The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier was involved in a collision Wednesday with a merchant vessel near Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea, the Navy announced.
The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier was involved in a collision Wednesday with a merchant vessel near Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea, the Navy announced.
“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,” the Navy’s Sixth Fleet Public Affairs said in a statement.
“The collision did not endanger the Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) as there are no reports of flooding or injuries. The propulsion plants are unaffected and in a safe and stable condition,” it added.
The Navy said the incident is now “under investigation.”
The circumstances leading up to the collision were not immediately clear.
The Truman, which is based in Norfolk, Virginia, deployed in September to the Mediterranean and the Middle East. It had just completed a port call in Souda Bay, Greece.
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The ship “provides a wide range of flexible mission capabilities to include maritime security operations, expeditionary power projection, forward naval presence, crisis response, sea control, deterrence, counter-terrorism, information operations and security cooperation,” according to the Navy.
“The ship’s embarked air wing is capable of projecting tactical air power over the sea and inland, as well as providing sea based air, surface and subsurface defense capabilities,” it also said.
In December last year, two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down over the Red Sea in what appeared to be “friendly fire”, the U.S. military said at the time.
The pilots were found alive after they ejected from their aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries.
The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, according to Central Command.
Fox News’ Landon Mion and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
