The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier was involved in a collision with a merchant ship in the Mediterranean Sea near Egypt, officials confirmed on Feb. 13.
No crew members on board the aircraft carrier were injured, and no reports of flooding were reported, according to the statement, which added that the ship wasn’t “endangered” in the incident.
“The propulsion plants are unaffected and in a safe and stable condition. The incident is under investigation,” the public affairs office stated, without providing more details about the ship.
Additional information about the merchant vessel that collided with the aircraft carrier also were not provided. It’s not clear if that ship was damaged or if anyone on board the vessel was harmed.
At about 1,096 feet in length, the USS Truman carrier is almost as long as the Empire State Building is tall, and it has a 5,000-member crew. The 4 1/2-acre flight deck can hold 90 aircraft, including F/A-18F Super Hornet striker jets. Missiles are carried onto parked jets, and sailors run on treadmills in the hangar.
Since the October 2023 Hamas terrorist attack targeting Israel, the United States has positioned carrier strike groups around the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea and tasked them with assisting Israel’s defense and protecting commercial shipping lanes.
The Yemen-based Houthi group has attacked more than 60 vessels in the Red Sea since the Israel–Hamas conflict started, drawing a military response from the United States and the UK. Top Houthi officials have said they will target any ships that they believe are heading to Israeli ports in the Mediterranean Sea or elsewhere.
At the same time, the U.S. military currently has 11 aircraft carriers, and any damage requiring one of them to be sidelined could strain U.S. military operations worldwide, along with operations around the Middle East.
While collisions involving U.S. Navy vessels are rare, two warships in the Asia–Pacific were involved in crashes in 2017. The accidents, in which 17 sailors were killed, raised questions about Navy training and the pace of operations, and prompted a congressional hearing and the removal of a number of officers.
In 2009, the USS Hartford submarine collided with the USS New Orleans amphibious transport dock in the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, injuring more than a dozen crew members.
Earlier this week, a U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler jet with two people on board went down near San Diego, officials said. The two occupants ejected before the crash and were picked up by a fishing vessel and taken to a nearby U.S. Customs and Border Protection craft, officials said.
