250 Roubles Battleship Novorossiysk

The Novorossiysk was a former Italian battleship — the Giulio Cesare — transferred to the Soviet Union as war reparations in 1949. She sank at anchor in Sevastopol Bay in October 1955 under circumstances never fully explained: a massive explosion tore through her hull before dawn, killing over 600 sailors. Soviet authorities classified all details for decades, and competing theories — a rogue mine, sabotage by Italian frogmen, internal negligence — remain unresolved.

The "Arctic Territories" issuer designation reflects a class of privately arranged numismatic issues rather than a recognized sovereign authority.