Washington DC [US], February 13 : Two people reported minor injuries on Wednesday (local time) when a US warship and a Navy supply vessel assigned to the military buildup in the Caribbean collided during a ship-to-ship refuelling, according to a military spokesman, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Truxtun and the Supply-class fast combat support ship USNS Supply collided during a replenishment-at-sea, according to US Southern Command spokesman Colonel Emmanuel Ortiz. Two people reported minor injuries and are in stable condition, and both ships have reported that they are able to continue sailing safely, Ortiz told the Wall Street Journal.
The cause of the collision isn't yet clear, and the incident is under investigation, Ortiz said. The exact location of the collision wasn't immediately available. The Truxtun left its home port of Norfolk, Virginia, on February 6 to begin its scheduled deployment. The supply has been operating in the Caribbean. A military official said the collision was in the Southern Command area of responsibility, which includes the Caribbean and parts of the South Atlantic and South Pacific, as per the Wall Street Journal.
US President Donald Trump ordered a massive naval buildup in the Caribbean in recent months to support his campaign against drug traffickers in the region. There are 12 warships in the US Southern Command, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford and its strike group, as per the Wall Street Journal.
Underway replenishments involve transferring supplies and fuel between two ships sailing side-by-side. Ships like the Supply are owned by the Navy but primarily operated by civilian mariners.
Collisions involving Navy warships are relatively rare and can be deadly. Seventeen sailors died in two separate collisions between Navy destroyers and merchant ships in the Pacific in 2017. On June 17, 2017, the destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with MV ACX Crystal, a Philippine-flagged containership, about 90 miles from Japan, killing seven sailors.
Just two months later, on August 21, Liberian-flagged tanker Alnic MC struck the destroyer USS John S McCain in the busy waterway of the Strait of Malacca near Singapore, ripping a hole in the hull and drowning another 10 sailors, as per Wall Street Journal.
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