The USS Harry S. Truman, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, collided with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M late Wednesday night in the Mediterranean Sea, according to US Navy officials. The incident occurred around 11:46 PM local time, near Port Said, Egypt.
Fortunately, no injuries or flooding were reported aboard the USS Harry S. Truman, and the ship’s nuclear propulsion systems were confirmed to be “unaffected and in a safe and stable condition,” the Navy stated in a release. An investigation into the collision is currently underway to determine the cause and any potential contributing factors.
At the time of the collision, the Besiktas-M, a bulk carrier measuring 188 meters in length and weighing 53,000 tons, had just transited the Suez Canal. It was en route to the Black Sea port of Constanta in Romania. The USS Harry S. Truman, homeported in Norfolk, Virginia, had recently completed a port call in Souda Bay, Greece, before the accident.
The USS Harry S. Truman, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, was deployed to the Mediterranean in September 2024 as part of efforts to protect US “national interests” in the Middle East amid rising regional tensions. The aircraft carrier, which has a crew of around 5,000 personnel, has been engaged in various military operations, including missile strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
This incident adds to a troubling series of maritime collisions involving US Navy vessels. Notably, in 2017, the USS Fitzgerald collided with the container ship ACX Crystal off the coast of Japan, resulting in the deaths of seven sailors. Later that year, the USS John S. McCain was involved in a collision with the tanker Alnic MC near Singapore, which killed ten sailors. In 2021, the USS Connecticut, a nuclear-powered submarine, collided with an uncharted underwater mountain in the South China Sea, injuring 11 crew members and causing significant damage.
