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None of the 5000 sailors aboard the aircraft carrier were reported to have been injured. There is no information about the crew of the second ship.
The US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman collided with a large merchant ship in the area of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea, ABC news reports.
“The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) collided with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M at approximately 23:46 local time on February 12 while conducting operations in the Port Said area, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea,” the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet said in a statement.
The reasons for the collision are not given. It is only noted that the aircraft carrier with a displacement of 100 tons and a cost of 000 billion dollars collided with the merchant ship Besiktas-M with a displacement of 4,5 tons under the flag of Panama.
There were no reports of injuries or flooding aboard the aircraft carrier, which has a crew of 5000 sailors. The incident is under investigation.
The USS Harry S. Truman is equipped with two nuclear reactors and four propulsion systems, and a statement from the Sixth Fleet said the ship's propulsion systems were not damaged and are in a "safe and stable condition."
The aircraft carrier and its strike group have been operating in the Red Sea since mid-December as part of a mission to repel attacks by Houthi militants from Yemen on merchant ships passing through the waterway.
Earlier this week, the aircraft carrier arrived at a naval base in Crete, a rare respite for the strike group, which has been conducting operations continuously, although the pace of operations has slowed since a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas took effect in mid-January.
Port Said, Egypt, is located at the northern end of the Suez Canal, where it meets the Mediterranean Sea. The aircraft carrier was returning to the Red Sea. The Besiktas-M had just passed through the Suez Canal and was heading to the Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania.
