The USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier has collided with a merchant ship near Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea, the US Navy announced on Thursday. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The incident occurred near Egypt's Port Said and the other vessel involved was the Panamanian-flagged Besiktas-M. It was involved in another collision in 2016 in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean, according to vesseltracker.com.
“The collision did not endanger the Harry S Truman as there are no reports of flooding or injuries. The propulsion plants are unaffected and in a safe and stable condition,” US Sixth Fleet spokesman Cmdr Timothy Gorman said in a statement.
The US Navy did not provide details for the condition of Besiktas-M.
In December, two US Navy pilots safely ejected after the F/A-18 fighter they were flying off the Truman was mistakenly shot down in a “friendly fire” incident over the Red Sea by a US guided-missile cruiser.
Collisions involving US Navy ships are rare but two warships in the Asia-Pacific region were involved in collisions in 2017. The accidents, in which 17 sailors were killed, raised questions about Navy training and the pace of operations, prompted a Congressional hearing and the removal of a number of officers.
At 333 metres in length, the Truman is almost as long as the Empire State Building is tall and has a crew of 5,000.
