An American aircraft carrier had a rare collision with a merchant ship in the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday night, the U.S. Navy reported - just the latest crash involving the U.S. military.
The nuclear-powered USS Harry S. Truman was preparing to enter the Suez Canal when it collided with a merchant vessel flying under a Panamanian flag.
There were no injuries reported aboard the Truman, just one of 11 aircraft carriers in the Navy's fleet.
There were no reports of flooding or injuries, and the ship's propulsion system, which is powered by two nuclear reactors, is in a "safe and stable condition."
The damage was above the waterline and no aircraft were damaged, a Navy official told USNI News.
The Truman and its strike group entered the Red Sea in December to guard merchant ships from Houthi rebels, who have repeatedly targeted ships transiting the crucial waterway since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.
The Houthi attacks have lulled since a cease-fire began between Israel and Hamas in January.
The Truman was returning from a rest stop in Crete when the 100,000-ton ship collided with the 53,000-ton merchant vessel Besiktas-M at the northern mouth of the Suez Canal.
A U.S. official confirmed the Truman was preparing to enter the Red Sea when the collision occurred near Port Said, Egypt.
"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.
No one was injured on the Beskitas, which had just exited the Suez Canal and was headed for Constanta, a port city in Romania by the Black Sea.
The collision comes after the Truman's strike group mistakenly shot down a U.S. fighter jet while patrolling the Red Sea in December.
The USS Gettysburg, a guided-missile cruiser, shot down an F/A-18 as it was taking off from the Truman's flight deck, forcing two pilots to eject. One of the pilots suffered minor injuries in the incident, which remains under investigation.
The Truman is the Navy's eight Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. Launched in 1996, it measures over 1,000 feet in length and weighs 100,000 tons.
The Truman's collision with a merchant vessel comes weeks after a deadly plane crash in Washington D.C. involving an Army helicopter that killed dozens.
