2 US Navy Vessels Collide
Good old Captain Rodney
Dangerfield may have departed this life some years ago, but his legacy of seamanship
and boat handling lives on. We have published in the past pictures and videos of
the German, Japanese and several other navies slamming into each other and hapless
civilian vessels, now the U.S. joins their ranks. How two Navy vessels chock full
of SOTA electronics could hit each other, much less hard enough to rupture the USS
New Orleans’ fuel tank, is a question only Capt. Rod could answer.
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Last Friday two captains in the U.S. Navy joined their comrades in collision from the German and Japanese navies in the Capt. Rod Seamanship Hall of Fame. USS Hartford (above) and USS New Orleans. |
Associated Press, March 20, 2009--
MANAMA, Bahrain – Two U.S. Navy vessels — a submarine and an amphibious ship — collided
during the early morning hours Friday in the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and the
Arabian peninsula, the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet reported.
The military said in a statement that the incident occurred around 1:00 a.m. local
time on Friday (5 p.m. EDT, Thursday), when the USS Hartford, a submarine, and the
USS New Orleans, an amphibious ship, collided.
According to the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, 15 sailors aboard the Hartford were slightly
injured but able to return to duty. No injuries were reported aboard the New Orleans.
Both ships were heading to port when the incident occurred in the narrow strait,
said Lt. Nate Christensen. He said the incident occurred at night, and the submarine
was submerged at the time, but said he could give no further details as the incident
is still under investigation.
Both vessels are now heading to port for repairs and evaluation, but Christensen
said that following standard security procedures he could not say where the vessels
were heading.
The New Orleans suffered a ruptured fuel tank, resulting in an oil spill of approximately
25,000 gallons (95,000 liters) of diesel fuel. There was no damage the nuclear reactor
powering the Hartford, Christensen said.
Both ships are currently operating under their own power.
The Navy said both ships were on regularly scheduled deployments to the region and
conducting security operations.
Oil prices rose after news of the collision which happened in a busy shipping route.
As much as 17 million barrels of oil a day went through the narrow strait in the
first half of 2008, or about 40 percent of all seaborne traded oil or 20 percent
of all oil traded globally.
The Hartford is based in Groton, Conn. and the New Orleans is based in San Diego,
Calif., the Navy said.
See Capt. Rod’s boat handling video --