Details are still emerging, but the U.S. Navy supercarrier USS Harry S. Truman has collided with a merchant vessel identified as the Besiktas-M in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Egypt’s Port Said.
The U.S. Navy’s Sixth Fleet released the following statement:
“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.”
“The collision did not endanger the Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) as there are no reports of flooding or injuries. The propulsion plants are unaffected and in a safe and stable condition. The incident is under investigation. More information will be released as it becomes available.”
The current status of the Besiktas-M and its crew is not entirely clear.
“The other ship sustained damage above the waterline, but it continued on its own power,” a U.S. Navy official told TWZ. “The Truman was preparing to transit south into the Suez Canal. No damage to the nuclear power plant.”
We will update this story with more information as it becomes available.
Update: 1:45 PM EST –
The Besiktas-M is now further identified as a Panamanian-flagged bulk cargo ship, according to online ship tracking site Vessel Tracker. The 618-foot (188.5-meter) long Besiktas-M had been heading north after leaving the port of Aqaba in Jordan, with its stated destination being Constanta in Romania on the Black Sea.
Vessel Tracker also says that Besiktas-M was involved in a previous collision with another commercial ship, the Common Spirit, near Chittagong in Bangladesh in 2016, in which both vessels were damaged.
It has also been pointed out that collisions involving U.S. Navy carriers are rare in large part because they typically sail at the center of a carrier strike group. However, all ships have to pass single-file through the Suez Canal.
Update: 3:50 PM EST –
TWZ has received additional information about Truman following the collision.
“There was damage above the waterline of the carrier,” a U.S. Navy official told us. “We can’t comment on [the] extent of the damage.”
The official added that “no aircraft on the carrier were damaged.”
Update: 4:40 PM EST –
A picture said to show damage to the Besiktas-M as a result of the collision has now emerged, as seen below.
Update: 2/14/2025 –
The U.S. Navy has now released the picture below showing damage to the USS Harry S. Truman as a result of the collision.
You can find our continued reporting on this incident here.
Contact the author: joe@twz.com