by OJSC DB “Vympel”.

Spasatel Vasily Bekh was built as a rescue vessel to help other ships and vessels in distress, evacuate people, and also for water pumping facilities. Similarly, the ship could also dive 60 m deep and recover petroleum products from the sea.

It had a standard capacity of 1200 tons and a full load of 1670 tons. Likewise, the ship extended 57 m in length, 14 m in beam and 3,2 in the draft. Moreover, it could reach up to the speed of 14 knots.

The sales of this type of ship significantly decreased since World War II.