On 31 August 1986, Admiral Nakhimov collided with the large bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev in the Tsemes Bay, near the port of Novorossiysk, Russian SFSR, and quickly sank.

On 12 November 1928, Berlin rescued the passengers and crew of the liner Vestris,[1] which sank off the coast of Virginia en route from New York City to Barbados.

On 16 July 1939, Berlin began her conversion to hospital ship and entered service with the Kriegsmarine as Lazarettschiff A, Sanitätsamt Ost on 23 August 1939.

However, the liner was mined by the Germans, and when during the ascent on New Year's Eve 1947, its bow appeared above the surface of the water, a strong explosion occurred.

[3][4] The ship sank for the second time, pressing down the diver Timofey Starchenko, who went down under its bottom to plug a leak in one of the aft compartments.

Thanks to the quickly performed unique rescue operation, the diver managed to pull out alive through a tunnel specially made under the bottom of the steamer.

During the peak summer travel season, Admiral Nakhimov operated cruises on the Black Sea between Odessa and Batumi, a six-day round trip.

Just minutes into the voyage, the ship's pilot noticed that the large bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev was on a collision course with Admiral Nakhimov.

Pyotr Vasev was a Japanese-built, 18,604-ton freighter recently acquired by the Soviet Union, and was carrying a cargo of barley and oats from Baie-Comeau, Canada.

Convinced that the freighter would pass without incident, Captain Markov of Admiral Nakhimov retired to his cabin, leaving his second mate Alexander Chudnovsky in charge.

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.

Without power, the system of remote closing the watertight bulkheads' doors did not work (although, due to the flooding of two compartments, a ship with the current design would still not be able to stay afloat).

This was exacerbated by the fact that a rapidly formed strong list prevented this, quickly exceeding the design allowable 20 degrees; in addition, according to some of the witness, the lifeboats and davits were painted on the spot (and old davits were destroyed by corrosion), which made launching at least some of them impossible (Similar cases were noted earlier in some other shipwrecks, such as the PS General Slocum or TSMS Lakonia cases.)

For greater safety, the divers inside the ship worked in pairs, and on the upper decks used balloon breathing apparatus with an autonomous supply of oxygen-nitrogen mixture.

Working at night on board the sunken liner, having spent a lot of time and effort installing explosives, and then also on the way back through the maze of corridors, divers Lieutenant Commander Igor Ivlev and Midshipman Yuri Vladimirovich Polishchuk used up almost the entire supply of breathing mixture.

Helping a friend, Polishchuk himself lost consciousness from lack of air, as a result of which, when climbing to the surface, he fell out of the diving gazebo again to the bottom.

At great risk, working almost without decompression, other divers managed to find Polishchuk, quickly lift him onto the ship and place him in a pressure chamber.

On September 10, 1986, Polishchuk, commander of a platoon of reconnaissance divers of the Black Sea Fleet Special Forces brigade, died without regaining consciousness.

[3][4] After this incident, it became more common (especially when working on the lower decks) to use diving equipment with the traditional supply of a breathing mixture through a hose from the ship providing descent.

[3][4] After the death of the second diver, as well as due to the completion of the survey of most of the premises, the production of underwater work on the sunken liner was stopped by the decision of the Government Commission, before all cabins had been entered.

Despite repeated orders to let Admiral Nakhimov pass, Tkachenko refused to slow his ship and only reported the accident 40 minutes after it occurred.