Part of a series of ships, she was designed to navigate the Arctic waters and was fitted with an ice-breaking bow.

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).