US aircraft carrier collides with merchant ship in Mediterranean Sea
The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman collided with a large merchant vessel Wednesday night in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea.
"The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M at approximately 11:46 p.m. local time, Feb. 12, while operating in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea," a statement from the U.S Navy's Sixth Fleet said, News.Az reports, citing ABC News.
A U.S. official confirmed the collision occurred while the carrier was off of Port Said awaiting to enter the Suez Canal to transit back into the Red Sea.
The collision involved a rare collision of two large vessels as the 100,000-ton aircraft carrier collided with the 53,000-ton merchant vessel Besiktas-M, a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship.
There are no reports of injuries, nor is there flooding, aboard the carrier, which carries a crew of 5,000 sailors, and the incident is under investigation.
Another U.S. official said the damage to the U.S. carrier is above the waterline and that it is unclear what the impact will be on the carrier's operations.
The Besiktas-M was damaged, but not significantly, and is under its own propulsion. There were no injured among the ship's crew.
The Truman is powered by two nuclear reactors and four propulsion systems, and the Sixth Fleet's statement said the ship's propulsion plants were unaffected and were said to be in "a safe and stable condition."
The aircraft carrier and its strike group had been operating in the Red Sea since mid-December as part of the mission to thwart Houthi militant attacks launched from Yemen at commercial vessels transiting the vital waterway.
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